Scale and Proportion: How to Make Super Photos with Impact
Scale and proportion explored by juxtaposing Inuit men with icebergs in Ilulissat.
Here's how to use scale and proportion to add drama, enhance three dimensional space and create really super photos with loads of visual impact.
Scale is an important element of composition that increases the sense of three dimensional space in a photo, drawing or painting. By including a sense of scale and proportion in your photos you’ll produce more visually dynamic images that will better enable you to tell the story you want to tell.
For an Aussie, like me, the Ilulissat Icefjord is an incredibly exotic location, one I hope to return to for more photography adventures.
Nonetheless, I couldn’t rely on the subject matter alone to make interesting pictures. As always, composition, particularly scale and proportion, played an important part in producing the super photos featured in this post.
Table of Contents:
How To Use Scale To Create Really Super Photos
I found these three guys near the beginning of an overnight hike I undertook on the outskirts of Ilulissat in Western Greenland. Most of the walk skirts around the edges of the wonderful Ilulissat Icefjord and I only saw a handful of people during the entire adventure.
This particular encounter provided me with a great opportunity to utilize scale to illustrate the massive landscape I was exploring.
While the icebergs in this photo are relatively modest in size, when compared to many others in the Ilulissat Icefjord, adding the human element does provide an indication as to their size relative to the Inuit locals in the foreground.
Use Viewpoint To Reveal More Of The Story
Viewpoint refers to the position, relative the subject, from which a photo is made. Achieving the best possible viewpoint can dramatically influence the mood that's expressed in a photo.
For example, photographing from an elevated viewpoint can create a strong sense of distance and space.
The photo of the three Inuit guys by the shores of the Ilulissat Icefjord is a good example of how a high vantage point can be important in landscape photography.
Photographing above the three men enabled me to show more of the mid ground, effectively extending the space and depth within the photo.
Conversely, if I’d made the photo from down at their level they would have blocked quite a bit of the background, diminishing the power the landscape brings to this picture.
The story I wanted to tell was the relationship these guys had with their surroundings, and the best way to achieve that was by finding a way to visually separate them from the icebergs in the background.
By photographing from a higher vantage point I was able to achieve the following:
Photograph over the top of the three men to ensure important elements in the background were not obscured.
Show more of the mid ground and, thereby, provide a greater sense of three dimensional space within the scene.
Convey the awesome sense of wonder massive icebergs provide us with.
Needless to say, by photographing from such an elevated viewpoint, I’ve used scale to diminished the size of these guys in relation to the icebergs. This simple technique has allowed me to convey the size of these massive icebergs.
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Scale, Shape And Good Timing Contribute to Super Photos
Fortunately for me, there were three guys present when I made the image at the top of this post. You see, it’s often easier to build a good composition around odd numbered groups of people.
I made a few photos of this scene, all the while waiting for the guys to separate enough from each other to suggest a triangular shape.
Circles placed into triangular shapes are a great way to organize a group of people into a cohesive and harmonious composition.
The good news is that you don’t necessarily need an equilateral triangle. As long as the group in question is placed into a roughly triangular shape a better composition will be achieved.
Needless to say that, being guys, I figured at least one of them would throw a stone into the water.
It’s a small thing, but probably just enough to add a sense of action and narrative into an otherwise static image.
While a spectacular location, the icebergs in the photo at the top of this post are not your classically shaped icebergs.
Likewise the contemporary clothing worn by the guys, and the fact that their backs are turned away from the camera, make it hard for the viewer to engage with them in a meaningful way.
But that’s okay, as the photo is not about these specific individuals. It’s not a portrait made for them or their mothers. It’s a travel photo, made in a documentary manner, for a larger and much wider audience.
Proportion in photography showcased by a fishing boat dwarfed by icebergs, Ilulissat.
The Importance Of Proportion in Photography
An interesting way to enhance the sense of scale in your photos is through proportion.
The concept of proportion in photography allows you to compare the size of objects, relative to each other. In doing so you can add more or less importance to them and, thereby, explore the relationship between them.
Can you see how closely related scale and proportion are to each other?
They work together to help describe the visual relationship between important subjects or points of interest (focal points) within a photograph.
Take a look at the fishing boat at the very bottom of this image. Photographed under the midnight sun, the fisherman and his boat give a great indication of the truly immense scale of the environment in which they’re placed.
The iceberg is massive, but it’s the contrast in size between iceberg and fisherman that makes this such a compelling image.
I think the metaphor is clear.
Despite the technological sophistication of the age in which we live, each of us remains insignificant compared to the awesome power of nature.
It’s the emotional weight contained within that metaphor, underpinned by the effective use of scale and proportion in the composition, that make this such a super photo.
Consider The Proportion Of Color in a Photo
Images that are based, predominantly, around color can be really interesting.
When dealing with more than one color in a photo the proportion of each color, relative to each other, can affect the way we respond to the image in question.
For example, an equal distribution of color can imbue the image with a sense of balance and harmony.
Think about the national flags of the following countries:
Black, red and yellow for German
Red, white and green for Italy
Red, white and blue for France
All three flags express notions of order, balance and cohesion which is achieved through a highly structured, symmetrical composition.
Conversely an image composed, primarily, around color can be more dynamic when there’s a difference in the relative proportions of each of the colors within the image.
Let’s take another look at my photo of the tiny fishing boat beneath the massive iceberg on the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland.
Did you notice how the bottom half of the image is illuminated by cool, bluish light reflected from the sky above?
Contrast that with the top half of the image which is lit by the warm light of the midnight sun.
That split between warm and cool colors adds to the three dimensionality and inherent drama within the scene.
While the warm light at the top of the image is glorious and uplifting, the cold colored light at the bottom of the photo is ominous and somewhat foreboding.
It’s almost as though the massive iceberg is about to descend and crush the poor fisherman below.
Together with the already described use of scale and proportion, the use of contrasting color adds to the emotive and metaphorical power of the photo.
You see, there’s two ways to think about a story. There’s the actual event that occurred at the moment the camera’s shutter was released. But there’s also the way the story is understand by the viewer, and what message and meaning they derive from it.
Therein lies the power of photography and the meaning behind the term “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
So, you see, creating a super photo is about far more than the camera and lens you use, or the subject or scene you photograph.
Ultimately, it’s your unique worldview and your ability to combine elements of composition (i.e., light, color, shape, texture, rhythm, scale and proportion) into the photos you make that will bring fulfillment into your life and connect your creative photography endeavors with a larger audience.
And when you’re creating meaningful and life affirming images, that can only be a good thing.
Attention to proportion produces a cohesive image of a family in Ilulissat.
How To use Proportion in Your Photos
Proportion refers to how well objects fit together, in relation to each other and the environment in which they're depicted.
Can you see the way circles and triangles have been used in this image of a family fishing by the shores of the Ilulissat Icefjord?
They’ll grouped into three separate triangles. It’s subtle, but it’s definitely there.
All I had to do was wait and watch, through my camera’s viewfinder, until the kids moved into positions that produced a cohesive and harmonious result.
The fact that the family group is lit by lovely, warm light is important. I wouldn’t have made the image if they weren’t well lit.
What’s more the mood that’s displayed is joyous, which many people will enjoy. I know I do.
It’s a positive story, and I’m doing my best to share as many such stories as I can to help us all successfully navigate our way through life.
But it’s the composition, as much as the story being told and the life affirming lighting, that elevates this photo above that of a mere snapshot.
Here's some ways how you can change the relative proportion and scale of important visual elements within your own photos.
Change the angle from which you make your photo.
Photograph from an extreme angle of view.
Photograph from a very close distance to the primary focal point or subject in the image, often with a shallow depth of field to increase the sense of visual separation within the image.
Move the camera up or down to raise or lower the position of the horizon in the frame.
Conclusion: How Scale And Proportion Make Super Photos
People often confuse knowledge with experience.
In the world of photography, knowledge could be taken to mean technical prowess with camera equipment or software.
Frankly, technical prowess isn’t always enough.
In the case of wildlife photography you’d need to combine solid technique with patience, enthusiasm for your craft and an understanding of animal behavior to be able to produce super photos on a consistent basis.
The fact is that such a deep level of understanding can only come through hard earned experience.
Furthermore, it’s that broader and deeper level of experience that will often get you to the right location, in the right season and at the right time of day to make the most compelling image at the best possible moment.
Serendipity, the act of finding valuable or agreeable things by chance, is a lovely concept. However, it’s through the combination of planning, preparedness and intuition, based upon previous experience, that puts us into a position where serendipity and bliss are more likely to come our way.
That’s right, I believe we can all manifest more serendipity and bliss in our lives.
I think there’s a similar scenario at play with street photography.
Being able to anticipate and capture the Decisive Moment is based, largely, upon experience gained after watching and photographing people over a considerable period of time.
Awareness of an environment and how someone might react within that environment, evidenced through interesting body language and gesture, could really elevate a competent candid snapshot into a really super photo.
Needless to say experience comes over time and, in the case of landscape photography, is acquired by being out in the world making photos under a range of different lighting and weather conditions.
And, of course, experience is gained through making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and taking action to avoid them in the future.
As discussed throughout this post, by adding the human element into an image, subject matter and our relationship with it can be better understood.
Likewise, the human element and how we respond to the way it’s been included in a photo composition, also introduces potential variations in the story you’re able to tell and the communicative power of the photo.
In fact, what important visual elements you add into a photo, as well as where you place them in the image can, very much, effect the story or message (e.g., man’s interaction with the environment) contained within the picture.
Wouldn’t you agree?
I really hope you’ve found the ideas I’ve expressed throughout this post to be both interesting and useful, and that you’ll be able to successful employ scale and perspective to create more super photos of your own.
