DPI - WEEK 2

21/04/25 - 30/05/25 (Week 1 - Week 6)
Lim Jia Xuan (0371026)
Digital Photography & Imaging (GCD 61204)
Project 1

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1.0 Lecture

Introduction to Composition

1. Introduction to basic composition

• Focal Point
  The focal point is the part of a photograph that instantly catches the viewer’s eye. It highlights the main subject and is carefully emphasized by the photographer using composition, lighting, and other visual elements to guide attention. 

• Scale and Hierarchy
  Scale and Hierarchy in design are established through size variation, which helps draw attention toward important elements and away from less significant ones. this guides the viewer's eye and creates a clear visual structure within the composition.

• Balance
  Achieving visual balance, especially asymmetrical balance, involves treating each element as if it has visual “weight.” For instance, larger or textured objects appear heavier than smaller or flat ones.

• White Space (Negative Space)
  Negative space is the area around and between the subjects in the photograph. though empty, it can be used creatively to emphasize the main subject and make it stand out more clearly. 

2. Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a simple guideline in photography and design that divides an image into nine equal parts using two vertical and two horizontal lines. Placing key subjects along these lines or at their intersections creates more balanced, interesting, and visually engaging compositions. It draws the viewer’s eye naturally and helps organize the image in a way that feels intentional and dynamic.

Figure 1.0 Rule of Thirds

3. Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio is a mathematical ratio commonly found in nature, art, and design. It’s approximately 1:1.618 and is often used to create visually pleasing and balanced compositions. In photography and design, this ratio helps guide placement of elements within a frame to draw the viewer’s eye naturally.

Figure 1.1 Golden Ratio

4. Framing and Cropping

• Framing and cropping are powerful tools that help highlight the main subject, clean up visual clutter, and enhance the overall composition to better communicate the intended message.

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2.0 Tutorial

WEEK 2: Basic Composition Exercise

For this tutorial class, Mr. Fauzi showed us a video of basic collage tutorial. And at the end of the class, he wanted us to make 3 different collage with the materials we had prepared, and take photos of them using Camscanner to submit in Google Classroom.

Collage tutorial video provided: Composition Studies: Collage

3.0 Practical

For this practical session, Mr Fauzi had showed us some collage artworks that are done by our seniors. Other that showing us those artwork, he also taught us the much important size which is large, medium, small to work in the collage artwork.

Figure 3.0 Composition 1

Figure 3.1 Composition 2

Figure 3.2 Composition 3

4.0 Reflection

This week's lecture on composition was incredibly helpful, especially when it came to arranging the elements in our collage. Applying composition techniques added depth to the work and helped guide the viewer’s eye smoothly from one subject to another. I also really enjoyed the hands-on process of cutting out elements and grouping them together for the physical collage—it was a fun and engaging way to reinforce what I learned. Overall, the experience deepened my understanding of composition and will definitely help me improve in future projects.