Composition And Visual Cues For Depth

Putting a round peg in a square hole aptly describes the process of framing the boundless complexity of nature within the narrow confines of our viewfinder. Visually we lose two elements of a scene when taking a photograph, the broader context that lies outside the frame and the third dimension of depth. Since we are compressing three dimension into two, we have to use visual cues to give our image a sense of depth. Without these visual cues, the elements of the image compress in a chaotic way and look, well, chaotic and flat.

Our stereoscopic vision, it turns out, is actually a handicap when composing a photograph, because it nicely separates the elements of a scene and helps create order out of chaos. Try closing one eye and seeing if the subject to which you were drawn still stands out or if it blends randomly with other elements of the scene. The camera display, if it has live view, can also give you a good idea if the elements of the scene have good separation in two dimensions. Either way, you're getting a preview of what remains when you compress three dimensions into two.

There are several things to look for that provide the visual cues for depth. The first, and most obvious, is the relative size of recognizable objects. Look for a foreground that provides a solid visual anchor, an object that is both recognizable and clearly separate from the background. If that type of object reappears smaller in the background, as do the trees in the Winter Vale photograph, you've created depth in your image.

A second way of creating depth is the use of converging lines. Train tracks or a trail shrinking into the distance are examples of this. These are strong visual cues that our brains understand from a lifetime of association. The use of converging lines can be horizontal, as in a receding trail, or vertical, as seen in the keystoning trees in Winter Vale. By using a wide angle lens setting and having a low shooting position, the trees converge toward the top of the image and give a sense height.

Less obvious, but no less effective, is the use of varying contrast to create depth. On all but the clearest days, the distant horizon is at least a bit hazy. Add mist, rain or snow and distant objects start to become obscured. Just like the example of converging lines, our brains associate haze with distant objects and sharp contrast with near objects. If your scene has a soft contrast background, look for a hard contrast foreground to create that sense of depth.

While there are other ways to create depth and separation in a photograph, these examples provide powerful visual cues and have one thing in common that makes them easy to remember: They all require a strong foreground. The tendency of budding photographers is to be drawn into the sprawling vista and forget about the mundane foreground. Yet it is precisely the foreground that lends depth and scale to a composition. By looking for recognizable objects, converging lines and hard contrast in your foreground, your images will appear more three dimensional, as if you could walk into the frame.

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