The Subject
The subject is the focus, and the reason for taking the picture. Pictures can have multiple subjects, but often the subjects connected and coherent. Multiple subjects adds complexity, and has the potential to either distract or add interest. A photograph is typically not just a subject, but the multiple layers of foreground, midground, and background with the subject paced among those layers. The foreground is the items placed closest to the camera. The background is farthest away from the camera and the midground is in-between the foreground and background.
In order to understand the function of subjects better, lets examine this photo I took at the Grand Canyon.
This image has three subjects: the man in the red jacket in the foreground, the girl in the blue hat in the midground, and the Grand Canyon as the background. People are naturally drawn to faces. If a photo has a face, the viewer’s eyes will be drawn to the face (particularly the brightest eye) like a magnet. If the two people in the photo were facing the camera, this would immediately turn the image into a two subject photo with a scenic background. The placement of the subject in space is called staging. Placing subject on different distances from the camera gives a sense of depth, and makes the image lass flat. If the Grand Canyon is photographed alone, it’s easy to lose a sense of scale, and the viewer might not understand the size of the subject.
The people in the photo are gazing into the Grand Canyon. People want to know what someone else is looking at, so the viewer is inclined to look at the Canyon and not just at the people in the image.
Ideas to Take away:
I. Use human inclinations, like being drawn to look at faces or look at what other people are looking at to draw the viewer’s eyes to where you want them to look.
II. Arrange the subject in space to create a sense of depth or flatness to emphasize scale or importance of subjects.