Introduction
For me, one of the most impressive uses of this technique in recent times is from a TV series. The beautifully crafted cinematography in Mr Robot shines a cut above most of what I see on TV and continually uses this technique to create and relieve tension between characters whilst building the story. One of the reasons I perhaps find it so effective is I find it easy to identify with which gives it a more powerful voice. Cinematographer Tod Campbell uses lower quadrant framing to create beautiful results that tell the story, shot to shot. Visual tension builds from the very first scene and continues to do so as we learn about Elliot. As my English teacher always told me: ‘show, don’t tell’ and that is exactly what this character study does. The series portrays the protagonists’ boldness, isolation, and loneliness perfectly, as he slowly identifies societies’ problem with greed and material possessions. This is in part to this technique of placing the characters in carefully thought out places within the frame in each and every scene we come to see them in. Everything about each scene is constructed beautifully, from the acting, sets, lighting and colour toning, to the composition and angles we observe the characters from.
Distracted by Television - 50mm f/1.4D
Not every picture needs to be a masterpiece. Some are merely a record of the scene. This was taken back in 2017 when I was first testing out this technique; admittedly probably never properly understanding it until more recent times. In this scene, the use of the technique in question explains that my son was completly lost watching a cartoon on the TV. He was almost completely unaware of my presence. There is a loss of balance in the frame, and a gaze that is opposite to the usual, expected convention of gazing into the negative space I created on the left of the picture.
Notice the soft, spherical aberration of the lens used wide open at f/1.4 which adds to the dreaminess of the scene and gives it a subtle glow look. I’ve spoken before about how I prefer lenses that produce this effect for portraiture, with the ability to reduce it by stopping down a stop or so. Read more on this here.
Rule of Thirds
The Bride - Notice the two main subjects closely follow the rule of thirds, but not perfectly - 50mm f/1.4G
One of the most conventionally used techniques to frame shots, both cinematically, in artworks and paintings and also for photography; is the rule of thirds. The frame is divided up into nine pieces via intersecting lines. The subject is placed on one of the third intersection points - 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up or across the frame. This technique is simple in itself to use and it is seen absolutely everywhere. It is a good general rule to help with composition and balance, however it can be broken, or used in alternative ways as I have mentioned before. There is no pure magic to simply placing a subject onto a 1/3 intersection however. It’s not a magic compositional trick. As you can see above in my overlay, it is not something you should try to pin exactly on these points. As you may have seen in my Decisive Moment blog post, the frame boundaries and the objects around the edge frames can be important compositional anchors to either further direct the eye, or give the shot important context and we should consider this when framing the shot. You can see that in this particular composition I used a close to a rule of thirds frame, however not quite. I could have moved the camera up to place the lower left girl onto a third. I decided not to. She isn’t the main subject and if I did so, I’d loose some of the beautiful background context above the bride.
Lower Quadrant Framing
Quadrant Framing - See below for the full size view
Quad framing, or lower quadrant framing as it is often known; feels like an uneasy version of the rule of thirds; however used creatively, it can have dramatic effect. The frame is split into four pieces this time. The placement of the subject in the lower corners of the frame, and the direction they are facing, along with the context of the background, directly influences the mood created. Quad framing is a play on positive and negative space within the frame. Another way to look at this part of composition over the more simplistic rule of thirds, is the relationship between the subject and the surrounding space. The subject is the “positive space”, while everything surrounding the subject is the “negative space.” If we increase the amount of negative space around a subject, we can increase the scene tension. It can almost feel like we are loosing the subject off the edges of the picture. This can in turn give a sense of oppression. That the subjects are small in the world they occupy and feel that way also. Their visual weight becomes smaller within the context of the frame. In photography and art, we are taught to create negative space and have the subject face gaze into that space - never must we have for example; my son in the picture at the beginning of those post above, be looking right out of frame, with the negative space on the left! However, that is exactly what we can do with this technique, to create an uneasiness, or a certain mood. It can create a disconnect between characters on screen. Or perhaps signify that they stand alone. By doing this, and perhaps even having the subject face in the direction opposite of the negative space in the frame, can construct a feeling of isolation or loneliness. It can also say something awkward about the scene; or that the subject feels under duress. Perhaps the scene does not depict something nice and rosey; that there is some kind of heavy metaphorical weight hanging over the subject. Or in some cases, as I have done below, it says more about the place the subject is present in. It is important to mention, you could apply this to the upper corners in certain scenes and ways, and you have the option of tilting the lens up slightly or down towards the subject to apply further creative effects. All in all, you can see why it is a technique used so often in the incredible Mr Robot TV series, which is ultimately about the crumbling of so called civilised society.
Coffee Shop, Ala Mr Robot - 35mm 1.4 Art
Lens Considerations
For this to work well, you want good control over the background. Because of this, I highly recommend a fast prime, 35mm or longer. Having a fast aperture, f/1.8 or larger helps with light gathering and control of the out of focus elements around our subject. When using extreme, off axis compositions it matters even more that the lens chosen has close to zero distortion. You will of course, be able to avoid perspective distortion easily by using a longer lens and not being too close. As mentioned, for full frame, I suggest the shortest focal length for this technique be around 35mm. 28mm may be possible if the lens has a very flat field and you aren't too close to the subject / they aren't human. A flat field 50mm prime works really well to get close. And obviously, portrait lenses like 85’s will be great here too. Get out of thinking that all distortion can be fixed in post. It sometimes just does not play out that way. Why not just select a lens with controlled distortion from the get go? I live with 35mm, 50mm and 85mm primes for this. Next, we want a relatively sharp lens off axis. I am happy as long as the subject isn’t blurry to my eyes on a 4K monitor. I will say that I am fond of the Kubrick picture Barry Lyndon, which uses super fast primes to shoot in candlelight. They aren’t the sharpest lenses on the planet, certainly by modern standards, but look at the candlelit scenes in this film and you will see why I love that look. I go by feel, not numbers or measurements of lenses. If you worry about flare, add that to the list of properties to look for. For me, I love flaring effects, so I actually look for lenses that add characer here. The 50mm f/1.4D Nikkor does this in spades. With the sun behind the subject, it will flare bright red and yellow / green areas if caught at the right angle. Another favourite is the 85mm f/1.4D Nikkor, a classic portrait lens with zero distortion. Not only does it give a beautiful rendering, if flares nicely and provides beautiful bokeh. I also do enjoy using a 35mm f/1.4 as I did in the above picture.
Upper Quadrant framing - 50mm f/1.4D
Upper Quadrant Framing
Often with pictures like the above of my son playing The Forest on my 32” 4K Asus Proart (that I mainly bought for editing, however it works beautifully for 4K 60 FPS gaming); I like to give huge volumes of negative, or background spacing. His head is firmly placed into the top left corner. Almost nothing is in focus here, as the depth of field is so shallow. I can also use the bright central area that f/1.4 glass gives to give a glow to the scene. This is a shot similar to what I described could be done earlier in this article; use the very top of the frame, and either stay level as I have here, or look downward to the subject - filling the remaining negative space effectively. This makes compositional sense here for several reasons; the shot is about him being transfixed to the game. The surroundings are therefore a dominant piece in the picture. Also, if I show more of him, I show less of what he is doing which would make little sense here. I could also have focused on the monitor, however at this aperture, he would have gone completely out of focus and I did not want that. I could have stopped down, however then I could not have shot at ISO 500 and kept all the dynamic range for the screen and shadow areas. Use aperture to your advantage at all times!
The next time you have a prime lens of about 35mm and upwards, spare a thought for lower quadrant framing (or indeed, upper quadrant framing) and see if you can break out of monotonous rule of thirds composition techniques.