A point is the smallest graphical element, if you join many points together you make a line. In mathematics, a point doesn’t have any weight at all, it indicates a place. So compositionally, a point has to be small within the frame and its position is generally more important than its form.
Take three of four photographs in which a single point is placed in different parts of the frame. When composing the shots use these three rules: the place of the point shouldn’t be too obvious (such as right in the middle), the composition should hold a tension and be balanced (the golden section or rule of thirds) and the point should be easy to see. Evaluate the shots according to these rules and select which one you think works best.
I found this exercise quite difficult, I scratched my head over it for some time until in the end I went for a walk with my camera and decided to see where I ended up! My walk took me to my local cricket club where I decided to use my point of frame as the white bench. As you can see from image one and two I have set the point to either side of the frame and not the middle – I believe this gives the photo more narrative. For example, I reviewed it against my last photo where the point ‘bench’ is set in the centre. This photo reads as nothing other than a white bench in a field? Someone’s garden? It told us very little. Whereas, my first photo I can see a little track and another bench – this makes me think it isn’t someone’s garden it is for the public, but what can you see when sat there? There are still a lot of unanswered questions. My second photo gives away a lot more- this time I have focused the point to the left side of the frame and it allows us to see a cricket score board within the image. This allows the viewer to determinethat the image is taken on a cricket field and the bench is there for spectators. I believe this emphasis’s the importance of where you place the point within the frame and what else fits within the frame can help viewers imagine where the photos are taken.
I then took these three shots below without any rules – I didn’t stand so close to the point ‘bench’ I walked further around the field and then took some photos from more of a distance. It would be hard to tell what the point is with these shots – the cricket board is more capturing as it is bigger but the bench helps to create more of an imaginative picture e.g. I begin to picture the cricket match sitting with my family, a picnic and watching the game together.
Heather Wade OCA Blog 