This is probably the first of many blogs I will write on good composition. The fact that I have not directly addressed composition in the first 52+ blogs I have written so far reflects the dissonance I feel when writing on the topic.

Good composition is important to me, but sometimes when I mention it I feel I get push back, as if I am nothing but a rules follower. To be clear, I am mostly a rules follower. In my first ever workshop, Vineet Vohra asked our group, “Is composition important to you?” I swear, no one’s hand went up, which indicates there might be a lot of photographers who consider this a loaded question. I finally decided to own up to it. And then Vineet said, composition was important to him. How liberating.

I am not a trained artist, or for that matter, much of a trained photographer. It turns out there are a whole lot of compositional tools I am woefully ignorant of, at least on a conscious level. I may know it when I see it, but I sure do not know why. In general, I want to know why. I am energized when I learn new things. I write the blog, in part, to share that joy. So here we go on the first blog on good composition, the figure to ground relationship.

What is the figure to ground relationship?

At the workshop I attended in Miami, when Vineet mentioned the term figure to ground relationship, all I could think of was where the subject was placed relative to the bottom of the picture. So this is why we don’t want to cut off feet? Let me assure you that is not it. A good figure to ground relationship means that there is contrast between the subject and the background. An example of a perhaps perfect figure to ground relationship is black text placed on a white page. In photography, placing a dark figure on a light background or a light figure on a dark background is one way to establish a good figure to ground relationship. But there is more to it than that. Subjects should be separate from each other. This is where it gets problematic in street photography.

Here is an example of a photo with good figure to ground separation.

Here is an example of a photo without good figure to ground separation.

Why does the figure to ground relationship matter?

In the advanced circles of critique, sometimes someone will mention that the photo being critiqued “reads well”. That basically means that when you look at the image you know what is going on. It is important that a photo reads well. That is more likely to happen if you can identify the subject because it is separated from the background and it is not in a tangled up, overlapping mess with other subjects. In other words, it has good figure to ground separation.

This picture went through critique on the Facebook group, Street Photography Vivian Maier Inspired. One comment was that it “reads well”. The three figures are separated from each other and the subjects are separated from the background.

Aside from helping a viewer understand what is going on in a picture, there are some other advantages to having good figure to ground in an image. Knowing what to look at in an image anchors the picture and holds our eye.

Photo by Roland Lüthi. Used with permission. You can see Roland’s Instagram gallery at @rwluthi.

It also can help give depth to a 2D image in a 3D world. Adam Marelli, in his blog for Digital Photography School, How to Use Figure to Ground Art Theory in Photography, describes it this way, “Figure to ground allows your brain to determine shapes, sizes, distance and other optical illusions that exist in photography.” Our cognitive ability can use that information to give depth to a 2D.

Photo by Tony Castillo. Used with permission. You can see Tony’s Instagram gallery at @electronico1406.

Exercise

I encourage you to read the blog, Figure to Ground in Photography, posted on Street Bounty and written by Sebastian Jacobitz. It certainly gives a definitive argument for what good figure to ground can do to strengthen an image. It also illuminates the degree to which Steve McCurry uses post processing to give his images their fine art impact.

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Dedicated to Street

Good Composition - What Is the Figure to Ground Relationship?