Exercise: Balancing figure and space.

Outline: Produce two images, using the same general viewpoint and composition, varying the balance of attention between the person and the setting they are in.

For this exercise I had a good look through my photo library and found I had a lot of images to choose from.

equal balance of person and space

another equal balance example

The two images above are good examples of a pretty much equal balance between the person and the surroundings they are in. we can also adjust the balance of the space by altering focal length.

The two images above show the difference to the image when the balance is varied. The first image shows the person with a small look at their surroundings but by using a longer focal length and a slight adjustment to the positioning of the person, we still get the focus to the person but we also get a much larger and more detailed view of the space they are in.

Conclusion: Sometimes the aim of the image is to show a subject engaging with their surroundings so this exercise is important to show exactly how this can be achieved by adjusting the balance.