Re-Imagining Visual Framing

Original image:

Re-Framed:

I really liked the first image, done by the artist Ben Goosens, because it reminded me of something like a forest elf's abode -- some strange living space out of a fairy tale. I thought the combination of the tree and the aspects of civilization were artfully done, and looked compellingly realistic.

I chose to zoom in on the "PRIVATE" sign on the door, with a hint of the light post on the right hand side. The eye is drawn to the "PRIVATE" sign because it is bright red and violently contrasts the rest of the colours in the image, which are dull earthy tones. This contrast creates visual intensity. The sign is in the far, lower right-hand corner of the photo, so I added in part of the lamppost to even out the picture. I liked the emphasis, the details which attract the eye, being on polar opposite corners of the frame; I felt this gave it visual interest.

Ben Goosens chose to not zoom in on these two details like I did for obvious reasons -- you lose the context of the picture when you zoom in so drastically. By framing zoomed farther out, you can see that it is a door in a tree. Cropped, not so much. It could be anything from a door to a cabinet to window shutters. Why have a "PRIVATE" sign on a cabinet? What are the swirls coming out of the bark? Zooming out gives us these answers.

The original image uses line to frame the "PRIVATE" sign on the doors. These are actual lines, clearly visible and identifiable, running parallel to the edges of the picture to draw the eye toward the bright red sign. The horizontal lines also point toward the sign, as it is not centered on the door but slided to the left. Zoomed in, there are fewer lines of the door visible, and thus not as much available to point to the sign.

The original picture uses a sense of space. We see the tree-house in the foreground, where it is in focus and in the very center of the frame, drawing our interest. In the background, it is blurred, hazy, more or less unidentifiable. We don't know if we're looking at a fog or a representation of something, or nothingness. By blurring the background and clarifying the foreground, we are drawn to the tree and can understand that there is considerable distance between the two. Thus, space is created.

Mr. Goosens uses the Rule of Thirds by putting the "PRIVATE" sign right in the middle of the frame, which is considered the most visually interesting part of the image. When I zoomed in, the sign is popped out of its place in the Rule of Thirds and is thrust to a corner.

Goosens' clever use of the Rule of Thirds helps give the picture Visual Movement and Rhythm. As our Western minds read screens left to right, top to bottom, we see line of the top of the door, which draws our eye to the lamppost. The curve of said lamppost directs our eye back down, where we are drawn immediately to the red "PRIVATE" sign. The two main elements -- the lamppost and the sign -- are connected through the lines of the picture and move our eye with ease. This is disrupted when I zoomed in, because all of a sudden our eye is forced to see the top of the door, which begins leading over to the lamppost like earlier, but the pattern is broken because the lamp is not there. We see the end of the curved post, and our eye, confused, drops down the tree, eventually to the sign. While we end up at the same place in both, it is not with the same ease or sense of naturalness.

The original picture uses a Wide-Shot, showing the whole base of the tree and a background. My re-framing of the image creates a Close-Up of the sign and door corner. These are very different ways of framing the shot and as a result, create very different moods for the viewer. The red of the "PRIVATE" sign is even more jarring in the close-up, as it is much closer to us and a much larger part of the whole picture. In the wide-shot, it is a little more congruous.