Strong Foreground to Distant View

A compositional style that you see in many strong photographs is that of a strong foreground object combined with a distant view. There’s something about the contrast of seeing an interesting object close-up combined with an interesting distant view that is naturally draws ones attention. I’ve been looking for photographic examples of this composition the last few days and its amazing how prevalent it is in advertising images. You see this composition used all the time in landscape photography. This is a great composition for a home that has a view. Having something like coffee service and newspaper on a comfortable table setting with the view in the background can be a strong statement about a property.

The cover photos on last two issues (April and May 2006) of Architectural Digest are examples of this composition. As of today the AD website still has the cover of the April issue photographed by Andreas von Einsiedel. Since I got my copy of the May issue of AD last Friday the cover of the May issue by Durston Saylor will probably be on the site soon.

In the AD April 2006 cover by Andreas von Einsiedel as I’ve looked at it over the last month I’ve felt somewhat disappointed that the view in the background is overexposed and out of focus. However, when you consider that the purpose of the image is interior design it makes sense that the viewer is forced to focus on the objects in the foreground that sharply in focus. The overexposed view of the Bosporus in the background creates the feeling of a very hot sunny day.