Art of Composition Part Seven

From the beginning of this series on the Art of Composition, we got bogged down in discussion about depth of field. This isn’t exactly a topic that is typically brought into the conversations about composition. Yet, I have a difficult time thinking of a better place to begin. The ability to understand how we include or exclude all the stuff in our composition means everything. And from the previous articles, you should understand that there is so much more that goes into depth of field, and bokeh, than just f/stops.

But now it’s time to move on.

And for me, the natural evolution of this series is to move straight away from the technicality of depth of field into understanding vantage points in composition. Depth of field, as we discussed, is all about how we can use the technology in our hands to include or exclude the most basic details of “stuff” in our composition. Vantage point, however, is how we control the way someone feels about our subject in relation to all that stuff.

Let’s lay down some basic definitions as to what I even mean here.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines vantage point as the position from which something is viewed.

But maybe the simplest way of thinking about this in wildlife photography is the cameras placement in relationship to your subject’s eyes.

Vantage point is all about deciding how close or far away we should be from a subject. Vantage point is all about deciding whether our lens should be level with a subject’s eyes, looking down at the subject, or looking up at them. And all of this profoundly changes the way another person experiences and feels about what we created with our photograph.

This notion of feeling is the point of it all.

Both the greatest challenge and the greatest accomplishment of all visual art is causing someone to feel what you wanted them to. When we begin invoking a feeling, an emotion, an experience with our photography, is when we move away from taking snapshots and begin creating art.

Feelings of empathy are created through vantage points. Power and strength are created through vantage points. Anxiety and fear are evoked through the decisions we make on vantage points. In other words, vantage point is all about psychology. Shrug this off, ignore this, get this wrong, and you will never progress as a photographer and artist because psychology and emotion and feeling are the foundation of art.

Does this sound confusing?

Not to worry. All will be explained in short order.

Much like our earlier foray into depth of field, this discussion on vantage point will span the course of several articles. This is important stuff if you want to progress as a wildlife photographer, artist, and visual storyteller. And so, much ink will need to be spilled as we wade through all of this.

Stay tuned!