Friday, January 18, 2008

Ancient Coins, Photography And Texture


I am using the coin photograph above to illustrate how texture can be used to effectively enhance our photos. I have taken the exercise to an almost absurd level in an effort to illustrate my principle. Please look at the photo on the left and you immediately see how the negative space (the background) competes for visual recognition with our central subject matter which is the coin. I have chosen a negative area that is not very subtle to demonstrate how the eye desires relief from the complexity of the overall composition.

Now, choose a piece of paper and block-out the highly textured left side of the photo by holding the paper in the proper location on your monitor. Your eye feels immediate relief from the complexity of the composition as it rests on the non-textured right photo. With the textured photo there is conflict and with the non-textured photo the eye finds the calm it seeks and desires.

There is visual conflict even if one uses a heavily textured fabric such as burlap or cotton duck. Also observe that I have used a cool color with a smooth surface for the negative space on the right.

Please try this exercise on your photos and you will get much better results as you learn and apply these simple principles. Please let me know if this information is meaningful to you and if so, please bookmark. Thank you and God Bless.. Jerry..


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