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to a wide shot as a long shot because you had to walk a long way back to get a wide shot with a fixed focal length lens.

With today’s zoom lenses and wider angles of view, you need not walk as far or as much. The thing to keep in mind is the perspective of each type of focal length, especially when shooting medium or close-up shots. Zooming in creates less depth of field and less of a three-dimensional view; the perspective is compressed, or flattened. When the videographer walks closer to the subject, the perspective stays the same for the mid- ground and background, but the foreground begins to distort in an effect called exaggeratedorforced per- spective. (See Figure 4-15.) The depth of field does not change, but the three-dimensional effect is made more prominent by the rapidly increasing size of the foreground (the opposite effect of zooming in). Again, the objects double in size as the distance to them is cut in half. Unlike zooming, this effect is achieved by moving the camera closer to the subject while main- taining a constant focal length.

Balancing the Picture

Up to now we have discussed composition as it relates to the camera, lens, and subject size and distance. The final aspect of composition is the arrangement of the elements within the frame. Before you push the

record button, you need to ask yourself, “How can I maximize the impact of this shot?” Too many videog- raphers in television never ask that question. Flipping on almost any newscast, you can see the results of “point-and-shoot” news photography. Shots are framed for a subject with no regard for the rest of the picture. A photographer’s eye should be trained to look at the entire frame and all the visual elements within it, not just what initially attracts our attention while looking at a scene.

Too often balance is thought of in terms of being centered, or using symmetrical balance: having the same amount of space on all sides of the subject. Much of the time this is not the case. Balance is far more complex than that. Often, asymmetrical bal- ance makes a better composed image: having objects of different sizes, contrast, and so on balance the im- age. Imagine two elephants balancing on a seesaw. They are symmetrically balanced; they have the same shape, mass, weight, color, contrast, line, and texture on both sides of the fulcrum. Now consider a bal- anced seesaw with an elephant on one side and a mos- quito on the other. Obviously, the mosquito must be much, much farther away from the fulcrum to bal- ance the elephant. The two sides of the image have different mass, weight, and so on; yet, the seesaw is balanced—asymmetrically.

As we will learn in lighting, a little of something can go a long way. A very small but bright object can upset the balance of a picture quite easily, but can also be positioned to addbalance to a picture. While there are some basic rules that can lead you to balance the composition of elements within a frame, there is no substitute for what your eye tells you as you look through the viewfinder. Some arrangements just feel better than others when you look at them.

Frame Dynamics A well-designed garden maze en-

sures that anyone seeking the center has to make sev- eral circuits before they find that center, and they still have to search for an exit once there. A well-designed picture should do the same thing. It has one entrance for the eye, one main subject, and several points of de- parture away from it. There are three basic patterns to the movement of a viewer’s eye.

Figure 4-15 A wide-angle lens (in this case an extreme wide angle, or fisheye) exaggerates the depth perspective to the point of bending the straight lines of the goal in the fore- ground and the horizon in the background.

82 Chapter 4: Part Two: Composition—Aesthetic Considerations

1. Circle—the classic symbol of unity forms the simplest compositions, allowing the eye to cir- cle the image.

2. Pyramid—the eye starts at the bottom left, traverses up to the pinnacle, down to the right corner, and finally back to the left to complete a strong and unified composition.

3. Irregular shape—allows the eye to move in a dynamic and asymmetrical flow, adding energy and tension to the image.

Western culture has programmed our eyes always to start from the left side of any scene. In theater, the left side of the stage is said to be the strong side for en- trances. That does not mean that side of the frame is where the subject should go. The eye starts there, but your composition can take it to wherever the subject is in the frame. It is also possible to have the eye start in other places. A bright sun in the upper right corner of the frame can catch the eye first and then send it down to settle on two surfers in the lower left corner. (See Figure 4-16.)

Lines As we have seen with the vanishing point, where

our attention is directed to the point of convergence, lines can play a very large role in leading our eyes. Diag- onal lines create vitality with their implied movement. The eye is drawn to anywhere in the frame where two lines cross or one line suddenly changes direction (e.g., a corner). An isolated vertical line, such as a tree, pole, or even a standing person, is noticed first in the picture

and takes precedence over any horizontal or diagonal lines in the scene. (See Figure 4-17.) To achieve a pleas- ing composition, a horizontal line must cross this verti- cal element at some point. When a vertical line is not interrupted, it simply splits the screen, creating two dis- connected sections of the frame.

Color A very important tool in the design of a frame is

the color of elements within it. This can be a difficult task for the videographer using a black-and-white viewfinder, though color viewfinders are found on most cameras today. A red rose may stand out as the dominant element in the frame when viewed in color, but in the viewfinder it may be next to impossible to pick it out in the field of grays. In the absence of a color viewfinder or screen, a shooter needs to use one eye to see color and one to look through the view- finder, combining the two versions to realize the actual outcome of the video. Composition includes giving weight to brighter colors.

Videographers should also know the concept of

complementary colors, or contrasting colors. A color stands out more vividly in relation to its oppo- site. Continuing the example of a red rose, this flower is seen most vividly when set against cyan elements in the shot because cyan (blue-green) is the opposite of red. A simple way to remember contrasting colors is to create a quick color wheel. (See Figure 4-18.) When you shoot an object, such as a rose, note its dominant color, such as red, and then look for ways to set that

Figure 4-16 The bright sunset catches the viewer’s eye first, and then moves it to the surfers in the foreground.

Figure 4-17 A lone vertical element—the beachgoer— dominates the picture, intersecting with the horizontal ele- ment—the ocean’s horizon line.

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