The Depictive Level

Vantage point solves the picture, rather than composing it, by allowing the viewer to view a three dimensional space in the form of a two-dimensional image based upon flatness. Vantage point dictates what the viewer sees within the photograph, including any spatial relationships between objects depicted within it. However, vantage point does not compose the space, nor the relationships between objects. Vantage point does not move the objects around to create the image. Rather, it uses the relationships that are already present to convey a certain image. For example, in this photograph, the pillars appear closer together the deeper into the picture your eye travels. However, in the physical world, the pillars are most likely the same distance from each other. Using the vantage point chosen, the pillars appear to recede into the background, narrowing the space as things get smaller. The pillars do not actually get smaller or closer together, but rather the vantage point is able to “solve” the picture by demonstrating the spatial relationships one might observe in a flattened image of the scene. The “smaller” pillars are simply farther away from the camera than the “larger” ones closer to the front of the scene. In this way, vantage point works with flatness to create depth in the depicted image, despite the photograph’s flatness as a physical body.

Similarly, spatial hierarchy refers not to the spatial relationship of the images depicted in the photograph, but to the order in which the viewer attends to each aspect of the photograph. Here, focus plays the major role in deciding what the viewer will place his or her attention on first. In this example, the

strawberry is highly in focus so the viewer can see the textural detailing on it. Then the viewer pays attention to the cat, with some texture on the fur near the face, but quickly fading out of focus the deeper into the picture the viewer looks. Then the eye travels to notice the reflection of the cat on the shiny surface, probably a table top, which is somewhat in focus near the front paws, but not particularly clear. Spatial hierarchy refers to the order that we pay attention to the different aspects of the photograph. Our eye will travel to focused objects near the center of the photograph before it travels deeper into the depictive space, or toward the edges of the photograph.