How to Take Attractive Photos
1. Cheerleader Effect: Why People Are More Beautiful in Groups
原文链接:http://www.theatlantic.com
[1]Who should Ihang outwith if I want to look the most attractive? And how many of said people must I acquire?
[2]The basic idea of research published this week in the journal Psychological Science is that ourasymmetries/e'sɪmɪtri/anddisproportionalitiestend to "average out"amid/ə'mɪd/a group of faces, and ourweirdlittle faces areperceivedas slightly less weird.
asymmetries/e’sɪmɪtri/n. 不对称
disproportionalities比例失调
amid/ə’mɪd/prep. 在其中，在其间
[3]Drew Walker and Edward Vul of the University of California, San Diego, did five experiments wherein subjects rated'retɪd/the attractiveness of people in photographs. Some people were pictured alone, and others were in groups. (Sometimes the "groups" were actually collages of people alone.)
rated'retɪd/
[4]In every case, for men and women, the people in groups got higher attractiveness ratings. Walker reasoned: "Average faces are more attractive, likely due to the averaging out of unattractiveidiosyncrasiesˌɪdɪə'sɪŋkrəsi/." They refer to this as the "cheerleader effect.”
idiosyncrasiesˌɪdɪə'sɪŋkrəsi/.
n. （个人独有的）气质，性格，习惯，癖好
[5]The cheerleader effect was first entered into Urban Dictionary in 2008, where it is defined byexemplary,hyperbolicpremises: "Altogether the cheerleading team looks attractive ... [however] on closer inspection [each person] is quite ugly, [anotherheteronormativeexample might be] thespice girls,[or] the group of women who dance in a circle at the bar-usually with apileofpursesin the middle [Editor’s note: What?], [or the sort of situation that] occurs at any Canadianfraternity/frə'tɝnəti/common room [Editor’s note: Gross generalization] where all together the men look hot but when checked out are actually bunk-ass.”
fraternity/frə’tɝnəti/n. 友爱；兄弟会；互助会；大学生联谊会
[6]The cheerleader effect is apparently familiar to watchers of the popular TV show How I Met Your Mother, where it was introduced in the seventh episode of the fourth season. Neil Patrick Harris' character, leaning on abarstool"unimpressed with the talent in here tonight," refers to a group of women in a bar as collectively attractive but individually "sled dogs."
[7]Sled dogs are actually gorgeous, but it was meant as an insult/ɪn'sʌlt/.
2. Rule of Thirds
原文链接:http://digital-photography-school.com
[1]The Rule of Thirds is perhaps the most well-known ‘rule’ of photographic composition.
[2]The “Rule of Thirds” one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.
[3]I will say right up front however that rules are meant to be broken and ignoring this one doesn’t mean your images are necessarily unbalanced or uninteresting. However, a wise person once told me that if you intend to break a rule you should always learn it first to make sure your breaking of it is all the more effective!
What is the Rule of Thirds?
[4]The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows.
[5]As you’re taking an image you would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display that you use to frame your shot.
[6]With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.
[7]Not only this – but it also gives you four ‘lines’ that are also useful positions for elements in your photo.
[8]The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally.
[9]Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot – using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.
[10]In addition to the above picture of the bee where the bee’s eye becomes the point of focus here are some of examples:
Another Rule of Thirds Example
[11]In this image I’vepurposelyplaced the head of my subject on one of the intersecting points – especially his eyes which are a natural point of focus for a portrait. His tie and flower also take up a secondary point of interest.
[12]In this shot I’ve placed the subject along a whole line which means she is considerably off center and therefore creating an additional point of interest. Placing her right in the center of the frame could have resulted in an ‘awkward’ shot.
[13]In a similar way a good technique for landscape shots is to position horizons along one of the horizontal lines also as I’ve done with the following shot (I’ll let you imagine the lines).
[14]Using the Rule of Thirds comes naturally to some photographers but for many of us takes a little time and practice for it to become second nature.
[15]In learning how to use the rule of thirds (and then to break it) the most important questions to be asking of yourself are:
• What are the points of interest in this shot?
• Where am I intentionally placing them?
[16]Once again – remember that breaking the rule can result in somestrikingshots – so once you’ve learnt it experiment with purposely breaking it to see what you discover.
[17]Lastly – keep the rule of thirds in mind as you edit your photos later on. Post production editing tools today have good tools for cropping and reframing images so that they fit within the rules. Experiment with some of your old shots to see what impact it might have on your photos.Save
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