​A good photograph should guide the reader's vision

Photography is a visual language. A good photographic work, canvas prints the reader's line of sight must be controlled in the main body and point of interest, and can comfortably flow in the picture. In today's tutorial, Thomas will talk in detail about the pre - and post-production methods that photographers use to guide the reader's vision in their photographs.

1.Contrast

In life, it is always the different people and things that stand out. Similarly, in photographic works, canvas prints online those elements that have obvious contrast with other areas of the picture will also attract the special attention of readers. An overall dark tone of the work, the picture of the bright place appears particularly prominent. Dim bright objects are more prominent in photos. Similarly, a piece of whole bright tone work, what make the finishing point is the dark object in the picture. For example, in the following photo of snow with high brightness, the three people with low brightness are the most eye-catching.

In addition to the contrast between light and shade, large canvas there is another important hidden contrast in this photo, that is, the contrast between human and nature. Thousands of years of evolution by natural selection, let the human practice of a pair of eyes, to identify the nature of living things. A picture of someone, through the contrast between man and nature, will attract a lot of attention.

In addition to light and dark, there is a brightness property called contrast. In a work with low overall contrast, the high contrast is the focus of the reader. For example, in the figure below, the junction of aurora and mountain silhouette is the place with the highest contrast of the full image, and also the visual center of the full image.

All can form contrast attributes, can be used to guide the viewer's vision, to highlight the main body, make the finishing point. For example, in the picture below, the warm yellow light of the street forms a sharp contrast with the cool blue tone of the evening in the rain, which catches the readers' eyes and makes the picture more expressive.

A common mistake made by novice photographers is that the whole picture is full of high sharpness, high definition, and hdr-like details. A picture full of details is equal to no details, because these details conflict with each other, competing for readers' precious attention. However, a good work often strengthens the clear texture of the points of interest and weakens the detailed texture of other areas of the picture.

2.Guide line

The reader's line of sight will habitually move along the lines in the picture. Therefore, if we can take some natural lines in the early shooting, or artificially strengthen some lines in the post-processing, they will point to our main body. These lines make excellent guides.

Natural paths, rivers, vegetation and other forms of line, are excellent guide line. Besides the obvious lines, the guiding lines can also be the implied guiding relations. In the image below, the reader's eye will follow the direction of the person's finger and move towards a distant object.

3. Frame composition

Frame composition, can limit the reader's line of sight in the middle of the frame, thus forcing the reader to focus on the main frame.

4. Comprehensive guidance

A good work with a clear subject and a strong point of interest will often use the above mentioned guiding techniques simultaneously. In a word, the reasonable application of contrast, guide line and frame composition, guide the reader's vision to the point of interest in photos, will make our photography more excellent.