Pre-Assessment: Composition

Pre-Assessment

Composition

This week’s video theme was composition, so I chose to give a pre-assessment intended to gather opinions from the students about subject placement in the frame, as well as overall enjoyment of particular images.  I projected the photos in front of the class and had them answer the following questions about each one.

1. What is your initial judgment of the composition of this photo?
2. What is your eye drawn to? (The answer can be multiple things)
3. Does anything stand out as uncomfortable in terms of composition?  Why do you feel this way?
4. Do you have any suggestions for improvement?

Photo #1

        
      
Photo #2                 
  

Photo #3

   

Photo #4
       

Photo #5

Photo #6

        

Photo #7

After the initial assessment, we began a discussion about their opinions, as well as the differences between the well/poorly composed images.  We spoke about the rule of thirds, as well as the purpose of the lines that appear on their phone screen as they take a picture.  

The discussion became very passionate, inciting several disagreements among students.

Findings

The purpose of this pre-assessment was to try and determine if our conventions for composition are ingrained, or simply a learned pattern of thinking.  After reviewing their responses for each photo, I was completely unclear.  Some kids answered the questions with similar alignment to the orthodox, while others gave very vague responses to each question.  

Conventional compositional belief	Most common student opinion.
Photo #1: Terrible picture Too many subjects to focus on The water looks to be coming out of her head.	Photo #1 Terrible picture Head too low Water seems to be shooting out of her head.
Photo #2 Nice composition Follows the rule of thirds (loosely) Train tracks lead the eye to the subject.	Photo #2 Nice composition Subject too small Eye follows the tracks.
Photo #3 Too dark No specific subject Nothing stands out.	Photo #3 Too dark Boring Can’t tell what you’re supposed to look at
Photo #4 Nice composition Subject is in the correct part of the frame to compensate for look room Follows the rule of thirds Leaves allow the eye to travel around the frame and back to the subject	Photo #4 OK composition Subject is off center Leaves are distracting Lighting is nice
Photo #5 Poor composition Subject is in the center of the frame, does not follow the rule of thirds No head room Boring background	Photo #5 Good placement of subject in the center Not enough head room Boring background
Photo #6 Good composition Subject placement follows the rule of thirds Orientation of object draws the eye to the stem of the acorn Nice depth of field	Photo #6 Good composition Interesting background Composition draws the eye to the acorn
Photo #7 Poor composition The sun is technically in the correct part of the frame, but... There is nothing particularly interesting about this picture, no clouds, nothing in the water, etc. Too much empty space above the sun	Photo #7 Good composition Nice picture

Reflection

I was surprised at the students’ responses, and how little they cared about subject placement.  In fact, many of them preferred the placement of the businessman in Photo #5 than the young girl in Photo #4, whereas I would have expressed the opposite opinion.  We began talking about selfies and angle preference and composition.  Many of them preferred a high angle of shooting with a centered subject matter, as opposed to the conventional chest-height off-center subject placement.

I was not as surprised at how they felt about Photo #7, even though their opinions contradicted compositional standards.  This shot is seen quite often when people try and take picture of the sunset; they frequently mistake cool subject matter for good composition.  In this case, since the sunset is often a striking subject, people tend to feel that all sunset pictures are inherently good ones.  The kids felt the same way; sunsets are beautiful in real life, so pictures of them will also be beautiful.  Fortunately this isn’t true, otherwise no one would travel!

I quite enjoyed this activity, as I had never given a pre-assessment in Video Production before.  It was interesting to try and discern which “photographic standards” are built in to our natural appreciation for visual balance, and which are simply adopted.  Strangely, after discussing the norms of composition with the kids, many immediately changed their opinions of some of photos.  When I described eye movement, they began to appreciate Photo #4, as well as understand the problems with Photo #7.

Next time I’d like to include video clips, to show composition and camera movement.  I also might ask them to go out and take “good” pictures, to see how they would frame a shot before learning the norms.  Nevertheless, the activity resonated with both students and teacher, hopefully giving some insight to both.