In photography, visual mass refers to the principle that some elements in your images will attract the eye more than others.

Check out the image below.

Pretty obvious which element in this frame has the most visual mass!

No?  Well then try this.

One of the easiest ways to determine which element in your image has the most visual mass is to close your eyes and then as you open them see where your gaze goes to first.  We do a lot of this on the Photo-Africa workshops and it works beautifully.  More that that, it creates photographic conversation between people and that’s when you really start learning!

Get it?

Got it?

Good!

By thinking of visual mass when you compose your shots you can create stronger image by leading your viewer’s gaze around the frame.  It becomes easier, when used correctly, to tell your story.

So when you look at the above image now, which element pulls your eye first?

Give it a try.

Close your eyes.  Then open them.

Pretty cool hey?  Works every time!

Oh, and did you see the other lion hiding in the trees in the back, left of the frame?

Until next time.

Gerry van der Walt

* * *

The Chameleon  got it’s name from the greek word ‘khamaileon’ which literally means ‘lion on the ground’.  Nice for a catchy blog title but not the point.

We found this chameleon crossing the road and since he was ‘on the ground’, so was I.  Flat on the ground.  All to try and get to eye level which, considering his eye level was about 2 inches of the floor, called for some interesting horizontal maneuvering on my part. (Hmm, could also have called this post ‘Lyin’ on the Ground’  :) )  Ultimately I got my Sigma 10-20mm in place as the colorful reptile came straight at me.  I shot off quite a few frames, some of which I will post later, from different angles but this specific image caught my eye.  Not really sure why but here are a few thoughts.

• It looks like the chameleon is ‘running’ away, screaming, from his shadow.  Use your imagination!
• The negative space on the right of the chameleon, which he is moving away from, is quite strong yet balanced by the shadow.
• The visual mass of the image is definitely in favor of the right hand side of the image.  Or is it?  Does the shadow help?
• Has the line of the tail got anything to do with it?

For some reason I keep on going back to the shadow.  It is quite natural for our gaze to drift towards areas of contrast and in this image the shadow is very dark in comparison to the rest of the image.  If the shadow was not present your gaze would probably have drifted towards the chameleon’s mouth, for the same reason.  Using contrast like this to move your viewer’s gaze around the frame is a great way to tell your visual story.

In this instance however I was, while rolling around in the dirt, purely trying to get the chameleon in focus and in an interesting pose so the shadow caught me slightly unaware when I saw it on my laptop screen.  I like it, but still confused as to why exactly…

Would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this one.  Does the shadow work?  Why or why not

Until later!

Gerry