I knew my subject, did you?
So I was reading the other day and came upon this proverb that I’m pretty sure a lot of people out there has heard…”Know thyself”.
As is usually the case, I get my ideas for all these posts I write from all kinds of sources and from these sources, mixed with personal experiences, I wind up with what you’re reading now.
That said, within a couple of days of reading the proverb, I had a student taking my online class with the BPSOP submit a photo for my daily video critiques.
This person had submitted a portrait (for one of my assignments) of a woman sitting on a large rock, and right next to her on the exact same plane was another rock…the same size as her subject was.
This immediately brought to mind the proverb I had read, only it wasn’t about “knowing thyself” but knowing thy subject.
In the photo, the photographer had positioned the large rock right next to the woman whose portrait she was taking. The problem was that to the viewer there might have actually been two subjects: the woman and the rock.
It’s important to keep things as easy to understand as humanly possible, and that means making sure the viewer understands your thought process.
Both in my online classes and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around our planet, I will often refer to the basic elements in the psychology of Gestalt, and how they apply to photography.
I write:
“The methods we use to gain attention to our photography will vary, but what’s important is how we manage what the viewer perceives and processes when looking at the visual information we lay out to him in the form of a photograph.
Humans rely on perception of the environment that surrounds them. Visual input is a part of our everyday life, and as photographers it’s our prime objective to present this visual information in a way that takes control of what the viewer sees when looking at our imagery.”
If I’m photographing something or someone, I want to make sure that it’s the main subject and for the viewer to not to be confused with a potential second subject; that will compete or distract from what I’m really trying to say.
I will use other means to help me establish the main subject, and that is everything else that’s important in the environment…including other centers of interest.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my upcoming workshops. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB
