Elements of Design - Positioning a point 1

Finding an interesting subject comprising a single point was not easy. Visits to various local parks to photograph snowdrops and local footballers did not result in any suitable pictures.

Another day, I found a swan standing on its nest on the banks of the local River Wey which reasonably fulfilled the requirements. The swan only rarely raised its head and as a result I only obtained one photograph of many taken where the swan was holding its head up. I therefore used this one photograph cropped in several ways to change the position of the swan.

Version 1: Original composition converted to black and white

The original photograph had a vertical frame with the swan in the upper left quarter. I cropped a strip from the top of the frame containing buildings and a strip from the bottom of the frame where the reflection of the light sky attracted they eye away from the swan on the far bank.

Comments on placing of the swan:

- I placed the swan in the upper left as there is a garden and house just outside the left hand edge of the frame that I wanted to exclude.

- I pointed the lens downwards as the river in foreground had dark patches and reflection patterns, whereas the sky above was clear without visual interest.

- The swans white body stands out clearly from the texture of verticals and diagonals of the undergrowth and trees. The detail of this unruly undergrowth gives the viewer's eye somewhere to wander in the frame, as there is no other focal point.

- The roughly horizontal line between the undergrowth and river is about two thirds up the frame. This creates an impression of distance from the viewer. The reflections in the water provide visual interest without creating an identifiable point of visual interest.

- The swans head is looking at a position inside the frame even though the swan is facing to the left.

- The swan's stance could imply that it is about the enter the water but there is a visual space for it to do so. (In fact it was static and did not enter the water.)

Version 2: Swan placed close to left edge of frame

This change adversely affects the composition:

- The swan's head is looking out of the frame and this takes the viewers attention out of the frame.

- There is not enough space for it to move into so that the swan seems to be hemmed in by the edge of the frame.

- The picture is totally unbalanced.

Version 3: Swan placed centrally between the sides of the frame.

This seems the most successful version of the photograph in my view:

- There is a better balance in that the swan is more prominent and the undergrowth is reduced in scale.

- The vertical frame emphasizes the vertical reeds on either side of the swan. This pattern was subdued in the original frame. This introduces some order into the wild undergrowth.

- The undergrowth and reflection on the right hand strip of the frame in the original composition did not seem to contribute anything to the subject.