Principles of Art: EMPHASIS in Photography

Описание: This video demonstrates how EMPHASIS is used in photography. One of the seven PRINCIPLES OF ART. Demonstrates art vocabulary & concepts using student-created photography. Short, succinct, and school-appropriate. Principles of Art Playlist: https://bit.ly/3hrJ6t9

TRANSCRIPT:
Emphasis occurs any time an element or object is given dominance in an image. Photographers can use extreme close-ups to emphasize a subject or can create emphasis by filling the picture plane with a repeated motif.

But most of the time photographers are emphasizing a Focal point. A focal point is a point in the image that the viewer’s eye is drawn.

This element is usually different or contrasts with the other parts of the artwork and can be done by using color, particularly complementary colors like the red popping out from the green background or selective coloring, leaving one object in color and the background black and white.

Extreme contrasts in value like dark silhouetted figures against a light background or dark objects backlit by a light source can create emphasis. Spotlights will help create low key lighting. Leading lines can also be used to guide a viewer’s eye to a focal point. Changes in textures like the water compared to the fur help emphasize the dog. Using elements like this fence for framing your focal point helps concentrate your viewer’s gaze to a specific location.

Selective focus, or shallow depth-of-field, blurs everything in the image creating a clear focal point. And photographers can do this when they take the photo by adjusting their aperture settings, or they can use brushes in Lightroom to create this same effect. Playing with the scale of small objects can help emphasize their importance. And having the main subject out-of-focus can create a sense of mystery, emphasizing its importance as well.

Using the rule of thirds and placing your focal point at one of the cross-sections of a 3x3 grid can help emphasize the focal point, but so can ignoring the rule of thirds by placing the subject right in the middle of the picture plane. And any objects that are isolated will naturally be more emphasized.

So, know the subject matter you want to showcase and think about ways that you can use emphasis
to help create a focal point for your images.