It’s a two-fer

Posted by on Aug 18, 2011 | Comments Off

Photojournalists have a variety of tools in their photographic “toolboxes” to focus a reader or viewer’s attention on a particular portion of a photo. One is light. A reader’s eye will usually go first to the lightest portion of a photo. So, we can highlight, through light, the most important part of a photo. Another “tool” is composition. Framing is one compositional technique; by framing the subject is isolates and draws attention to the subject.

This morning I scored a two-fer and was able to use both light and composition to emphasize the subject.

Dwain Stanley cuts the grass at a Yakima business early in the morning Aug. 18, 2011, the first of a handful of lawns he will cut that day as part of the handyman's business he started after graduating from the Yakima County drug court in 2000. Drug court "saved my life," says Stanley. (GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)

The early-morning light highlights the subject’s face and just a bit of his torso. And, he’s framed between the bushes. My eye goes right to him.

I know this isn’t a particularly earth-shattering photo but it does illustrate the use of light and composition. And it also demonstrates the advantage of getting up early. I shot this about 6:45 a.m. when the light was still good.

 

–Gordon King