San Dunes, Oceano, California – Ansol Easton Adams, 1950
Composition in Photography plays a huge role in the way a photograph can speak to a viewer’s mind. At first glance, I began to think about the rule of thirds. When you break this photo apart into different squares, we can see that our eyes lead to the upper horizontal portion because as such, everywhere else there are lines pointing to that direction. We can also see that the dunes are in the foreground, because this photo is not that much a of two-dimensional idea. Although taken in this light, we think about this image as three-dimensional, with the lines becoming narrower and narrower and subsequently leading to the dunes in the foreground.
The image is quite dramatic. in terms of lighting, the lines are a lighter gray, while the dunes in the back are on a darker scale. We can think of this as a brighter image on the bottom portion, but as our eyes follow the lines it gets darker, more dramatic, and sharper in a way. Ultimately, the leading lines of the dunes lead to the crucial details of the image, which I think are the sharp, dark-gray scaled dunes in the top horizontal portion of the photograph.
Citation: Ansel Easton Adams, 1950, printed 1978
© Photograph by Ansel Adams. Used with permission of the Trustees of The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. All Rights Reserved.
Good description of light to darkness and change in linear detail.