Part 2 - Elements of design

The next part of the course looks at the basic principles of graphic design in photography. The areas covered will be the points, lines and shapes that together mark out and enclose the 2-dimensional image. I am to think of a photograph not in terms of the subject, but as an arrangement of dark and light tones and of colours, and how the phototraph functions in an abstract way - as marks on the surface. It will take some practice to divorce the content of the picture from the way it is organised, and in normal, everyday photography this would not be done. But in order to arrive at an integrated approach to composition, subconsciously applying the techniques of design, first I need to dissect the image.