Portraits Two

When taking a photograph, the eye is naturally drawn to the brightest areas of an image, much like a bright light shining in your face. These are often the first things we notice, sometimes before we even register the main subject.

By turning an image upside down, the brain finds it harder to recognise the scene and work out what it is looking at. Instead, we begin to notice the individual elements, particularly the brighter areas, rather than immediately recognising the subject as a whole. This helps demonstrate where our attention is naturally drawn when we look at the same image the right way up, and highlights the importance of recognising and controlling these distractions when composing a photograph.

Part of the photographer’s skill is learning to recognise and remove these distractions, whether through positioning, composition, lighting, cropping or editing (last resort) so that nothing competes with the subject.

In this image, (raw and unedited) it is not just the brightness of the wall or the rubbish surrounding the couple that draws attention away from them. There is also a lack of connection between the subjects and the photographer. They appear unaware of the camera, leaving the viewer feeling like an observer rather than being drawn into thier beautiful moment. Instead of connecting with the couple, our attention is pulled towards the surrounding details.

This demonstrates how both the environment and the relationship between the subject and the photographer can influence an image. A successful photograph needs more than an interesting subject; it needs to draw the viewer in and give them a reason to connect with what they see.