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01/12/2007 11:08:39 AM · #1 |
I've been looking through my portfolio and I realized that I tend to favour the right side of the frame when composing a shot.
   
It's not every shot, but there's a definite bias. I'm not sure why exactly.
Anyone else have a "side"? |
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01/12/2007 11:10:27 AM · #2 |
| depends which way the subject is facing a lot of times. All your subjects are facing the same direction. |
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01/12/2007 11:14:53 AM · #3 |
They are all facing the same direction, but I think I'm more likely to shoot a subject facing that way...or I seem to feel more comfortable with that orientation.
Just wondering if I'm alone in this. |
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01/12/2007 11:16:19 AM · #4 |
| Most of the time I put the focal point in the top right corner, a third of the way from the edges. Sometimes top left, but nearly always with a diagonal composition. Exceptions are rare (and usually don't score very well). |
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01/12/2007 11:20:54 AM · #5 |
Placing the weight on the right conforms with traditional rules and perceptions of composition. It is thus less of a personal preference than you might think. |
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01/12/2007 11:23:05 AM · #6 |
Lol, I guess I don't conform! Most of my shots that aren't centered tend to favor the left. I'm a lefty though, maybe that has something to do with it!
  
edit for spelling and add pics
Message edited by author 2007-01-12 11:25:34. |
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01/12/2007 11:25:48 AM · #7 |
"Placing the weight on the right conforms with traditional rules and perceptions of composition. It is thus less of a personal preference than you might think."
Interesting point.
When I was studying film, we were taught that the placement of characters (all the way back to Greek tragedy) was suggestive of their moral alignments. Good was on the right...and evil on the left (hence "sinister"). It was even suggested by a prof that this was the reason talk-show hosts are almost always on the right.
And as for the artist being unaware of the tradition...even as he or she conforms to it...I think that's absolutely valid. |
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01/12/2007 11:29:36 AM · #8 |
Is that mostly a western cultural weighting ? Or is it also true in cultures who read right to left ?
I know I usually 'read' a photo starting at the top left and working across/ down - unless guided by some compositional feature - so that right side placement gives more 'space' than if the subject is hard against the left edge.
But I wonder if that changes with reading style.
Personally I'm working really hard on changing my compositional side from showing the backs of people's heads, to showing the front.
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01/12/2007 11:54:54 AM · #9 |
I tend to put my subjects on the left. Could be because I use my left eye in the viewfinder. Who knows...
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01/12/2007 01:50:18 PM · #10 |
Looking through i tend to frame subject to the right.
Interesting.
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01/12/2007 01:55:01 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Is that mostly a western cultural weighting ? Or is it also true in cultures who read right to left ?
I know I usually 'read' a photo starting at the top left and working across/ down - unless guided by some compositional feature - so that right side placement gives more 'space' than if the subject is hard against the left edge.
But I wonder if that changes with reading style.
Personally I'm working really hard on changing my compositional side from showing the backs of people's heads, to showing the front. |
I was taught, in film class, that the way you described looking at an image is the way that the human eye - everyone - "reads" a photo thus if the POI is placed on the right of the image causing the eye to follow from right to left the photographer has created a conflict, not necessarily a bad thing. The reason why a centered composition is usually boring is that the eye actually loops around the center ignoring it completely. |
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01/12/2007 03:06:50 PM · #12 |
Generally speaking, I prefer to be "on top". Oh, sorry, perhaps that isn't what you meant.
If you are concerned about this bias you can always reverse some images to maintain 'balance'. Perhaps yours is a left-brain thing.
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