Thilo, a photographer living in Holland, sent me another spider so I wanted to get it close to the other spider that was submitted before moving on to the next submission. He wanted to know how you would show how big this spider is.
In the first spider shot, I suggested Soumyajit show scale as a way of making her spider a quicker read. Since her photo was so busy and the viewer somewhat distracted by everything around it, the spider became less important. In Thilo’s submission, that’s not an issue. It’s a quick read, and the spider is so scary that it’s size becomes less important as Arachnophobia has taken over scale!!!
If Thilo wanted to show scale, he would need to show it next to something that the viewer will immediately recognize and know right away it’s size by comparison. For example, it’s soon to be dinner like a fly, or a moth. If the web was against something recognizable like a fencepost or between barbed wire. By the way, the spider won’t touch it if it’s already dead.
Another way to imply scale is through the use of Tension. In my online class with the BPSOP, and the “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, We work on implementing the elements of visual design and composition into our imagery, and one of the elements is Tension. I’m not talking about the garden variety type of Tension caused by mental or emotional strain. I’m talking about the Tension resulting when forces are acting in opposition to one another.
Three of the ways to generate Tension are to place the subject close to the edge of the frame, to minimize the Negative Space surrounding it, and the use of light. When Thilo used all three in this photo, he made the spider look larger than it might be in person whereas Soumyajit, by placing her spider in the middle of the frame, didn’t create scale through the use of Tension.
In this submission as it the last one, black was used to hide the background. It’s believable in this photo, where it wasn’t in the first spider submission. It’s also much better lit. Also, this spider looks like it could swallow Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Thilo, one last thought to create scale would be to put your finger right next to it!!!!
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog and come shoot with me some time…but not spiders!!!
JoeB
