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Location & Our Photography Goal

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One thing to consider when finding and setting up locations, is our goal as photographers.

Which is to captivate our audience. 

If you remember back to the lessons on style, we talked about wanting to captivate our audience and keep them in the image for as long as possible.

Location can play a big part in this! As you’ve seen by now, using layers can create depth in our images, using frames can draw focus to the centre or the subject, but we can get even more specific and look at things like the curve of a branch or a leaf.

Ultimately, our viewers go on a subconscious journey when they land on our image:
They land on the eyes first, then their eye will be caught by something. It may be caught by an area of bright bokeh, by some sharp and detailed grasses, or by a colour which clashes. If we do our job right, the elements in the image will help to lead our viewer BACK into the image and back to the dog’s eyes. If we don’t, we set up opportunities for them to leave.

Bright bokeh along the edges of an image give the viewer clear “exit signs” to leave. There is no reason to circle back around. Similarly, bokeh BEHIND the dog who is looking in one direction, with dark space in front of the dog, will draw our eye backward and out of the image.

Ferns or branches curving toward the dog near the edge of an image, or even near the dog, may help to flow the view back toward the dog. On the other hand, ferns, leaves, grasses and so on curving AWAY from the dog, especially near the edge of the frame, is a clear sign to leave. Let’s have a look at some examples of this in action.

And I want to note that this does NOT mean that I am constantly on the lookout for perfectly and strategically placed ferns, leaves, grasses and weeds… however… they are WELL worth being aware of, especially in editing, when you can make some decisions then as to whether you should remove those elements altogether, or subdue them, or make them work more in your favour by having them enhance the flow through the image.

Wow lots of lines!

Basically, with each of these images, I land you in the image on the dog’s eyes (circled), then show you how a viewer’s eye MIGHT flow through the image, and why it might be successful, or not. 
In this one, I predict the viewer would get drawn to the left of the image first, to the bright spot, before hitting the darkened area and being drawn to the ferns and plants which curve downward to the dog. So you end up at the dog again, and maybe this time get drawn to the right, where you hit another quite dark area, and reach some other plants curving back toward the dog. As such, you end up kind of “transfixed” at the dog, because all elements are curving you back inward.

Let’s compare this to the less edited version of this image….

Can you see why I might have removed that tree trunk in the middle?

In this case, we begin on the eyes, and are immediately sucked to the very bright spot. We hit the tree trunk, and ricochet out of the image because it’s awkwardly in the middle of the frame. If we were to go to the right, there is nothing stopping our escape. The plants near Loki are trying to help, but they’re not doing much. 

Here is a LOVELY simple example. This image is framed on either side by trees (I think I photoshopped the tree on the left in as a copy)… but, there are many elements curving outward, including his ears, and especially that beautiful leaf on the mossy stump. Let’s see what happens if we tidy up the image a little and flip that leaf…

What do you think?
It might not seem like much, but these small factors CAN help our image fit together better. Here are a lot more examples – hover over the image for some information about each one. 

Here we land on Journey's eyes, then follow the shape of his body & curve of the moss to the dark lower part & dark left hand side, where we get looped back to the tunnel of light. The curved log in the background and tree trunk on the right also help direct us back into the image.
Here we land on Loki's eyes and follow the shape of his body down. The lower part of the image has been darkened, directing you back to the tunnel of light. Branches on the right hand side also curve back toward Loki, preventing you from leaving the photo there.
This is a relatively simple photo without a lot of "elements". We land on Peach's eyes and slide down her back, meeting a lot of darkened out bushes in the foreground. Reading left-to-right we move to the right hand side and back to the light, where we can be funneled toward her eyes again.
In this one, if we follow Loki's body, we end up at the tree and an area that has been darkened significantly to prevent exiting the image. The branches follow Loki's gazing direction, and the lower half is darkened, encouraging you to return to the tunnel of light toward his face.
This is quite subtle, and only lightly edited, but that fern to the side could help you be redirected back into the image.
I really dislike this image, and here's exactly why. It's a real mess! You land on the eyes, and then there's so much! Bright spots, ferns curving away, straight sticks leading to ferns...
Here is one version of this image, where the bokeh is the last thing in the image, giving you a nice, bright exit sign
Here is the other version, with the bokeh closed in, giving you a dark edge/frame to bounce off of and return to the dog.
This has SOME nice elements, although the bright bokeh is a problem. The red fern does curl you back toward the dog, but the pile of sticks etc is distracting, and the bright yellow grass curving to the left doesn't help.
One of my favourite images. The eyes are so clear here that they do a lot of the work on their own... but we also have a couple of curves toward the dog, and one small curve away.
Here, lots of branches curve toward Journey. One curves to the left, but meets another which curls back toward his face.
This is a weird one. The left side is darkened out, but then everything is curving and pointing right. If I can darken that right-hand side with it still looking natural, it might work.
In this one, I feel that the sharpness and the shape/angle of the fern doesn't work to curve you back inward, but ricochets you upward. It was removed in the final edit for that reason.
This one almost encourages you to leave, by following the line of the red leaves... but you hit an area of darkness, and follow the line of the plants, and the bokeh, back up to Loki.
Here is the slightly edited version of an image. I felt like her gaze was hitting the tree and not in a good way, but being blocked by it, and therefore exiting the image.
I removed the tree but darkened the area, so you would flow through the image, up and around the darkness, and back to the eyes.
In these looking forward photos, our path is less obvious. In this case, we would land on the eyes, get drawn to the pop of colour to the left, and since it's pointing away, we would quickly leave the image.
This is a weird one, and I had dismissed it as a "quick exit" image for this lesson... but then I noticed the red branch on the right leading you back in. It's not much, but it's something. The little 4-leaf thing down the bottom confuses me.
Another one with a few elements curving toward the dog. At the moment we would likely leave pretty quickly via the bokeh, but it's more or less unedited, so I would work to darken those highlights a lot more.