Hello this is Rick Allen and welcome to another podcast on Dynamic Symmetry.  The topic of this podcast will be “ Eye Line and Ambiguous Backgrounds.”

We all know that dynamic symmetry can create visual tension in a photograph. And we know that certain design elements such as diagonal lines and inverted triangles can effectively manifest the opposite of harmony, of which Visual Balance was the topic of the last video podcast.

In this podcast, we will look at other techniques, more subtle and hopefully more engaging and ultimately more rewarding to the viewer once the elements are recognized understood as having created tension. 

Many retouchers and instructors of composition teach that the eye should move outwardly from the center.  It is perhaps the easiest form of dynamic symmetry, and as such is amongst the simplest.  Because the method is simple, it is frequently used - not because it appears amateurish, but because many of us tend to isolate and simplify our subject matter as a routine matter of composition. 

Another reason why many retouchers and photographers do not use multiple forms of dynamic symmetry is because it can be overused.  For example, how often have we seen images where the saturation is pushed beyond believable levels.  There is nothing wrong with the concept per se, but a collection of images with similar levels of saturation  can quickly appear as having limited breadth of expression. And what started out as a way to slow the viewers’ eye, ends up achieving the opposite.

One technique that I like that doesn’t obviously appear as dynamic tension is that of opposing eye line.  When two subjects in an image face in different directions, for example one looking out of the image camera right and another looking out camera left, the viewer can be stalled, wondering what is beyond the image in both directions.   Some viewers will find such images disconcerting, because they cannot readily identify a visual equilibrium.  If this is the photographer’s intention, then it is also mission accomplished.

You may recall from a previous podcast that the Gestalt school teaches the principle of continuation, that the viewer will look for clues outside the frame if there is an expectation or rhythm set up inside the frame.

Diverging lines are also a form of dynamic tension.  Whereas one typically finds comfort in convergence, the opposite is true of divergence.  When used appropriately, this technique leads the eye out of the image in multiple directions.  Again, some viewers may find this method disturbing, simply because they cannot readily identify a central resting point for the eye or because they cannot easily create a story line. 

Another completely different form of dynamic tension results when the foreground and background are ambiguous.

It almost goes without saying that in life as in most of our photos, there is an obvious foreground element or subject.  If we are accomplished photographers, a background is selected which nicely complements our subject. 

As retouchers, we accentuate that form of composition by lightening the foreground and/or darkening the background.  Alternatively, we might create sharper focus or enhance the color or hue of foreground elements while simultaneously softening focus and contrast or even desaturating parts of the background so that it recedes away from our foreground elements.

But there are some compositions where the subject is part of the background and the foreground then requires softer focus, lower contrast or luminance, and desaturated colors.  Imagine, for example, shooting out the window on a bright summer day.  The inside of the house will appear dark, so as not to blow out the exposure of the background. 

As retouchers, we may wish to further simplify the image by causing the foreground to go into silhouette, removing details that would capture the viewer’s eye from moving towards the more important background elements.  

This technique can be pushed even further, either in the camera or in post.  Let’s imagine a shot where a person is standing in front of the window, indeed silhouetted against the window.  Let’s further imagine the dimension or size of the silhouetted person is about the same size as the background subject.  The eye can become confused by the abstraction of foreground and background.  Careful cropping, so as to create equal areas of foreground and background can further exacerbate the viewer’s ambiguity.

The purpose of these techniques is not to encourage the creation of confusing images, but to make you aware when and where the viewers’ eye can become confused.  And, if used sparingly, they can elp create quite profound images, where viewers will sit for long periods trying to understand the origin of their confusion. 

As advanced retouchers, our job is to create more subtle and hopefully more engaging images, which ultimately are found to be more rewarding by the viewer once the elements are recognized and then understood and finally interpreted into meanings more profound than a simple arrangement of design elements.

That’s enough for today,  Thanks for listening, and until we speak again, this is Rick Allen.

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