Mollie Barnard Photography: POST 1: LEARNING HOW TO RESEARCH EFFECTIVELY

COMPOSITION

COMPOSITION DEFINITION: Composition is the way in which you place or arrange the person or thing in your photograph. In this photograph, when considering the rule of thirds, Disney's Ursula is placed along one whole line, and it is a considerable amount of space away from the center, this provides an additional point of interest.

PHOTO COMPOSITION RULES:

Rule of thirds
Balancing elements
Leading lines
Viewpoint
Background
Depth
Framing
Cropping
Experimentation

FACTUAL: This is a photograph of 'Ursula' from the Disney film 'The Little Mermaid'. Over the last couple of years, Annie Liebovitz has partnered with Disney to create stunningly colorful pictures, using celebrities posing as Disney characters from classic animated Disney films. Through her partnership with Disney Annie has worked with many celebrities such as: Jenifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Jason Segel, Russel Brand, Johnny Depp and many others.

CONTEXT: This photo was taken by Annie Liebovitz when she was hired by Walt Disney in 2007 to take a series of photographs. It is set in a studio, but the final picture was turned into a sort of cartoon, and was set in the rough sea.

TECHNICAL: The most complicated form of technicality is the lighting. For this shot they used many

different lights and props to make this shot possible. To the cameras right,there is a large octobank shooting through the large diffusion panel towards the queen. There are two large strip banks on either side of the camera, low, illuminating the underside of the tentacles. There are two large octobanks, one above an slightly behind the queen to the cameras left, and the other handheld by an assistant at 45 degree angle to the queen also to the cameras left. Another large octobank is boomed over head, an umbrella illuminates the background, and a reflector held by an assistant to the camera right.

AESTHETICS: I really like this photo because it is all different shades of blue, except Ursula's arms, face and hair. This is good because it makes us focus on her whilst we are looking at the picture. The fierce sea keeps the background busy and provides an alternative point of interest. The dark mountains make the picture more mysterious. The clouds in the sky fill up the rest of the picture taking us away from Ursula and her tentacles, the splashing sea, and the shadowy mountains.

EXAMPLE:
RULE OF THIRDS: The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to break the photograph down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically so that you have 9 sections. The theory is that if you place your point of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced, and will enable the viewer to interact more with the photograph.

FRAMING: Framing in photography is very self explanatory, It is the same as you would put a photograph in a photo frame. The idea of framing is used so that you frame an image that you want to be the point of interest. Framing can make an image more aesthetically pleasing, and keep the viewers focus on the framed item.