Picture Perfect

In today's article on Multimodal Polyphony I was intrigued by the section on framing and cropping photography. It's amazing how by moving the focus of the picture or by cropping out certain parts of a picture you can convey an entirely different idea apart from the whole.  Additionally, you can use different photography techniques like the "golden section" in addition to cropping and framing to create the best product of the image you're portraying.

The golden section is when you divide a picture into three sections horizontally and vertically. By doing so, you give you're photograph a sense of depth and you can use natural elements, such as the horizon or color levels, to break up the photograph and key in on the most important parts. The golden section holds very similar concepts as another method of photography taking called the "rule of thirds." This is where an image is broken into sections and the goal is to place the key features of the image on the horizontal and vertical lines along with the meeting points. In both methods, the main idea is to adjust a photograph through framing and cropping so that the main features of the image you want to show stand out the most.

The fact of the matter is, cropped and framed photographs are more aesthetically pleasing and can relay more meaning than a photograph unchanged. Human error can account for many flaws or question marks in the meaning of a photo. It is only trough the use of cropping and framing that the author can really focus on what they desired to show. With the technology to shape and fix up photographs it has really improved newspapers, magazines, and television and internet pictures.



Discussion Questions to Ponder?

1) What is the difference between the golden section and the rule of thirds?

2) What percentage of magazine photos are cropped or framed?