composition in photography – tilted compositions / Dutch angle
I am not a huge fan of tilted images, and I see it as an unfortunate visual ‘tic’ when I notice entire wedding galleries by other photographers where pretty much all the images are tilted at a very specific angle. That just means that little thought went into composition, and that composition and holding the camera has become a reflex action .. which just happens to include a 30′ tilt to the camera.
I tend to keep horizontal and vertical lines exactly that way … horizontal or vertical. But sometimes a tilted image just has more impact than one that is completely level. And it has been a “feel” thing for me. I never bothered to analyze why or when these images seemed to work better, since I have an aversion to over-intellectualized analysis of photography … and in this case composition. I feel that composition should be an instinctive reaction to the scene and subject.
But during a discussion at a photography workshop that I attended earlier this year, one of the attendees, (Rob Schneider), said something that immediately made sense to me and had quite a bit of impact on me since … that when an image has certain elements that fall along a strong perpendicular line, then a tilted image has a dynamic balance. Instead of things in the photo looking like they are about to topple over, there is an equilibrium.
When Rob said that, I went over the images we had taken over the course of the workshop and tried to see where it applied … and sure enough, my favorite images that had a tilt to them, had this kind of balance to them.
Look again at the image, and note how the model’s face, hand and foot all fall along a perpendicular line … and the composition which is quite dynamic, seems ‘at rest’.
other articles on composition in photography
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I have bookmarked a number of your tutorials and come back to them time and time again for refresher courses.
When I saw the tilted photo above, the vertical line created between her eyes, hand a foot screamed for that tilted composition. I’m glad to know that this treatment is an acceptable practice and there is technical documentation to back it up.
I really appreciate your work and your tutorials.
Tom
Comment by Tom Ireland — October 25, 2007 @ 7:21 pm
“I have an aversion to over-intellectualised analysis of photography”
Amen.
Comment by David — December 29, 2007 @ 9:30 am
Just a comment.
I’m have been a wedding photographer for almost 30yrs.
I said so because I have been part of most of the diferent trends in wedding photography , from Bill Stockwell ,Don Blair , Monte Zuker to David Jay and Yervant. Uffff , too much talented all
At the beguining of the digital revolution my photography spirit reborned due to the fact of new visions and the freedom it has.
All art has spirit dimension behind it and also has another side that can be intellectualised , the heart of an artist tend to express and then to comprehend and that is good and beautifull, so more artists can follow and create , more like a formula. You can work from your heart but you have to know what you are doing with your tools.
Thanks for all the valuable info you bring in your web tutorials , all of them make much sense to me.
God bless you all.
Comment by Julio — January 21, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
Perfect point of view, just like all the articles in this site. Congratulations and so many thanks for your support.
Comment by Paulo Ramalho — May 21, 2008 @ 9:20 am
I totally agree with what was said here about the line created here, there is balance and it is very strong.
Comment by Sheri Johnson — January 25, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
I hope you don’t mind, I linked to one of the photos in my write-up here: http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=207633 If you prefer, I can remove the link.
Thanks for the wonderful article!
Comment by Tim — May 5, 2010 @ 5:35 pm
Comment by Neil vN — May 5, 2010 @ 9:48 pm