Berg by Skinny Nilla

I love the atmospheric noir sensibility in Skinny Nilla’s Berg photo. There is the dynamic created by the two people looking away from each other, It feels deliberate, not like two strangers passing on the street.

March by Pan Aeon

I like how the bright neon casts the subject into shadow in March by Pan Aeon.  The subject fills two fifths of the picture, following the Rule of Fifth as does the placement of the horizontal bar.

The Only Way Out by Pepa Cometa

Pepe Cometa’s photo is a great example of how lines lead our eyes. It’s also a great story telling
picture. By shooting from an angle, the edges of the box, the walkway along the machines, the line on the floor all create a diagonal line for our eyes to follow. The title is The Only Way Out  and its importance is emphasized by its placement. See how the diagonals intersect on the exit.

New Furillen by Laura S.

I love this photo from Laura S. The title is New Furillen As you can see, she has cropped it to form a perfect sinister diagonal following the bus and the chairs. The whole picture is full of geometric shapes thanks to the brilliant way she framed the picture. Supposedly the sinister diagonal (from upper left to lower right) is supposed to be sadder, spookier, more morose (because it’s a downward trend) than the baroque diagonal (lower left to upper right) but with the bright colors in the chairs, how can it possibly be morose?

The things you take for granted someone else is praying for by Chel Glitter

Chel Glitter’s photo is called The Things You Take for Granted Someone Else Is Praying For. It’s an expression of compassion and tells a story with the diffident and wary expression in the subject’s eyes and the careful tension in the pose. The subject is placed just inside the line dividing the frame into thirds. The darkness and the setting sun remind us the world can be a scary place.

Ripe by Kazicle

Kazicle’s Ripe is an arresting and moody chiaroscuro that has tremendous power thanks to a bold use of blank space and cropping. It follows the rule of thirds, the one-third vertical line follows directly down the blue edge of his shirt and the bottom of his beard touches the one-fifth horizontal line. Cropping so much of his face involves viewers in completing the picture, painting in the rest of him with our imagination, but it’s the bold use of black, of empty space that makes what is visible so powerful and evocative.

A Sense of Danger by Nevereaux

Nevereaux’s “Sense of Danger” strikes me a whimsical and delightful. As you can see, the rule of thirds is used vertically to place the megaphone and vertically to place the subject.  I love the pose with the feet crossed, a sign of insecurity as is the lifting the hem of her dress. Despite the title and her pose, there is no menace in this sense of danger, though she does seem to be losing her crown. The rich colors add to its fantastical appeal. This is danger like the danger of a Terry Gilliam animation.

Divergence by Calima Dufaux

Calima Dufaux’s Divergence is a fabulous headshot. While her body is pretty much dead center, because it is tilted a bit, her head is just off center so her eye is on the center line. There are a few things that make this picture  so intriguing. First, the subject is pretty much completely desaturated except for some lights projected onto her shirt while the background is wild with color. She and the background are opposites, they diverge. Then look at the lines, the background lines go downward then tilt upward, but her body lines do the opposite. They diverge.

As ever, this is just a small sample of the many fabulous photos that draw my eye. You can check out my Faves on Flickr any time.