Compositional Techniques For Storytelling. Part 1 - Visual Structure
Introduction
The following post, one of a series, is based on The Visual Story by Bruce Block, a book I wished I’d discovered many years ago. In the book Bruce explains how filmmakers use visual structure to complement and support the story being told. Many of the ideas of visual structure were laid down as early as 1928 by Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein and built upon by Slavko Vorkapich, a Yugoslavian filmmaker.
It’s important for any readers of this post to understand that my primary interest in visual structure is its use in stills photography, not in film. As such it does not discuss important film specific aspects such as movement (either people or cameras) or how the visual structure might change and adapt during the film in response to the storyline. It’s also important for photographers to note that film has a key advantage over stills photography in that it can establish a visual structure (or several) at the start of the film (the exposition), which can be repeated through-out, in effect subconsciously priming the audience as to what to expect and how to feel. Never-the-less, even without these aspects and advantages, there’s a huge amount that photographers can gain by incorporating the ideas of visual structure in their work.
Please not that the primary purpose of this post is as a personal aide memoire. If other photographers find the topic interesting, you should buy the book, which offers more breadth, depth and more and better examples.
Contrast & affinity
Contrast and affinity is the principle that underpins visual structure. Put simply, contrast (or difference) increases visual intensity, whilst affinity (or similarity) reduces visual intensity, leading to a stronger or weaker viewer response. The principle of contrast and affinity apply to the six components of visual structure: space, line and shape, tone, colour, movement and rhythm. Through their use, and through contrast and affinity, these components can communicate mood, emotions and ideas to the viewer.
Visual Structure
SPACE
Visual space is a huge topic in its own right and is the subject of a dedicated blog post here.
LINES, SHAPES & LINEAR MOTIF
When we think of a line we usually visualise something drawn with a pencil or perhaps a straight line, or the line around a square or circle, but in real life, or in a photograph, a line is formed whenever there’s tonal contrast, the greater the contrast the more prominent the line. Lines have three attributes: orientation (horizontal, vertical or diagonal), direction and quality (straight, curved, circular). These attributes can subconsciously convey emotion, mood and ideas to the audience. If you squint at an image to heighten the contrast and remove the details, you’ll reveal its linear motif. In doing so, remember that the linear motif is how it appears in 2D, rather than in real life, for example you may think of a car tyre as round, but side on, in silhouette, it’s an oblong.
In the image above there’s a strong contrast between the silhouetted trees on the horizon and the sky. The contrast between the two forms a prominent horizontal line. The linear motif of the image is horizontal. Of the three line orientations, horizontal has the least visual intensity and is associated with characteristics such as calm, quiet, peaceful, weak and simple.
In the image above there are differing degrees of contrast between the tree trunks and the background, the greater the contrast, the more prominent the line. The linear motif of this image is vertical. Vertical lines have more visual intensity than horizontal lines and are associated with characteristics such as: strong, bold, ordered and confrontational.
The linear motif of the image above is diagonal. Diagonal lines have the highest visual intensity or dynamism. They are associated with movement, aggression and conflict.
Imaginary lines and axis
Imaginary lines are formed between primary points of interest (often peoples eyes) in an image. Connecting two more points (joining the dots) is known as closure. Some shapes (e.g. an oblong) may also have an axis, implying a line.
In the image above there is an imaginary line between the eyes of the doctor on the billboard and Polly. Both also have a vertical axis and therefore the linear motif is vertical.
Line quality
In all of the examples above, the lines are predominantly straight. Straight lines are seen as strong, direct, ordered, rigid and artificial. A curved or circular line is associated with characteristics such as indirect, childlike, soft, romantic, organic and flexible.
In the image above of snowdrifts, all the lines are curved.
Shapes
The characteristics associated with line quality also apply to the 3 basic shapes when either 2D - circle, square and triangle, or 3D - sphere, cube or three sided pyramid. Circles are the least visually intense, squares the next intense and triangles the most intense. Most other shapes (their silhouette) can be classified as one of the 3 basic shapes, or made up of a combination of shapes.
Contrast and affinity
All the samples above have a simple linear motif, either vertical, horizontal or diagonal, in other words they all have affinity and so are relatively less intense. When combined the visual intensity increases, with the maximum visual intensity between a horizontal and diagonal, or between a sphere and triangle.
In the image above diagonals of the Oculus in NYC contrast with the verticals of the buildings behind, increasing the visual intensity.
In the image above the spherical buoys contrast with the triangles (I’ve no clue what these are) creating more visual intensity.
VISUAL RHYTHM
Rhythm in images relates to a repeated pattern. Any rhythm is made up of three parts: alternation (in music a beat is followed by a period of silence), repetition and tempo. The tempo can be regular or irregular, slower or faster. Increased tempo and irregularity of visual rhythm increases the visual intensity of the image.
In the image above the tempo is fast and regular.
In the image above the tempo is slower and irregular.
In the image above of cotton grass the tempo is fast and irregular, increasing the image’s visual intensity.
TONE
Tone refers to the brightness of an object, from pure black to pure white. The range of tones can be organised on a grey scale, for example Ansel Adam’s zone system, which consists of 11 zones, with zero being pure black and ten pure white, with greys progressing in brightness between. The general tone of the image is effected by the brightness of the subject itself, by the lighting and/or by the photography (under or over-exposing the image). To be visually useful contrast or affinity of tone must be extreme.
High Contrast
High contrast images are those that use the extreme ends of the grey scale. These images have high visual intensity
The high contact image above is predominately pure black and bright white, with a minimum of grey tones.
Affinity
Maximum affinity of tone uses a small group of similar greys, for example when the tones occupy only the bottom, middle or top third of the greyscale. Maximum affinity of tone lowers the visual intensity of the image.
The image above occupies the top third (the brightest part) of the grey scale.
The image above occupies the bottom third (darkest part) of the grey scale.
The image above occupies the middle third of the grey scale.
COLOUR
Colour is a huge topic and the more you think you understand it, the less you do! … but in summary:
- A given colour is described by its hue, brightness and saturation.
- There are eight hues: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan , blue, violet and magenta, which can be arranged around a colour wheel.
- Complementary colours lie opposite each other on the colour wheel, for example: red and cyan, blue and yellow, magenta and green.
- A hues brightness can be changed with the addition of white or black.
- A hues saturation is reduced by adding its complementary colour. Complementary colours mixed in equal amounts become grey.
Using Colour
Colour is a powerful way of conveying mood, emotion and ideas to a viewer, and like tone, can be used to add depth (or reduce it) to an image. In many ways the reaction to a colour is subjective, but some associations are engrained (at least in western culture): red = danger, green = envy, yellow and orange = warmth, blue = cold. Use of colour(s) can convey otherworldliness, desolation, nostalgia, togetherness … the list goes on and there are many great websites worth exploring on the relationship between colour and emotional reaction.
Colour can also be used to develop a signature style (Wes Anderson).
Controlling colour
The advantage for filmmakers and photographers working in a controlled studio environment is their ability to control the colours of the on screen objects, through lighting, set design, colour of costumes, etc.. Though landscape photographers don’t have that luxury, there are several ways influencing the colour of an image.
Time of day
The time of day affects the colour of the light, especially at sunrise and sunset.
The photographs of Ten End above were taken 30 minutes apart.
Time of year
The colour of the landscape changes with the seasons.
The photographs above were taken in early summer and autumn.
Filters
Filters can be added to the front of the lens.
In the above images, the first image is as shot, with filters simulated in post in the second and third images.
Post processing (Colour Grading).
Colour can be changed in any number of ways (hues, saturation, brightness) after the image is taken. This is known as colour grading. Colour presets can be used (in Lightroom) to quickly modify an image to achieve a specific look.
The reds, yellows and oranges in the photograph above has been deliberately de-saturated in post, then a subtle red has been added to the foreground and subtle cyan to the background.
Complementary colours (yellow and blue) have been used to add contrast and separate out the foreground and the background, adding depth. Yellow and blue are complementary colours and therefore add contrast and visual intensity.
Film type
Different film types have different colour characteristics - highly saturated, neutral, muted, etc. Film types can now be digitally replicated either in camera or in post processing.
Landscape Photography
In landscape we are generally attempting to represent the real world in a natural way. Naturalistic colour grading doesn’t “change” the colour’s hue, but may boost saturation or brightness to enhance to the scene.
Contrast & Affinity
The greatest contrast and affinity of hue, generating the highest visual intensity, is between complementary colours (those opposite each on the colour wheel).
In the image above of the interior of Macy’s in Manhattan there’s a power play of complementary colours, blue and yellow, red and cyan, green and magenta, which must have been designed to heighten visual intensity and impact.
The most affinity of hue, generating the least visual intensity, is between adjacent colours on the colour wheel, or using variations of just one hue as per the example below.
Deliberate framing of the Muker wildflower meadows in the image above excluding all colours except variations of yellow.
MOVEMENT
The difference between film (or moving pictures) and photography is movement. With film, objects can move and/or the camera can move (pan, tilt, track, etc.) to create motion. Stills photographs is defined by its lack of motion. However there is one form of movement that still applies, point of attention movement.
Point of attention movement
Though we have good peripheral vision, a viewer can only focus their attention on one small area of an image at a time and so our eyes flick between different parts of the image as they seek to understand it. Photographers can take advantage of this to point the viewer’s attention to a specific part of the image. Controlling where the viewer is looking and how their point of attention moves from one part of the image to the other is called continuum of movement. The more movement, the higher the visual intensity (see note below) .
The viewers attention is drawn by the following:
- movement (not applicable in photography)
- the brightest object in the frame
- people’s eyes
- lines of convergence / vanishing point on the horizon
- newest object in the frame (not applicable in photography)
- In general, contrast or differences in any of the visual components
In the image above, the eyes are drawn to the brightest part of the image, the Dana Store.
The rules of contrast and affinity to lines and shapes also apply to movement, Horizontal movement is less intense than vertical movement, whilst diagonal movement is the most intense. The greater the movement the higher the visual intensity, so the size and the aspect ratio of the image (large widescreen verses small 4:3) can play a role in increasing or decreasing the intensity. Deep space images will have more points of attention than flat space and therefore will be naturally more visually intense.
The deep space image above naturally has high visual intensity, with many points of attention.
The flat space image above naturally has low visual intensity, with very few points of attention.
Note: Having read some studies on eye tracking, I’m not convinced about the photographer’s ability to control how / the order in which a viewer looks at a still image. The studies indicate that viewers are much more influenced by their own subjective experience or by direction (“look for this”) than the structure of the image. Instead, a viewer will quickly scan an image in a fairly random way, before settling on one or more points of attention. In other words there is no evidence that well worn compositional concepts such as leading lines work, except aesthetically. Point of attention movement is much pertinent in the world of cinema, which is mainly focussed on people (eyes) and where movement and new objects can be brought into the frame, drawing the viewers attention.
Final Thoughts
I started investigating visual structure through a desire to make my photographs more cinematic. In the short time since it’s already to influencing all aspects of the photographic process, from scene selection through to post processing. It’s also allowed me to “strengthen” photographs I’d already taken, for example enhancing the depth cues. Perhaps the key question is how far to take it. Producing “cinematic” images implies introducing a new version of reality and yet landscape photography implies taking a more naturalistic approach, a constraint that interestingly enough doesn’t apply to landscape painting. Is it possible to square the circle? There’s a balance to be had and this balance may be genre dependent with a difference between a dawn view of rolling hills and a night view of a cityscape. How far it can pushed will ultimately depends on the context in which the image is viewed, the audiences reaction and how far a photographer’s (or artist’s) personal style and reputation is able to override letting the landscape to speak for itself.