Emphasis and Focal Point Assignment

In week 3 we reviewed focal points.  Today I am going to present 5 images that display one of the following key features.

• Contrast
• Isolation
• Placement
• One element
• Absence of focal point

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Contrast:

John - John Salute by Stan Stearns

Here we have the photograph taken during President Kennedy's funeral of John F. Kennedy Jr saluting his father's coffin.  I see a few elements here but rather choose it as my example of contrast.  At the time, he wore a baby blue coat which showed up against the black and darker navy blue that everyone else wore.

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Isolation:

On the polycount.com forum I found an interesting image of an autopsy theater.  The creator, listed as Darbeenbo was working on some sort of game design and added lighting effects to bring attention to the gurney.  The light isolates the table from the rest of the room, same as the one image in our text book (Design Basics, Page 60).

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Placement:

This light house comes from Wikipedia's File:Patagonia-lighthouse.jpg page.  I thought of lighthouses for this specific concept.  Usually when one is photographed, the placement if the first thing the photographer considers before taking the shot.  They made no exception here and was sure to snap the image in a manner that brought your attention to it.  It is lined up fairly close to the middle and shown against both ground and sky.

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One Element:

When I read the section in our textbook that discussed this style of setting a focus, it mentioned having one element that stands out against the rest of the image.  My first thought went to a rotten apple in a bunch.  I googled for the image and found one on Art.com.  There is no listed photographer but whoever it was did a fantastic job.  The brown and wrinkles of the rotten apple make it stand out as a unique item in the photograph against the other green and smooth apples.

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Absence of focal point:

My choice for a image which lacks any real focal point comes from Ernie Barnes.  While I originally had another of his paintings in mind, I found this one pulled off the point better.  There was a string of art works from the 70s that used this "busy" concept.  There's a lot going on in the image.  I could not find the exact painting I wanted to use which was of a very active city street, but this one has the theme.  There is no one particular area to hold your attention.  Your eyes try to make sense of the chaotic action immortalized.  After looking at the image for a good 4 or 5 minutes, I realized there was a referee or spectator in the middle of it all.