Rule of thirds, Depth of Field, Leading Lines in Photography

Three skills of PhotographyThe skilled professional images here on my post this week are examples of 3 types of general rules people should try to use when they seek to capture beautiful shots. There is an area of experimentation which helps the photographer eliminate unwanted shots so the final drafts here are their best attempts.

flickr.com — ‘Sunrise on the Boardwalk ‘
Captured by Artura Donate

‘Sunrise on the Boardwalk ‘
Captured by Artura Donate

Leading Lines

This sea dock makes the viewer want to run to the end of the boardwalk to see the sand and the surf. This method creates movement. We start in the lower edge of the photograph and then look gradually deeper out to sea where we notice the sunrise. Vertical, diagonal, and horizontal lines all converge at the sunrise. It’s not only shows depth, but is inviting as well.

home photo — My back porch image to demonstrate the use of leading lines. There are diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines shown. The eyes follow a natural path to the bottom.

Depth of Field

man with hand — My draw-over to show the depth by focusing on the hand and blurring the background. Some of the body is purposely obscured to focus on the hand.

Michael Zhang took this picture on March 23, 2009. It is of a friend who fell asleep on the floor. The hand is in sharp focus and the highlight of the picture while the background is blurred so it won’t distract from the hand.

missionary in the mountain — I tried to draw around him to show how his body stands apart from the blurred city miles away from him. This shows layering and depth and the background does not distract us.

Rule of Thirds

Vysledek Obrazku 's collection — Seashell at the beach was captured by Vysledek Obrazku and added to her shots of various seashells illustrating the rule of thirds. This image is off centered and intersects at the lower right corner, but is balanced by the ocean waves behind it. The focus is drawn to the shell instead of the water.

sea shell at the water — Here I have drawn around the shell to show how it stands apart from the ocean and appears to be in front of the waves. Because the shell is not crowded out by the lighting or the ocean, it is the highlight of the scene. If you can imagine a grid , this shell meets at the intersection of points.

Bird and balance — My example of how balance and focus are achieved by putting the most important subject at the intersecting points of a grid.

spring time bird — Here I’ve drawn a grid on the bird scene to show you how the eye naturally focuses here and how the flowers ( which are less important ) bring balance to the photo.

Conclusion:

These 6 images tell us some of the rules of photography that form appealing pictures because they have been carefully captured using the rule of thirds, balancing off center, viewpoint, back ground, depth of field, leading lines and cropping. With natural lighting and timing the subject’s presentation is caught just at the right moment which I found all the pictures both beautiful and informative.

Typography Flurries

unofficial service ad — Credits
Advertising Agency: DDB Denmark
Creative Directors: Jesper Schmidt, Patrik Danielsson
Art Director: Mikkel Møller
Copywriter: Bue Peitersen
Photographer: Thomas Juul

This design team did a series of advertisements for the McDonald’s company relating to the various ice cream flavor enhancements to their flurry desserts in 2009. Choices include caramel, chocolate, strawberry and then a mixture of nuts .

Typeface #1

The first letter in the Mona ad is a ‘m’ created with a mixture of nuts and chocolate and styled in a modern font with a serif type recognized by the horizontal foot at the top right and lower left corners. In addition, there is a thick to thin transition within the character .

Typeface #2

The ‘o’ is displayed by use of the actual flurry cup filled with vanilla, creamy, goodness. It is a appealing way to draw in the eye, while at the same time, the ice cream cup functions as a letter. This decorative typeface uses both methods successfully.

Typeface #3

The last two letters: ‘n & a” have been scripted in rich, brown, chocolate. The variation in the letters portrays a velvety smoothness which makes chocolate lovers want to lick their lips and taste it. The font used is a decorative, old style slab serif characterized by a horizontal foot at the tip of the ‘n’ and the slight variation of thicknesses is shown throughout each letter.

Conclusion

The designers did a great job using color to contrast the background from the words. They used light blue which is cool and refreshing with a series of browns, beiges and creams in the wording. That blue hue compliments the white, ice cold, flurry ice cream and it’s additives. Even the individual letters all stand out from one another to show the several options the consumer can choose from when he purchases the product. There are crunchy nuts with chunks of chocolate, and melting, warm chocolate spread. The mcDonalds company is offering mix- in options to vanilla ice cream to delight the consumer’s tase for variety in frozen desserts.

Even the title of the dessert: Mcflurry is a advertising gimmick to refer us back to the company’s overall standing as a friendly, family style establishment. The colors of red and yellow have been associated with food for years.

Shaking Up the Shakeology Design Advertisement

Shakeology advertisement design qualities were deconstructed here to illustrate how how the use of Proximity, alignment, repetition, color and contrast have been use in the making of this advertisement.

https://4healthresults.com/shakeology-reviews/

Shakeology logo, owned by Beachbody, LLC

Proximity

The large title of Shakeology is grouped with it’s subtitle phrase indicating a relationship. The brightly colored fruits and herbs are stationed along the bottom to show a relationship and finally, the 4 drinks stand together as one group. These attributes distinguish this ad to show the relationship between the drinks and the fruits. They are both necessary to achieve the health benefits of the smoothy.

Alignment

The creators used alignment well in this ad by centering it and leaving lots of white space to draw your eye in. All the drinks are equally distanced from one another. Although center alignment is usually weak, it is not in this instance because there is a concentration in the middle and lots of white space to rest your eyes.

Repetition

This design is simply the 4 drinks standing right next to each other in a row. This consistency helps us see the several varieties of flavors and colors available.

Color

Here the use of color greatly enhances the value of the smoothies. The varying use of green hues help the reader see a well balanced nutritious option that stems from nature its self. It evokes a clean, healthy and inviting appeal to those seeking better health.

Contrast

The contrast helps us recognize the main idea of this advertisement. The title is a gradient shade of grey with a lime green subtitle beneath it. It is quite clear how the drinks are the star of this message as they are presented in their beautiful and various colors against a pale, white background. The ripe herbs and fruits add a fresh feeling of natural dependency on our need for them .

Overall this ad campaign used the basic design qualities well. It is both captivating and inviting. It was designed to invite the reader to sample their products by luring us by our desire to get-well and be healthy.