Looking with the left side of my brain.
“Qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas” by the Latin poet Virgil, is literally translated as:”Fortunate who was able to know the causes of things“.
Ok, so what in the world does this have to do with the price of coffee? Or better yet, photography?
For those of you that are new to my blog, my name is Joe Baraban and I’ve been making pictures for fifty years. Forty of them were for advertising, cororate, and editorial clients. Now I teach an online class with the BPSOP, and I conduct my“Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops all over our (hopefully very round) planet.
Showing my fellow photographers how to ‘make ‘ stronger photos is one thing, having them understand why they’re stronger images in equally important; and seldom talked about.
The how comes from teaching people how to incorporate the elements of visual design into their imagery: Line, Pattern, Form, Texture, Balance, Color, and Shape are the elements that my students will eventually wind up putting on their new Artist Palette. With this palette (that also has shadows, silhouettes, light, and vanishing points on it) they can start using the right side of their brain (the creative side) instead of the left side (the analytical side).
For example, a photographer looking at a tree with the left side sees only a tree. That same photographer looking at the same tree with the right side sees patterns made by the bark, the texture of the bark, negative space separating and defining the leaves and branches, the lines that make up the trunk and branches, the way the light falls on the tree (side, back, or front lighting), and the color of the leaves.
The why, the cause of things, is all about perception. The goal is to present your photo in such a way as to take control of how the viewer perceives and processes the information we lay out to him in the form of a photograph. If that same tree is presented in such a way as to keep the viewer around longer by looking at the warm late afternoon side light emphasizing the patterns and texture of the bark, then you’ve done your job.
If that same light is coming from behind the tree, it passes through the negative space that was created to define the leaves. It will turn the tree into a two-dimensional silhouette but because of those green, yellow, red, and orange leaves being translucent, they will glow; and don’t forget about that wonderful shadow (your best friend) that lies on the ground stretching out to the camera…again you’ve done your job, and a job well done.
Why is it a stronger photo? Because you have made the viewer an active participant and in doing so you have also made him want to stick around and look at you images.
In the above photo, I was coming back from a helicoptor shoot and looked down and with my left brain I saw two men working in some kind of oil related industrial yard. With the right side of my brain I saw Pattern, Shape (lots of circles),
Form (depth)…created by the low sun side-lighting everything, and Line (implied) created by all the barrels cuting diagonally through the frame.
Visit my brand new website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB
