How to Create More Interesting Images
What makes an interesting image? This 2-part article will discuss 3 valuable concepts that can help you get more creative shots in even the least creative of places.
These concepts can help train your eye and enhance the ideas you already have planned. Even with more experienced filmmakers, these aspects serve as a great reminder to think about the possibilities of visuals beyond that of ‘this shot illustrates scene x of the story’. You can transform an ordinary shot into its own art work within the film.
Concept #1 Framing
Framing is how you want the viewer to see the scene overall: its perspective. What angle we’ll be seeing the action taking place. This depends on what the action is. The decision, however, also depends on your artistic choice in illustrating the story. Let’s take a look at a still from one of my films I made for Project 52: Thoughts ‘Lemons’ and my reasoning behind it. I encourage watching the whole film, because then you can get a better idea of how this shot fits in with the whole story. But to be succinct, I wanted to show lemons falling from the sky for this scene.
Still from “Project 52 Thoughts: #22 Lemons” (2015)
Watch the short film here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoWfS07qpMU
I utilized a high angle shot. The name explains what the camera is doing. It’s at a higher angle, so the camera, a.k.a. you, is looking down at the subject. I wanted a shot of the lemon from the perspective of the metaphorical place or person who would be dropping it, creating more magic to the scene. The lemon was the object I wanted to focus on rather than the person. This angle, I thought, communicated the focus better than if it was a more standard, medium-wide shot, used in other areas of the film. This choice also conveyed a line of sight for the next shot. After the subject looked up in this scene, I cut to a shot of the clouds.
Changing up the angle during your film, let’s you emphasize an event or showcase a new point of view. The can create more interest in the scene. Don’t be limited by the standard ‘Shot Types’ list, from reference materials. (Though, that is a good place to start if you’d like to learn some basic set-ups.) Get inventive with places to position the camera, on or off the tripod. Try it out and see what fits best to represent each piece of your unfolding story.
The term ‘framing’ can also describe the act of using a frame within the scene, to surround the subject, to draw your eye in. Imagine an open door to a hallway, and a person standing far down in the middle the hall. The physical doorframe acts as the frame for your eye’s sight to the person. It draws you down into the hall where the person is. I think this usage begins to overlap with composition. But, hang in there. We’re going to talk about that concept, right now.
Concept #2 Composition
Composition is how you want the viewer to see what’s in the scene: its arrangement. I learned something new when writing this article: There is a difference between framing and composition. I initially thought the two terms were interchangeable, but they are different. (The great and concise article that helped me, and one I recommend, is linked at the end of this post.) Now, this is how I remember the two concepts. Framing gets the correct point-of-view for your shot, the general look. Composition is how you take what you see in the ‘frame’ and arrange it. It is the fine-tuning, the detail work. After you select your angle, how are the subjects and props set within the scene?
I’m going to use another still from Project 52: Thoughts, via the short film: ‘Creative’. I think this film is one of my best for interesting compositions, especially in nature (one of my favorite things to shoot).
Still from “Project 52 Thoughts: #50 Creative” (2015)
Watch the short film here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhwflHIcHBE
This scene has a background (out-of-focus tree trunks and branches), middle ground (person walking), and foreground (in-focus tree trunks and leaves). These distinct areas create depth to the scene. Choosing your focus can influence this look as well. I chose to leave the closest trees in focus, because the colors in the clothing and movement of the subject emphasize the intended focal point of the scene enough on their own. Focusing the camera on the person, rather than the closer object, would have made the leaves and larger trunks blurry as I walked by, and I thought that would be distracting with the action taking place behind them. Plus, I didn’t think it would look as appealing. (This is where you use your own creative taste and develop your style of imagery.)
One other aspect to mention in this image is the use of rule-of-thirds. Rule-of-thirds is the creative guideline that when composing an image, you should divide the frame into three equal sections (by thirds) horizontally and vertically. Where your imaginary lines intersect is the area you should consider placing elements within your scene. By following this rule, it is argued you gain more interest to your scene verses always putting an element in the center of the image. Again, with any of these concepts, it’s up to you how to use them. In this case, though, I think it worked well and is a good example of this technique.
Okay, let’s look back to the still. See how three tree trunk sections divide the image— one large at the left, two thin in the middle, and two medium on the right? These representative lines divide up the image equally, giving more visual interest, in my opinion. If they weren’t there, and I shot the scene around them rather than through them, it wouldn’t give you the impression of a forest, would it? It would look more like I was walking in front of a bunch of tree branches, like on a cleared path, rather than going through them, off of a path. This would have not given the effect I wanted.
The key thing to remember for composition is the arrangement of things. There are many more techniques for composing images than the ones I’ve discussed. The more you experiment, and the more you learn, the better you are able to pull from your own knowledge base to produce the style and effect you want.
I suggest researching “the elements and principles of art”. I find that these definitions can offer new ways to look at crafting images. Plus, they act as a great visual reference for future projects. Your creative decisions with these elements produce the film you want. Please remember too, that these are not strict rules and not all elements have to be used to tell a captivating story. It is up to you how you want to illustrate your work. These are some new tools, now it’s up to you to use them and make something. That’s the beauty with digital, review it immediately and if doesn’t work… try again! You can do it. Keep creating.
This post became a reality, thanks to a great suggestion by fellow artist and friend, Kayla. She runs a fantastic new blog, Live Mind Mag, aimed at imaginative individuals to share their work, offer advice, and be a virtual platform of creativity and inspiration.
If you’d like to read another feature on this topic, I’ve discussed concept #3 over on Kayla’s guest blog on the site called Freehand. The post is available through the link, below:
Thank you for reading.
Notes:
“The difference between framing and composition”
Basic Shot Types with Images
Composition Techniques