Composition & Visual Design — 60 Terms Defined

Aerial Perspective Composition & Visual Design The reduction of contrast, saturation and detail with distance, caused by atmospheric scattering.

Aspect Ratio Composition & Visual Design ratio The proportional relationship between an image's width and its height. Ratio = width : height

Asymmetrical Balance Composition & Visual Design A composition in which unequal elements are arranged so the frame still feels stable overall.

Bird's-eye View Composition & Visual Design degrees A viewpoint directly overhead, looking straight down, which renders a scene as a flat pattern.

Breaking the Pattern Composition & Visual Design Introducing a single element that interrupts an otherwise regular repetition, creating an immediate focal point.

Camera Height Composition & Visual Design m The elevation of the camera above the ground, which controls the viewpoint's relationship to the subject.

Central Composition Composition & Visual Design Placing the primary subject at or near the centre of the frame.

Composition Composition & Visual Design The arrangement of elements within the frame, and the decisions about what to include, exclude and where to place things.

Converging Verticals Composition & Visual Design The apparent leaning-together of vertical lines when the camera is tilted up or down.

Cropping Composition & Visual Design % Removing part of an image after capture to change its framing, proportion or emphasis.

Depth Cues Composition & Visual Design The visual signals — overlap, relative size, convergence, haze and blur — that let a flat image suggest three dimensions.

Diagonal Lines Composition & Visual Design Lines running at an angle to the frame edges, which introduce energy and a sense of movement.

Diagonal Method Composition & Visual Design A compositional approach placing points of interest on the 45-degree bisectors drawn from each corner of the frame.

Dutch Angle Composition & Visual Design degrees A deliberately tilted camera, so the horizon runs at an angle across the frame.

Figure-Ground Relationship Composition & Visual Design The perceptual separation of a subject from its background, which determines whether it reads clearly.

Filling the Frame Composition & Visual Design Composing so the subject occupies most or all of the picture area, leaving little surrounding context.

Focal Point Composition & Visual Design The element in a photograph that the eye is drawn to first and returns to.

Foreground Interest Composition & Visual Design An element placed close to the camera to anchor the composition and establish depth.

Frame Within a Frame Composition & Visual Design Using an element in the scene — a doorway, arch, window or overhanging branch — to surround and isolate the subject.

Gestalt Principles Composition & Visual Design A set of observations from perceptual psychology describing how the visual system groups separate elements into wholes.

Golden Ratio Composition & Visual Design ratio The proportion of approximately 1:1.618 that has been used in art and architecture as a compositional division. φ = (1 + √5) / 2 ≈ 1.618

Golden Spiral Composition & Visual Design A logarithmic spiral constructed from golden-ratio rectangles, sometimes overlaid on a frame as a compositional guide. r = ae^(bθ)

Golden Triangle Composition & Visual Design A compositional grid formed by a diagonal across the frame and two perpendicular lines from the remaining corners.

Headroom Composition & Visual Design The space between the top of a subject's head and the upper edge of the frame.