For this assignment, I chose an image by Sally Mann. I was drawn to her dark photographs because they all looked so eerie. This particular image features three figures. However, when I reframed it, the third figure in the back right is lost. It re-centers the image on the cigarette in the older child’s hand. This re-framing changes a lot about the photo. It shifts how the audience perceives this image. This was my intent. I wanted to focus on the girl smoking.
One of the factors that enhances this shift, I had already mentioned; rule of thirds. By eliminating the third figure, the audience’s focus shifts to the girl in white and is held there longer. Also, this centers the cigarette and puts a focus on it. It really says that this is what the audience is supposed to be looking at and concentrating on.
By tightening the shot, we go from a WS to a MS. This enhances the focus on the two young girls in the photo. Additionally, it reduces depth cues and increases ambiguity in the space. You can’t really tell where the girls are. The audience no longer has the figure in the background as a depth cue.
All of these factors work together to change the focus of the shot to the girl smoking, simplify the photo, increase ambiguity, and reduce depth cues. I also feel that my re-framing of the photo reduces the eeriness (and alters the mood and tone) of the photo, by removing the blurry figure in the back right of the original. However, I feel like that figure is a key element of the original photo, and the photographer made no mistake in including it.
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Original |
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Re-Framed |
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