Meaning in Composition
by Kevin Ferrara
I. INTRODUCTION
Today digital photography holds out the promise of instant mastery. Auto-focus, auto light-metering, image stabilization, infinite deletes... the list of benefits we get from today's technology is practically limitless. And it's easy to get caught up in their promise.
But, while all that digital assistance (plus the seemingly endless ability to manipulate our images once they get to hard drive) has certainly been a boon to today's shutterbugs, obviously taking a great photo is about much more than great technology.
How else can we explain all the top-notch lens work done long before the invention of the microchip -- Without erase, without autofocus, without image stabilization, without any of the rest of our modern conveniences? Some of the Old Timers of Photography made masterpieces using equipment that would be indistinguishable from junk today; Just wood boxes with pinholes in them, and treated metal plates.
So forget technology for a moment. Technology will take care of itself. There's lots to learn about good picture-making that technology has nothing to do with.
SOFTWARE FOR YOUR MIND
Back when photography was in its infancy, the world of culture was in a very different place. The primary visual art was, and had been for some time, painting. And vast educational systems were in place to teach students the art and craft of making pictures.
These teachings didn't just happen at prestigious institutions, such as L'ecole des Beaux Arts, the famous French art and architecture school influenced by classical aesthetic principals. Important and fresh art instruction was occurring all over: At schools of popular illustration, advertising agencies, correspondence courses in poster design, at hothouses of visual radicalism, like those of the Futurists or the Bauhaus, and in master-apprentice situations in ateliers worldwide.
And these teachings didn't just concentrate on the more provincial and academic skills associated with easel painting, namely draughtsmanship, brush technique, color theory and the like. The main point of it all was to create professional, exciting, saleable pictures, posters and advertisements to exhibit at galleries, in magazines, and on walls throughout the world. Consequently, great volumes of thought, advice, philosophy and diagrams related to the exciting, beautiful, meaningful and harmonious arrangments of the elements of a picture, (collectively known as Visual Composition), were produced.
So, to be sure, when popular photography took its earliest breaths (Around the time when George Eastman first brought to market his portable box camera and durable film stock in 1889) pioneer photographers were well placed to reap the benefits of the aesthetic erudition surrounding them. And they did.
And now there's no reason why we can't take the same vast aesthetic erudition into the digital age.
NARROWING OUR FOCUS
Of course past visual masters have so much to offer us in the way of compositional theory that we have to be very careful not to bite off more than we can chew. Anybody who's spent any time researching art theory knows you can stock an entire library with just art theory books alone.
So rather than choke everybody with information, I'm going to narrow my focus to one aspect of compositional aesthetics that I feel is very important, yet is often neglected by today's serious visual artists. And that is the Encoding of Meaning into a picture using Graphic Design.
WHAT I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT
Now, by "Meaning" I'm not talking about political meaning. Social Realism, which is one of the classic genres of political art, is about subject matter mostly. And subject matter, especially political-charged subject matter, is a whole other topic.
Nor am I talking about beauty. I agree that the will to capture the beauty of the world is often a prime imperative for many photographers, but it's also something most photographers already have a strong instinct for, not to mention some significant training in.
And in fact, Jodie Coston has already given us a great primer on the basics of composing beautiful photographs on this site. So I'm going to leave pure beauty for beauty's sake out of the equation for the moment.
WHAT I MEAN BY MEANING
So what do I mean by "meaningful composition".
By "meaningful composition" I mean a composition that is "abstractly informative in a psychological or symbolic way".
So what elements of a composition can be "abstractly informative in a psychological or symbolic way"?
In short, just about anything related to the craft of composing pictures: The Shapes, the Lines, the Colors, the justaposition of elements, the framing, and on and on. Everything except the subject matter, which is real or "concrete", not abstract.
Nevertheless, that's quite a list, so again, I'm going to narrow my focus. For this lesson, I'd like to concentrate solely on the meanings Graphic Shapes bring to visual compositions.
II. THE MEANING OF ABSTRACT SHAPES
THE TRIANGLE
Good pictures tend to have a strong central theme, one clear idea that seems to tie the whole image together, subject and composition alike. This is the "unity of thought" or "unity of purpose" that artists have sought in their work at least since the time of Aristotle.
For some pictures, this unity is a simple matter.
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For example, it is actually difficult to take a picture of an Egyptian Pyramid and not have a triangular shape as the basis for the composition.
And we all understand that the triangle is a known abstract symbol which connotes strength and stability. And since Pyramids are strong and stable (In fact pyramids are one of the strongest structures known in engineering) there is an automatic unity present: Triangle equals strength. A pyramid is strong and triangular. End of story.
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But what about a picture of a straight road heading off to the horizon?
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Same pyramid shape, graphically speaking. But does it have a similar meaning to the Pyramid picture?
We know a road is not triangular-shaped. It's one long, long line of tar that stretches for thousands of miles, interconnecting with other long, long lines of tar along the way. So here's an instance where the dominant two dimensional shape of the composition (triangle) does not "equal" the subject portrayed (line).
But in the photo, while we see that road as plain as day, that core graphic shape is still resonant. We still subconsciously "get" the stability and strength of the triangle as we look at the shot of the road. But the information we are receiving is neither triangle in isolation nor road in isolation. It is both at once, a fusion.
So how do we "read" this synthesis of Road and Triangle?
Let's re-state the facts:
A Road is a Path on which one Journeys.
A Triangle means Strength and Stability.
Well, what does it mean to be journeying on a path that is strong and stable? That heads straight for the horizon without wavering? If we were on that road right now, we would know exactly where our journey was heading for a very long time. Right?
And there it is: The road is certain for the forseeable future: Strong and Stable. Just like a Pyramid.
Thus the synthesis of Road and Pyramid in the picture is about Certainty. The way is certain.
Our perception of the road as simultaneously a road and a pyramid has created a new, more subtle meaning. A meaning, I might add, that our subconsciousness probably figured out long before we were able to analyze it in words. (And there lies the power of symbolic shapes in pictures.)
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But we aren't done with this picture yet, because there is also that huge rectangle of sky hovering over the horizon. We can't ignore it. It's a significant part of the composition.
Let's analyze further. If we look at the sky mass graphically, we see it is essentially a great block balancing on the top of the pyramid. What can the idea of that balance mean to the overall composition?
Back to the facts: The road leads to the horizon. The horizon is where the road "touches" the sky. So the sky, we can say, is "the future" (symbolically speaking). It is where we are going, it is our destination.
And "the future" is "balanced" on the point of the triangle.
We also can't fail to notice how bright and blue the sky is, nor how fluffy and harmless the clouds look.
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So, maybe we can read the picture this way: the path is certain, and the future is open and bright with possibility. That seems reasonable, right?
If instead the sky was dark and foreboding, obviously the meaning would change. And the picture might then signal dark possibilities in the future, rather than bright ones.
"Reading" a picture is always a melding of the meaning of the graphic design with the actual content pictured.
Now let's move from the triangle to another primary shape, the circle.
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THE CIRCLE
The circle. Representative generally of wholeness, completeness, a whole world, unity.
Here's the second most commonly experienced circle shape.
We can see the whole magilla. It's a big circle, a whole world. Nothing is hidden. Nothing is left out. Moon = circle. The unity in this case is, again, automatic.
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We get almost the same total equality of subject and composition when we look at this shot:
The softball is circular like the moon. But how is it a world?
Of course it could be just a picture of a softball and have no association with the idea of a world. But for the sake of the lesson, let's look at it in terms of all the associations a circle has on the subconsciousness, including that of a celestial body.
What we have here is another synthesis. The idea of the circle as representing "a world", is fused with a softball. Possible meanings: "The world is a softball" or alternately "The world of softball".
Of course the close cropping helps too. As if the softball were so large it couldn't fit in the viewfinder.
And the purple backdrop is reminiscent of a night sky or a cosmic backdrop.
All these things add up. But the first trigger is the dominant circle shape in a field of cool color.
As in the road/pyramid example, the abstract meaning of the underlying shape (circle) synthesizes with the actual subject portrayed (softball) to convey a new compound idea to the viewer (the world as baseball).
A very simple synthesis. But instructive.
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DOMINANT SHAPES SAY THE MOST
You'll notice in these simple cases that one main shape dominates the composition. In almost all strong compositions, one shape (or one graphic idea) seems to dominate. Thus, one psychological theme tends to dominate. And that's a good thing because it's hard to have a unity of thought when two or more ideas are competing for equal attention in the same picture.
But there's a downside to this dominance too. The primary shapes are so recognizable and strong and iconic that we are always courting cliche when we use them in our compositions. So let's be inventive and aware enough to prevent that pitfall.
So, yes, in a strong composition, one main shape will usually dominate. But the shape doesn't have to be as obvious as in the previous examples. In fact, a master shape can dominate a picture in a quite subtle way.
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Although, the pyramid shape in this picture doesn't seem to mean strength and stability in the same way as in the previous examples. For one thing, it's the edges of the triangle that are being emphasized. The triangle itself is just more asphalt. Essentially the triangle is made of "nothing." And there is no real base to the bottom of the triangle either.
Which leads me to think of the triangle shape in this picture not as a pyramid but as an an arrow. Instead of looking at an object as being strong and stable, we are being directed.
When interpreted in this way, the picture is almost like a shot from a detective movie. There are clues on the ground which seem to be related somewhat. There is a floormat from a car and what looks to be some wiring that can also be from a car. And there is the loose sneaker. Has there been an accident?
There are many arrows pointing us forward to investigate further. In fact, the mass of arrows point us forward and out of the picture via the top right hand corner, as if to say, "there beyond the picture lies the answer to the mystery".
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And because we can't see what's beyond the picture, we are slighly frustrated in our attempts to understand what is going on. (Director Roman Polanski is famous for using a similar visual strategy in his classic detective film, Chinatown, in the early 1970s.)
By the way, the fact that the picture seems entirely composed of triangles is very interesting too. Its a visual situation the Greeks called Analogie, meaning self-similarity. Analogie is an effective way to unify or harmonize a picture around a single graphic theme, in this case the directing arrow, by proliferating that theme thoughout the picture in various sizes and placements and with varying degrees of perceptibility.
Sometimes, on the other hand, there are different recognizeable shapes scattered throughout the composition. We can look at these shapes in the same way we look at colors in a color scheme. As Dominant, Subdominant and Accents, with the Dominant theme providing most of the graphic meaning, as we would expect.
ON INTERPRETATION
I'd like to just take a moment to explain that this process of analyzing shapes although fun, is not capricious. The meanings of shapes, while open to interpretation to a certain degree, are not arbitrarily assigned.
An upright triangle shape can't just be interpreted in any old way. The meaning of a triangle as symbolizing strength and stability is a very old association. Mostly, I believe, because it comes out of the facts of our world; For instance, that mountains are triangularly-shaped and are strong and stable. Or, in the case of the circle shape, that the moon in the sky is clearly a whole, self-contained world somewhere beyond ours.
So you see, all the meanings associated with the basic shapes are based on human experience of the world. Not guess work.
Because of this fact, the most common shapes, again like triangles and circles, have a real common currency among all people of all nations. There is no people on earth that have not seen the sun or moon or a triangular-shaped mountain. Thus, the symbolic shapes of which we speak are a sort of universal and primal language.
COMMON SHAPES and their associated meanings
Okay, I think we see the basics of how shapes work in conjunction with the content of pictures. Now I'd like to go through some more common shapes and their associated meanings. Though I'll start with a few basic thoughts on line.
VERTICALS AND HORIZONTALS
Verticals tend to have associations of dignity and awe: A tall man, the Washington monument, Greek columns, a church spire, etc. Verticals travel from the earth to the sky and thus they seem to reach towards greater things, aspiring to something.
Horizontals tend to be associated with calmness and tranquility: A still lake, a sleeping person, the unchanging horizon.
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When combined in a picture, verticals and horizontals lend an air of formality and calm dignity. As in this very formal and classic portrait of a Hollstein cow.
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SQUARE
Verticals and Horizontals can also combine to form Squares. Thus Squares tend to have similar associations to their component lines. But they also have an association of being man made, since Squares don't readily appear in nature. So they are associated with Order and Precision as well as with Measurement and Demarcation.
Here's a picture of a calf that uses squares as its motif, some obvious, some less so.
The combined meaning of the Calf wobbling forward and the order imposed by the Squares leads to various speculations about possible meanings. But let's leave deep interpretation alone for a moment and just concentrate on identifying various shapes and their associations.
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SPIRAL
Spirals are hypnotic. They are associated with Mystery (as in Spiralling Towards the Truth) and they also have associations with whirlpools and hurricanes, and the idea of evolution or transformation.
Here's a graphic that shows the iconic version of the Spiral and then a slightly modified version of it. And then, lastly, a graphic version of how a Spiral might appear in a real-world situation in a photograph.
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This picture would normally be a simple picture of a tranquil forest road, but the spirals lend an element of mystery and a slight feeling that we are being drawn into the forest. The effect is almost that of vertigo.
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PINWHEEL
Pinwheels are similar to spirals in that they are somewhat hypnotic. But they are more about Continuous Action than about Mystery. The eye tends to move around the wheel following the curve of its arms rather than towards the center as in a spiral.
Here's a graphic that shows three iconic versions of the Pinwheel shape.
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In this photograph the pinwheel effect is very pronounced and the eye actively swirls around the picture. In fact, there are several pinwheels underlying this picture, only one of which has been isolated in the overlay. Again the feeling is that of vertigo as we look down the side of this mountain.
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LIGHTNING BOLT
A Lightning bolt is a great graphic symbol for energy, pure energy. And like real lightning, the lightning bolt symbol is also very exciting visually. Lightning Bolt shapes, Pinwheels and Spirals provide the graphic foundation for most action pictures. Lightning bolts can also be visualized as zig-zags.
Here's a graphic that shows the iconic version of the Lightning Bolt and then a slightly modified version of it. And then, lastly, a graphic version of how a Lightning Bolt might appear in a real-world situation in a photograph.
Here's a few photograph showing how the lightning bolt or zig-zag shapes lend graphic excitement to two very different scenes.
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ELLIPSIS
An ellipsis is a three-dot-in-a-row mark (...) used in written language to denote the passage of time and, therefore to mark the omission of some information. "Once upon a time..." is the most commonly known usage of an ellipsis. The ellipsis is indicating that information is forthcoming, but doesn't specify what it is.
The same three dots are used to indicate missing words in the middle of a quoted passage; "Bill went to the store... and was arrested" and they also can lead into a sentence as in "...and they lived happily ever after."
The ellipsis has a counterpart in visual art that means essentially the same thing. That time is passing. Think of it as you would three panels of a comic book that are all the same. Time passes, nothing is happening. Dot. Dot. Dot.
The picture below has three structures in the classic Ellipsis configuration that are almost identical. Time is clearly passing in this picture. And not much is changing on the ground. Roll over image.
THOUGHT BALLOON
A Thought Balloon is sort of a modified ellipsis. It is a graphic representation of puffs of smoke that expand into a cloud over time. As when a small idea leads to the unfolding of a grand theory. Something is "taking shape" in the imagination.
I suppose the cloud aspect of it refers to the fact that when we look at clouds in the sky, their amorphous shapes often suggest recognizable forms to us, and thus fire our imaginations.
The picture below is almost a dead ringer for the icon of the thought balloon. Roll over image.
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Here's the same picture from before that contains the near iconic version of the ellipsis. But now I've emphasized the clouds overtop. Notice how each cloud is a thought balloon unto itself.
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And also how taken together the three clouds create a similar, larger, version of a thought balloon. Again, this is called Analogie.
In terms of meaning, we have thoughts within thoughts floating above stillness. Its a very interesting and powerful image.
(By the way, a similar series of thought-balloon clouds appear in the sky in the photograph of the triangular road, presented earlier. Its worth looking back at, because those shapes definitely enrich the picture's meaning.)
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COMPLEXITY
Of course we've stayed fairly "close to shore" in the pictures we've analyzed so far; Basic shapes, nothing too radical or difficult to parse. Certainly the graphic design of a photo can get a lot more complex than has been shown here, and thus the symbolics that much more difficult to isolate and examine.
And I'm sure that often the tangle of shapes we capture in a picture is so confused and intermingled that the "meaning" of the image simply can't be parsed piece by piece. Maybe the shapes of a picture look like a haphazard patchwork quilt, where every shape you can think of is mixed together and no shapes dominate.
But that can be a kind of meaning in its own right.
A patchwork quilt of shapes is probably something of a patchwork quilt of a picture. And when we're talking about the teeming mass of connected humanity and commerce of a busy city, a patchwork quilt is an apt metaphor: There's a Unity of Thought in that too.
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LAST THOUGHTS
Once we become sensitized to the master shapes buried in compositions, they become far more obvious to us. And we become better able to frame them at will in our work, even unconsciously. In fact, we might now find ourselves bothered when we see rather slapdash uses of primary shapes in others' compositions.
For instance, if a primary shape is just too bold or obvious. Or if a shape screams "Symbol!" Remember, the point of using meaningful graphic undercurrents in a picture is to enhance the subject matter.
And that's why I'd like to impart this bit of artistic wisdom from one of the true graphics masters, Alphonse Mucha. He told his students the following:
HIDE YOUR ARTISTRY.
Great advice no matter what medium you're working in. Especially since getting "caught being clever" is a prime artistic no no.
And beyond that, the greatest benefit of hiding your artistry is to ensure that the symbols you encode in your work won't be visible to a viewer's critical faculties. Thus, they'll zip right past the eyes, directly into the subconsciousness. That makes for a powerful emotional reaction in the viewer.
A QUICK NOTE ABOUT IRONY
Another issue we might begin to notice is that in some compositions the graphic meaning seems to work counter to the content of the photo. Unless a ironic statement is intended, this disconnect can ruin a picture.
III. CONCLUSIONS
I've always found it interesting that there is more than one level of information going on in a work of visual art. All along, strong shapes have lurked below the surface. And these shapes, at any given moment, are streaming through the content of a picture and into our subconscious minds, affecting us at a very primal level. Thus every image we view and every image we create is probably both more meaningful and more complex than we had previously thought.
I think we've seen enough examples now to appreciate just how some of these meanings arise. And hopefully our awareness about this topic has increased. And maybe this lesson will be a small step towards a more direct usage of the symbols of the primal language of shapes to enrich our compositions.
But even if we decide to ignore the undergirding graphic designs of our photographs, those shapes and meanings and associations will still be present. There's no way around it, a synthesis of form and content happens every time we snap the shutter.
THE END
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