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Composition 2The Visual Elements

The visual elements (also sometimes called design elements) are the ‘things’ which make up an image - line, tone, shape, colour and so on.

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List of Visual Elementsthe ‘things’ that make up an image

Line – actual or implied lines within the composition

Shape – areas defined by their edges within the piece.

Form – the three dimensional quality of an object or shape – its length, width and depth.

Tone – describes the darkness or lightness of a particular area in an image. Shading from light to dark tone is often used to emphasize the form (an object’s three dimensional quality).

Colour - hues with their various values, intensity, and saturation

Space - the space taken up by objects or the space in-between objects (sometimes called negative space).

Texture - surface qualities of the artwork.

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Kasimir Malevich, The Black Square, 1915

Kandinsky, In the Black Square, 1923

This abstract painting by the Russian artist Kandinsky is composed of lines, geometric shapes, and solid colours.

The Black Square is a painting which, as the name suggest is just a black painted square. The image is therefore composed of the visual elements colour, tone, space and shape. However, when we study the painting more closely we discover that the surface of the painting has texture, we see that the brush marks have left lines, and even the black colour seems to reflect other colours from the room.

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LineLine is a really useful visual element when constructing images.

Lines are formed by the edges of things when there is an apparent contrast between light and dark areas or between different colours or textures.

Lines can also be suggested or implied by patterns or repetition.

In this image where are the implied lines and where do these lines draw the viewer’s eye?

Henri Cartier Bresson

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LineLine is a really useful visual element when constructing images.

Lines are formed by the edges of things when there is an apparent contrast between light and dark areas or between different colours or textures.

Lines can also be suggested or implied by patterns or repetition.

In this image where are the implied lines and where do these lines draw the viewer’s eye?

Henri Cartier Bresson

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Horizontal And Vertical Lines

Horizontal lines can suggest a feeling of stability, calmness or tranquillity.

Vertical lines can suggest power and strength.

Chris Monaghan

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Horizontal And Vertical Lines

Horizontal lines can suggest a feeling of stability, calmness or tranquillity.

Vertical lines can suggest power and strength.

Chris Monaghan

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Paul Strand

Study this urban landscape by Paul Strand. Discuss what Strand might have been saying about the society … would you like to live there?

How do the strong vertical lines and dark shadow areas affect your interpretation of the image?

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Diagonal Lines

Diagonal lines tend to be visually dynamic – suggesting movement, a ‘visual tension’ and/or excitement.

Chris Monaghan www.hjk.co.uk

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Chris Monaghan

The model was lying on a bed.

How does the photographer make the image more visually ‘dynamic’?

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David Bailey

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Curved Lines

Curved lines often suggest organic (living, breathing) things.

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Mario Testino

Spot the curves in this portrait of an actress.

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Colour

White light is actually made up from just the right mixture of every other colour of light.

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Primary Colours:

Red, Green, Blue.

(RGB)

Complimentary colours:

Cyan, Yellow, Magenta.

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Colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel are called complimentary colours and can create a feeling of tension or drama.

Colours which are next to one another on the colour wheel are called analogous colours* and can create a sense of peace, restfulness or harmony

* Analogous means to correspond or be similar in some way.

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Which of these images uses complimentary, and which uses analogous colours?

How does this colour choice help or affect the meaning of each image?

Van Gogh

Constable

Philip Lorca Do Corcia

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Masolino, St. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha, 1425

The added black lines show the use of a ‘vanishing point’ to create a realistic impression of three dimensional space – commonly referred to as ‘realistic perspective’.

Form

(The three-dimensionality of the artwork)

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How does the photographer suggest three-dimensional space (i.e. depth)?

Film still from The Manchurian Candidate

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1. Man’s head is larger than woman’s so our brains interpret this as suggesting that he is nearer to the camera than the woman.

2. Background is out of focus suggesting depth

3. The lighting creates shading suggesting three dimensional form

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Fay Godwin

What visual element(s) help give this photograph ‘depth’ and a three-dimensional character?

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Fay Godwin

What visual element(s) help give this photograph ‘depth’ and a three-dimensional character?

Answer: the converging lines formed by the tracks and ceiling supports.

23Matisse

Some artists completely rejected the idea that a work of art had always to imitate the three-dimensional character of the world (form), as in this collage by Henri Matisse entitled The Snail.

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Tone

Angus McBean

Tone describes the darkness or lightness of a particular area in an image. Very light areas are sometimes called highlights and very dark areas are called shadow areas.

Shading (where the tone changes gradually from highlight to shadow) is often used to emphasize the form and three dimensionality of an object.

Shadow Mid-tone Highlight

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Texture

An image can create a visual experience which suggests a particular tactile sensation.

For example, this photograph of dry rotting wood creates an impression or feeling of dry dustiness, while the porcupine conjures up the feeling of sharp points … Ouch!

Whilst photographs normally only create an impression of texture, other artworks such as painting and sculpture can include actual textures.How could you make a photograph include actual texture?

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Space

Space can be filled or left empty (negative space).

Study these two images of urban life …

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Space

Space can be filled or left empty (negative space).

The images are by Joel Meyerowitz and Andre Kertesz and use space to suggest very different meanings about life in the city.One image suggests vibrancy, action and the ‘buzz’ of city-life while the other uses space to suggest a more melancholic, alienated and lonely feel.

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The positioning of visual elements (lines, shapes, colours and so on) in an image can sometimes create a feeling of visual balance.

Visual balane can create a feeling of the image just being ‘right’

Images with a centrally located subject are sometimes called ‘formal’ compositions. Having the subject in the middle might create a sense of visual ‘balance’ but can also appear rather boring to the modern eye.

Note: Not all images are ‘balanced’.

Gainsborough

Balancing The Visual Elements

29How does the photographer create a feeling of ‘balance’ this image?

Norman Parkinson

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Tomatsu Shomei

At first glance this image might not appear balanced, but look more closely ….

How does Shomei achieve balance in this unsymmetrical image?

31Chris Monaghan

Is this image balanced?

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Juxtaposition

Juxtoposition is the placing of things close to one another in order to emphasise their difference.

What is the major difference being emphasised here?

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Framing & Cropping

TogethernessChris Monaghan

When you take (or make) a photograph you determine the composition by choosing the camera viewpoint and what to include (and what not to include) within the frame.

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Framing & Cropping

Loneliness

This is the same photograph as the previous image but with a different crop, produced in post-production.

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John Hilliard, cause of death, 1974.

Hilliard cleverly took 4 photographs of the same scene, but changed the camera viewpoint and cropping so that each image has a different meaning.

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Aspect Ratio

(the ‘shape’ of an image)

Chris Monaghan

The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of image length to width.Example: 6:4 for 6 inch by 4 inch prints (which also equals 3:2)

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Richard Billingham

Richard Billingham produced a series of photographs about his parents. He used the amateur 6:4 aspect ratio shape for his images (just like amateur 6 inch x 4 inch prints).

Why might he have chosen this aspect ratio?

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The Gaze

When we look hard at someone else our gaze can sometimes be interpreted as if we are saying “I am the powerful one here”. Manet’s Olympia caused a scandal because he painted a woman in a contemporary setting who seemed by her gaze to be the one with all the power - in 1863 women were meant to do as they were told by men!

Titian, Venus D’Urbino, 1538

Manet, Olympia, 1863

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Images in which the subject looks directly at the viewer can have a powerful or disconcerting effect.

Richard Avedon August Sander

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Composition Summary

Visual elements:

Line, Shape, Form, Tone, Colour, Space, Texture

Some ‘Rules’ of composition

JuxtapositionSymmetryRepetitionRule of thirdsRule of odd and evenRule of spaceSimplificationBalance