Project: Quiet places, busy places

Figure as accent

Referring to Michael Freeman’s ‘Photographing People’, there are several examples in the ‘Daily Life’ section, of small figures in large frames with suggestions on how to effectively achieve this:

· An easy way would is use a long lens to isolate a figure in the scene. This allows the photographer to stand back from the scene and make detached compressed perspective images.

· Anticipate when action may be likely to happen. Look for situations where single figures may enter the frame – maybe a patch of light where people would have to enter it in their passage, or a change of the guard at a gate etc.

· Framing the figure to the side of a wide vista, so the figure becomes a small part of the panorama.

· Using a small figure in a large landscape requires a contrast between the figure and the surroundings, whether it is a contrast of colours or light. The contrast then makes the figure stand out.

In Michael Freeman’s ‘The Photographer’s Eye’ we see a contrast with the figure lit by the Chiaroscuro effect of the setting sun, while the main frame is very dark:

This low key image shows the use of contrast and lighting to accentuate the figure in the scene.

At the recent study day at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, we saw a large scale photograph by John Kippin, called ‘Beneath’ where a single small fisherman is seen on the shoreline of a huge expanse of sea. The contrast between the figure and the land he’s standing on was not great, so he was missed initially. He was just a point of added interest in an otherwise very contrasty image of reflecting sea and coastline, so the image was about the sea, not the figure. A different vantage point and / or different treatment could have given the figure more impact.

Another of Michael Freeman’s books – ‘Landscape and nature’, from the digital photography expert series, has a section ‘Figures for scale’, where he discusses the inclusion of people in landscape images in order to bring an impression of the scale of the view. The inclusion of a figure in the scene can give a more dramatic image and can give a point of focus in an otherwise ‘flat’ photograph.

Without the cyclist this view just wouldn’t have worked. With the rider in the image there’s a sense of purpose and an appreciation of the scale of the scene.