cgardner Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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Bsmooth wrote:
Very interesting indeed. I remeber when starting out I tried to fit as much as I could into a frame. The more and more I shot, the less I shot the better, and I thought I was doing well.
At the same time developing the eye to see things that no one else does, things like you have just pointed out, that I missed entirely.
Compositions with multiple focal points are the most difficult to do effectively. One of the more valuable sources of information and inspiration I've had about composing scenes like that was in a book on flower arranging. Florists will usually use a odd number of focal point flowers because odd numbers of objects 3, 5, 7 will form circular paths around the arrangement. Things in even numbers tend to be seen in pairs resulting in more linear ping-ping eye motion like what is occurring between tree and rocks.
That linear ping-pong dynamic also occurs (intentionally) in my last rocks / clouds edit, but what make it work better is that on each trip between the rocks and clouds the eye passes over the island in the center. That's really the main focal point of the photo, in a way that is not obvious. The viewer might not even notice the island until the 3rd or 4th trip making it an "Easter Egg" focal point.
I tried to do something similar, but it a different way in this shot...
http://super.nova.org/MP/PuertoGallera.jpg
The "hidden" focal point is the dog, a metaphor for what a sleepy little laid back town it is, which blends into the similar color concrete. The strong leading line along the boats in the background is just a diversion to delay the viewer noticing it.
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