{"id":44,"date":"2007-05-31T06:11:36","date_gmt":"2007-05-31T06:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetneil.com\/tangents\/2007\/05\/31\/tilted-compositions\/"},"modified":"2017-11-27T19:28:43","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T23:28:43","slug":"photography-tilted-compositions-dutch-angle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/photography-tilted-compositions-dutch-angle\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographic composition – Tilted compositions \/ Dutch angle"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tilted compositions \/ Dutch angle<\/h1>\n

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. There is a rationale though behind\u00a0tilted compositions \/ the Dutch angle – the balance of the photo.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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However, when an image has certain elements that fall along a strong perpendicular line, then a tilted image has a dynamic balance<\/strong>. Instead of things in the photo looking like they are about to topple over, there is an equilibrium.<\/p>\n

Note\u00a0how the model’s face, hand and foot all fall along a perpendicular line … and the composition which is quite dynamic, seems ‘at rest’.<\/p>\n

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