Ex 22: Adjusting the balance between person and space

Mr Jamieson very kindly came out of retirement (once again) as my model for this exercise. The pictures were taken last week during an unscheduled stop-over in Brugge. As such the pictures were taken with my Lumix compact camera on Program mode.

The important aspect of this exercise was to observe how the importance of the main subject in an image shifts depending on the amount of the frame they occupy realtive to the setting and by their postition within that frame.

In this first shot the emphasis is on the building as it fills the frame. David looks small compared to the lion and tall window frame - impressive as he is 6ft 5".

Moving David away from the steps his size relative to the bulding starts to balance visually — both appear to have similar importance within the frame. If anything David is becoing more important than the buliding, which now looks as if it is in the background and so commands less attention.

By moving David close to the camera in this final shot he dominates the frame so becomes the main point of focus. The balance has shifted from the setting to him and the tables are turned with the lion statue looking tiny by comparison.

My OCA tutor brought this concept to my attention in his feedback on Assignment 1 regarding my picture of David beside the Commonwealth Games mural. Although I agree with his point and like his version of the image where David has greater importance, I still prefer the unusual balance achieved by the large scale of the swimmers head.