Post 186: Composition 20. Avoid Mergers

Composition: Avoid Mergers

This is Part 20 of my series on Composition

Color, Tone and Border Mergers

Mergers are when key areas of the main subject are overlapped, making it appear weird and should be avoided. Sometimes you can avoid a merger just by moving to the left or right before snapping the photo so that it doesn't look like that branch is growing out of the side of someone's head. Or that rock doesn't appear to be the person's overly large foot. 

In photography, we should avoid cutting off people, whether in half, their head or feet, or have someone cut off by the border of the image. These are border mergers and they just aren't the best way to take the image. It is better to leave space around the people or the main subject.

Alternatively, the angle of the viewer - their perspective could be higher or lower angle to avoid weird mergers with whatever is in the background. 

Something in the image that is very bright or very dark will draw the eye as discussed in previous Composition posts. Although the use of both is important in a composition, you don't want it to distract from your subject either. In photography, you may be able to crop the image to get a better focus on your subject.

 

 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash 

 This photo cut off the man's arm and you are not sure who or what the main focus is - the baby, the man or the greenhouse. This is all besides the lighting is very bright and shadows are on the man's face. The poor child needs sunglasses.

 

Photo by Tobias Mrzyk on Unsplash 

 Spot the oddity here? One person has 2 heads and 3 legs. The photograph may have worked better if the shot was with each person separately defined against the background.

 

Typically, we could take a photograph of our subject and then crop it down later to display the best part. Its definitely easier to remove what you don't need than to add.

 

A funny merger in real life that I have seen is sitting at the dining room table with people and there is a painting or photograph framed and hanging on the wall, often exactly behind the person at the head of the table. So it looks like the person is IN the picture which can be pretty funny. Have you seen a funny merger too?

For further reading:

Merge Into the Background 

Photography Rules of Composition: Eliminate Distractions

 

7 PHOTOGRAPHY MISTAKES I see all the time by Nigel Danson

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This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.