Picture This

Our Picture This! assignment this month was the Rule of Thirds, a compositional guideline that relies on balance and “weighting” of subjects within the frame that follows a general tripartite pattern. That’s not to say that images made with this “rule” in mind need strictly follow it, as shown in the images here. But it is a starting point for compositional...

We continue our compositional assignments this month with “Leading Lines: S-curves and the Diagonals” (the July issue was “Into Infinity”) and readers responded with fascinating images that show why these compositional devices are so visually enticing. The S-curve runs the eye from front to back, playing with movement through both vertical and horizontal space, while the...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was “Leading Lines: Into Infinity.” We called for images that brought the viewer’s eye into the frame with various compositional techniques, including leading lines, S-curves, and parallel lines that seem to meet at infinity, or vanishing points. Readers responded with a host of architectural, urban, natural, and highway images, all of...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was “Light Patterns: Cast Shadows,” and this turned out to be one of the most difficult for us to choose as we received so many excellent entries. The use of shadows in images allows the photographer to bring enhanced form and content into scenes where other lighting conditions might have been less dramatic and graphic. Shadows not only allow us...

Our Picture This! assignment this month asked readers to submit images made of objects that most likely would not be around next time they passed by. Readers sent in images of falling-down barns, commercial signs, and trucks quietly rusting away in fields. To paraphrase Walker Evans, photographers should shoot with history in mind, and with many of these objects the only evidence of their...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was Red Rock, and we were treated to wonderful images from all around the great American West. If you’ve traveled the many roads and trails through Red Rock Country you know what a photographic treasure it is; if you haven’t, plan a road trip soon! Readers sent in photographs from the Southwest and parts north that showed the amazing shapes...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was “Soft Effects,” using various techniques to get an ethereal look that matches and enhances subject matter. While members of the f/64 club might wince at the thought, adding soft effects through filters (lens or computer) is part of a long-standing tradition among a certain romantic tradition of the craft. Readers sent in a wide variety of...