1. The ‘Rules’ of Composition

2. Composition
The word composition means combining or putting together parts to form a whole.
Composition can apply to many works of human endeavor including music and writing – in fact anything that is arranged or ‘put together’ using conscious thought.

3. In this presentation we are going to look at some of the most important ‘rules’ or conventions of composition:
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Even & Odd
Triangles
Space
Simplification
Symmetry
Pattern & Repetition
Learning ‘rules’ about art can seem stifling or constricting – if all artists just follow a set of rules then their art would look very similar and become very boring.
Many original artists manage to break or ‘bend’ these rules or conventions, but to do so successfully they first had to fully understand the rules and conventions.

4. Rule of Thirds
Chris Monaghan
Divide the image into thirds as shown – If the main visual components (things in the image) lie on or near the lines then the image often tends to look ‘right’. In this image the horizon line is on one of the bisectors.
[Remember, rules are there to be broken - once you understand and can follow them!]

5. Which image do you prefer?
Chris Monaghan
Which image do you prefer?
Which image more closely follows the rule of thirds?

7. Gary Winogrand
Sometimes an image does not follow the rule of thirds exactly, but the main visual components (‘things’) in the image are close to the 1/3rd bisectors.

9. Landscape photography often uses the rule of thirds – how?
Fay Godwin
Landscape photography often uses the rule of thirds – how?

10. Fay Godwin
Landscape photography often has the horizon line on or near one of the two horizontal lines

11. The Rule Of Even And Odd
An even number of ‘things’ in an image can sometimes create a feeling of tension or a slightly un-natural look.
Norman Parkinson
… while an odd number of ‘things’ can often create a feeling of harmony or balance
Dianne Arbus

12. An odd number of subjects in an image often has a more ‘natural’, symmetrical or balanced feel than an even number.

13. Henri Cartier Bresson
In many artworks 3 subjects or ‘things’ in an image (an odd number) can draw attention to the central subject.

14. Rule of Triangles
Triangles have 3 sides and tend to form stable, solid looking compositions.
Can you spot any triangles?
Arnold Newman

15. Rule of Triangles
Triangles have 3 sides and tend to form stable, solid looking compositions.

16. Victorian Family Portraits
Can you spot any triangles?
Why were triangular compositions often used for family portraits?

17. Victorian Family Portraits
Think about what the triangle connotes ….
…….stability & solidity

18. Rule of space Which composition is more dynamic?
Nadar
Which composition is more dynamic?
Which composition is more ‘restful’, allowing the subject to ‘look dreamily into space’?

19. Rule of space
Nadar
The empty space in the right-hand image creates a more contemplative or thoughtful feel to it.

20. Space can also help create an impression of movement
In this image there is not much unfilled space
Swimmers diving into the water
(shot from beneath the water, looking upwards).

21. The swimmers now appear to be moving into the empty space ahead of them, helping to create an impression or feeling of movement.

22. Simplification How does Rembrandt draw our attention into the face?
Rembrandt, Self Portrait.

23. Simplification ANSWER:
Lighting - the face has more light on it than other areas.
The brush-strokes are finer and more detailed in the facial area but become broader and less detailed for other areas.
Vignette – the painting becomes darker towards the edges.
Use of colour – dark ‘drab’ colours except for the face.

24. What technique has the photographer used to simplify this image?
Chris Monaghan
What technique has the photographer used to simplify this image?

25. Is this picture ‘simplified’
Is this picture ‘simplified’ ? If not, why not … and so what might the photographer Joel Meyerowitz be saying about life in the modern city?

26. Symmetry
Chris Monaghan
In this photograph the building seems to be ‘balanced’ by the white cloud. The line of symmetry runs from the bottom left to top right corner.

27. Symmetry & Repetition
Chris Monaghan
Line of symmetry

28. Where is the line of symmetry in this image?
Norman Parkinson

29. Note: unlike in mathematics where perfect symmetry can be found, in art symmetry is often an approximation.
Norman Parkinson

30. Does this image exhibit any symmetry?
When something has no symmetry we say that it is asymmetrical
Chris Monaghan

31. David Seymour (Chim)
How does being asymmetrical (not symmetrical) help or add to the viewing experience and meaning of this image?

32. Answer: War is chaotic & random – death can come at any moment and does not follow beautiful aesthetic rules of composition. The asymmetry of the image helps to convey this.

33. Repetition & Pattern
Jackson Pollock

34. Paul Strand
When something is repeated, it can create a visual pattern.
Edward Weston

35. Andreas Gursky
Paul Strand
Pattern can be used to suggest texture, or can produce an abstract visual experience.

36. Juxtaposition
Robert Frank
Juxtaposition is the placing of things close to one another in order to emphasise their difference.
What is the major difference being emphasised here?

37. Framing & Cropping
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.
Chris Monaghan
Togetherness

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

39. John Hilliard, cause of death, 1974.
Hilliard took 4 photographs of the same scene, but changed the camera framing and cropping so that each image has a different meaning.

40. Side Note: The subject’s 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

41. Richard Avedon
August Sander
Images in which the subject looks directly at the viewer can have a powerful or disconcerting effect.

42. Summary Rule of Thirds Rule of Even & Odd Triangles Space
Simplification
Symmetry
Pattern & Repetition