WEBVTT

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PROF VAUGHN: Okay, this video tutorial is
going to give you some art historical

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context for what we're moving into with
Photoshop, and also some basic design

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principle theories.

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So we're going to talk a little bit about
composition, compositional strategies,

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the history of collage, which is where we're
sort of launching off into our digital

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collages which we're gonna call
composites, so they're very similar but

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they have a couple differences.

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Let's start off with composition.

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When we're talking about composition,
we're really trying to answer this

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question: where do you place your
elements?

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We're always thinking about placing our
elements within our composition to get at

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the most dynamic interesting look
possible.

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There are some, sort of, standards that we
have in design principle.

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We have rules, we have compositional
rules.

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We have the rule of thirds and we have the
golden rule.

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We have framing and implied lines.

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We have background colour and
atmosphere, and something we call value.

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So we're gonna look at these strategies so
that you can use them in your own work.

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The rule of thirds is a really classic
important strategy, typically used in

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photography, but we can use it also
because we're using images in Photoshop

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and we're starting to add and combine 
different elements.

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So, in this rule, we're using an imaginary
grid of 9 equal parts, the placement of

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your elements at the intersections equals
a more interesting placement for the viewer.

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Um, so in this you can imagine you have a
grid, so I've got 2 vertical lines and 2

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horizontal lines drawn in black over
these sample images.

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Anywhere those lines sort of interact,
where they cross over, so right here,

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right here, right here, right here, that is
the most dynamic placement for any

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of your objects or subjects.

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So you can see in this photograph, our
dog is placed in a really good position.

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This vase also, uh, picture, has sort of
been placed in the same position.

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Any asymmetrical placement is going to
create something for your viewers eye

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to do.

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The viewers eye is going to enter the
image plane and give it an opportunity

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to travel around the composition, because
this is more dynamic, more energetic, can

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have a feeling of tension, even.

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So these are kind of those power positions
where you could imagine placing your

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objects, elements, subjects, to create the
most dynamic possible position.

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Here's another sample, I've got the
imaginary, kind of, grid drawn over this.

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You can see we've got our subject placed
over to the left here.

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The eye is starting over here because this
is in the foreground, and it is sort of

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placed off to the side, so we start here.

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We're sort of following the curve of the
landscape, similar tonal value, following

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it around, and we very quickly, our eye is
going to go up to this bright spot, notice

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this sort of castle is also at a power
position at this intersection, and then

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we're going to travel over to this
imaginary, sort of like, dragon creature.

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So, very dynamic position because the eye
is travelling around the composition.

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Okay, really important classic, kind of,
painting, Edmund Dulac,

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this is 'The Little Mermaid.'

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Uh, here you can see we have a composition
similarly, things are asymmetrical, they are

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placed off to the right.

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It is not centered, the subject is a little bit
lower, the horizon line is up about that

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middle third if you imagine the imaginary
rule of third grid.

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Here gives you a kind of clear picture of,
kind of, how these elements are placed.

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The imbalance is good here, so remember
that, you actually want imbalance in

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your composition.

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If we compared them, I cropped the one on
the right a little bit to make it sort of

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centered, the comparison should give
you a good idea.

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Here, your eye kind of comes in and it
travels up and it comes back down.

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In this very centered image it sort of just
breaks the image plane into 2 parts.

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Very boring, very static.

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We also have 2 equal parts between the
top, because the horizon line is falling in

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the middle, and this bottom section.

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So it's very very static.

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Our second rule is the golden ratio.

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This is the Greek mathematical equation,
it expresses itself as a spiral.

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Many of the most famous pieces of art use
this ratio to decide on the placement of

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elements, and as a natural way to lead the
eye across the image.

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This is very popular in, um, architecture
as well.

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The golden ratio, again, it is a
mathematical equation.

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Once you know he equation you can use it
to determine the placement and the scale

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of certain objects.

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Here's a very famous piece, you can see
how that spiral is being expressed in

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the shape of the wave.

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Many, uh, very important and classic
logos are based on the golden ratio.

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So the ratio itself is 1 to 1.618, you can
see how these play out in logos that

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you're often very familiar with.

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So these all are using a ratio of 1 to
1.168: Chevron, Pepsi, all of these logos

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using that golden ratio.

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The idea behind the golden ratio is
that it is a mathematical proportion, so

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the ratio itself is often found in nature,
think of shells etcetera, things you find

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at the beach.

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Um, that idea is sort of, uh, being 
borrowed by designers to make logos that

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feel naturally balanced.

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Okay, let's talk about placement of where
you can put your things, again, thinking

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of the golden ratio, thinking of the rule
of thirds, thinking about imbalance,

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thinking about proportion, we're going to
try and do the most dynamic composition.

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if we think about what is the least
interesting thing to do in comparison to

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those strategies, it is always something
like this.

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It is putting your main element right
smack in the center of your image,

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of your composition.

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The horizon line directly down the center
axis, super boring, avoid this.

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We can think about giving our sense of-
giving our composition a sense of space.

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When we're thinking of creating a sense of
space, remember we're working 2

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dimensionally, but we're creating an
illusion of depth.

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There are several ways to do this, we can
use framing elements, put things in the

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foreground, angles and implied lines, or
atmospheric perspective and value.

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Framing, super simple concept, you're
thinking about what is on the edges of

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your image, left and right, top and
bottom.

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You can think about it sort of like a 
vignette, but anytime you have elements

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that are used as a frame, your viewer
has the inclination to look through

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thus these things that they're looking
through become kind of a, uh,

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highlighted aspect, if you will.

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When we're thinking about framing, it's
important to just note the following:

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foreground, this word means anything
sort of in the frontal view right here.

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Our midground appears about here
in an image, and our background of

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course is the farthest away, so it
should be back here.

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2 dimensional plane, so again it's an
illusion of space.

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If we were to print this it's actually a
flat object.

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Here's another example, what could be
placed in the foreground to create a

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sense of space?

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Particularly we know in our brain that
this is a small flower, but when placed

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bigger in the foreground and we let
the background kind of go blurry, we know

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that the landscape is actually very
dominant, it's huge compared to the

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actual scale of the flower, but by giving
the flower some prominence in the

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foreground, we have a greater sense of
space.

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Implied line, so implied lines are another
design principle that are very important.

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And implied line is a broken line that
visually we begin to connect together

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using our brain.

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Your mind is always going to try to
connect the dots, creating a

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sense of direction.

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These are hidden directionals, remember
they're not actual lines they're implied

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lines, so in this particular instance the
implied line is happening with these

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concrete spheres.

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We start here in the foreground, it's the
largest element grabbing our attention,

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our mind just sort of visually steps back through the composition.