The Photographer's Eye: Graphic Guide

ANGULAR

The last image used an angled framing to energize the scene. We’ll see diagonals in action in the next chapter, but here I’m using them to make a clean and definite division. One other element I’m using for division is the waterline of a still swimming pool, and this gives double value to the striking hard shadows that take up the left half of the frame. This is a villa in Portugal built with a strong modernist flavor and mainly white surfaces—there were endless opportunities for abstracting. The diagonal shadows converge with their reflections like chevrons, or an arrow that points to the yellow chairs. The waterline is deliberately not centered because the reflections are slightly softer and weaker. And I waited for the leading diagonal ...