Composition: It Means More Than You Think

When looking at an image, whether it be a photograph, a newspaper, a magazine, or a painting, composition may not be the first thing you are drawn to if you aren't a trained photographer or artist. You might first look at the image on a surface level, taking in the first instant of the visual. Next you might allow the emotional appeal to flood over you, deciding how it is you feel about the specific image. After reading the chapter The Meaning of Composition, I realize that how an image, article, or newspaper is laid out speaks volume for the meaning associated with what the author is trying to convey.

To explain the importance of composition, I will discuss the three interrelated systems, Information Value, Salience, and Framing, that give images meaning. It is these three things that allow us to be drawn to certain portions of the image and feel a certain way towards the image, which in turn gives them meaning.

Information Value, or how elements are placed in the space, tell us informational ideas based on the different "zones" of the visual. Whether it is right, left, top, bottom, or in the center, the placement of characters in the image means so much.

•      Left placement - represents the Given, or the information the audience already knows
•      Right placement - represents the New, or the unknown/fresh idea being portrayed to the audience
•      Top placement - the emotional/emotionally appealing portion of the image
•      Bottom placement - the factual/ or informative portion of the image 
•      Center - main ideal with support around

Because we are society that reads text from left to right, the placement of left to right mirrors the way we already digest information. Starting at the left, with info we already know, allows for the natural progression to the new info on the right side, much like the natural progression from the beginning to the end of the sentence. Similarly, we are very much a top-down society, placing the things we need to grasp the most at the top of our newspaper and magazine articles. In the same way, composition puts the emotional images at the top, grabbing the audience in and giving the factual information at the bottom. 

Although center composition is not used much in our society, center images represent a broad idea with supporting facts and information around. I believe the reason this does not work well in our society goes back to the way in which we digest our information, reading from left to right or top to bottom. 

Another of the three systems is Salience. Like information value, salience attracts us to different elements of the image based on placement, contrast in color, sharpness, and size. 

Finally, Framing, or the presence or absence of an image being framed a certain way, draws our attention, allows us to associate, or disassociate characters in an image. 

How does this image effectively use the elements of composition?

What forms of composition catch your eye the most? Can you think of some effective advertisements or images that help you to create meaning? Why do they work for you?