Intermediate concepts in composition – the three pillars of atmospheric perspective
In the cropping chapter (Chapter 6), we covered the concept of composition principles as it relates to placing elements in the image. In this chapter, I will give you another set of universally accepted principles for composition that are utilized when editing after the crop. We refer to this concept as the three pillars of atmospheric perspective, and in short, it is a list of things that help draw our viewer’s eye and make logical sense of your image in the viewer’s eye.
Pillar 1 – objects in the foreground are brighter
This means that if you have a composition, the object closer to your viewer usually has a higher exposure or is brighter. Now, do not mistake this for where the light comes from. The light will still strike in natural places, but during edits, we want the background to not be as bright as the foreground overall.
