Ornamental Action Photography

Tucking away some minute action can add a unique and fun layer of interest to images.

This kind of action sits in a strange limbo area between important and insignificant, because it happens in only a small part of the frame. Apart from a simple difference of scale from normal ‘action’ shots, there’s the much more important matter of the relationship between the small action and the larger setting. Which has the priority, and how do you expect the viewer to look at the frame? ‘Ornament’ may sound trivial – it’s a carefully chosen word – but like the sort of ornament we’re familiar with, in say architecture, jewellery, and design in general, it can play an important part in the photograph. Ornaments are never really there by accident.

In these days when clean modernist simplicity still tends to hold sway, it might sound a little unfashionable and fussy, but as I’ll explain, don’t dismiss it as all too incidental. It’s often the deciding factor that tips the balance between reasonable and successful. The idea is to frame a scene in such a way that the setting looks good and the composition works – while at the same time something is happening in a small way to give it life and add additional interest.