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The ability to draw the attention of a viewer through a photograph is a vital skill that every photographer must master in order to create memorable work that stands out above the competition.
Every photo is made up of many different elements and, as a photographer, you have to learn how to use them to your advantage to control the way that your audience experiences your photo. The best photography is not created by luck or sheer chance but instead, it’s carefully crafted and designed to have the maximum impact on its viewer.
Compositional skills are essential to be able to guide your viewers’ gaze through the image in the way that you want, however, it’s also important to understand how the human eye itself works!
How Does the Human Eye Actually See a Photograph?
As we go about our daily lives we are absolutely bombarded with so many different things to see, absorb and understand, that we can’t possibly think about it all! This means that we actually ignore quite a lot of the information that the world offers to us because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to function properly. This process occurs subconsciously and so most of the time we aren’t even aware that it’s happening.
Of course, if something potentially dangerous comes across our path then our mind immediately gives it our full attention; but, on the other hand, we don’t ‘see’ every blade of grass in the park and instead our mind just fills in the blanks that we don’t look at!
There’s been a lot of scientific study done into the way that the human eyes and mind work together to see the world and luckily for photographers we can use this information to help make our images more impactful and attention grabbing!
When somebody looks at a photo they don’t actually see the whole photo all at once – even though it might feel like that. Instead, their eyes move through the photo – being led by subconscious cues and signals in the image as their mind tries to make sense of it. An important thing to realize is that if the photo has a strong, and easy to follow ‘path’ for the brain to maneuver through it, then it will ‘feel’ more satisfying and the viewer will immediately like the picture without even knowing why! On the other hand, if an image is too cluttered and busy with poor composition then the mind will switch off and the viewer won’t like it at all!
Tools You Can Use in Your Photography To Draw the Attention of the Viewer.
Brightness.
One of the most effective ways of drawing the attention of your viewer in your photography is by using variations in brightness. If you include an area of brightness in your image then your viewer’s eyes will naturally be drawn to that element of the picture. You can also use darkness in areas of the image where you don’t want your viewer’s gaze to focus.
The more you can control the areas of brightness and darkness in an image the more you can dictate where your audience’s attention will be drawn. If you are using artificial lighting then you can create dramatic images that give you a huge amount of control over where your viewers’ eyes will go first.
Remember, even if the lighting in your photo is not particularly effective you can still improve this in post production. Tweaking the brightness levels, even slightly, can create significant improvements in your work, so don’t be afraid to experiment in post production to see what you can do!
Contrast.
Our eyes are naturally drawn to areas of high contrast, not only in photos but in real life as well. This helps us to make sense of the shapes and forms that make up our world but in photos it’s also an important signal for the human mind.
An image that is dull, with very little contrast, is rarely visually appealing and so if you want to draw the attention of your audience you need to ensure that you can add some strong contrasts within the image. A good way to do this is to create areas of contrast around the central subject of the photo so that it clearly stands out and will be appealing to look at.
There are a few tricks that you can use to increase the contrast in your images that include overexposing the background so that it is more contrasted with the foreground. Alternatively, you can underexpose the foreground which will slightly silhouette the subject and create a stronger contrast with the background.
Of course, if you want to, you can also increase the levels of contrast in post production as well. When working in the editing suite you can increase the contrast in parts of the image where you want to draw attention and reduce it in parts of the image that you don’t want to distract the viewer from the main subject.
Color.
Color has a strong influence on the mood of an image but you can also use it to draw the attention of the viewer’s gaze. If you use colors that are muted and dull the eye will not be attracted to them whereas bright colors will instantly attract attention. There’s a huge amount of possible experimentation that you can do with this technique and it will, to a certain extent, be a process of trial and error.
Often, in reality, you won’t be able to change the colors of the subjects you are photographing but you can still have an influence over what kind of background you use. If you want your subject to really stand out then you can contrast their colors with the colors of their background.
Remember, you can use complementary and contrasting colors to good effect as well. If two elements of a photo are made up of complementary colors then the eye will naturally move from one to the other and the viewer will get a feeling of harmony; and although this won’t be as impactful as contrasting colors it will still be a satisfying experience for the viewer.
If you’re working with a model be sure to carefully select the color of their clothes so that you can use that as part of your compositional strategy to draw the viewer’s attention to where you want in the photos.
You can also do a lot of work with color in post production, from changing their intensities to subtracting certain colors. This can be helpful but if you’re not careful it can end up looking too unnatural which might in itself put off viewers from appreciating the photo.
Focus.
Our eyes are always drawn to things that are in focus and, in fact, we tend to dislike looking at things which are blurry or out of focus. You can use the sharpness of elements in your photography to draw the attention of your audience in an almost guaranteed way!
For instance, if you use a large aperture and a small depth of field, to create a bokeh background with the subject in clear focus, then the viewer will be drawn to the subject instinctively!
You need to be careful not to overuse this technique and to make sure that the subject is in crystal clear focus or it will be very unsatisfying for your audiences.
Rule of Thirds.
The Rule of Thirds is a compositional technique that photography picked up from fine art and involves conceptually dividing the frame into a grid of 9 segments, with 3 horizontal lines and 3 vertical lines. The human eye is naturally drawn to the intersections of these lines – even without seeing the grid lines – and so by placing your subject at these points in the frame your viewer’s attention will be drawn to them!
Leading Lines.
This famous compositional tool dates back to the art of the Renaissance and is one the most tried and tested methods of drawing a viewer’s attention in your work. The human mind naturally follows the leading lines in the image which means that you can control the way that someone sees your photo with a lot of accuracy.
Leading lines are a set of lines that are positioned within the frame to ‘lead’ the viewer’s attention towards the central subject of the photo. Classic examples of leading lines include train tracks or a sea shore which almost force the viewer’s eyes to follow them to their conclusion. This is a great way to create depth in your photos but it also helps to build narrative.
Often considered one of the most effective ways of leading your viewer’s eyes through a photo it’s an absolutely essential skill for every photographer, both amateur and professional, to master!
Drawing the Attention of Your Audience Gives You Control Over How They Experience Your Photography.
From subtle variations in contrast and brightness to the clever use of leading lines, you can quickly build a meaningful relationship with your audience. When you get it right your viewers will feel satisfied and become instant fans of your work and of course, if you get it wrong, your photos may fall flat on deaf ears.
Using the compositional techniques of drawing your viewer’s attention allows you to take photos with a strong narrative structure and depth which will speak to the subconscious mind of your audience. When you start to learn to control the way that your viewer’s experience your photos you can really begin to create highly impactful images that will be extremely memorable.
Is there a particular tactic that you use to draw attention to your photographs?
Gallery: Please visit the gallery to view images in full size. From the gallery, you will be able to add the images to the shopping cart and checkout. YouTube: I have a YouTube Channel (Hari PHL) where I post videos once a week. Please subscribe to my channel and share my videos. I appreciate your support. Thank you for visiting my site.
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