Composition and framing
Apr 18, 2021 14:50:10 GMT -5
blueblood1995, mayday_golf83, and 3 more like this
Post by dr_golfdesign on Apr 18, 2021 14:50:10 GMT -5
The first tee. It’s the first and last chance for me as a designer to grab the interest of those that decide to play my course. The first image they’ll see will determine how they look at the rest of my 18 holes.
Essentially, what you see on that tee shot is a living photograph of the course. A flat image however, and that means that we as designers have some work to do in order to create a sense of perspective: to emulate the three dimensions of a live golf course. I treat it as a photography, so I think about composition and framing. I do that for every shot people will likely take, but for tee shots in particular. I wanted to share with you the steps I take to fill up the space around the golfer in such a way that it helps guide the eye to those parts of the course I want the players to look at.
First, let’s talk a bit about composition. This term will be familiar to anyone who is involved in photography, painting or any other form of visual arts. Composition refers to the way the elements in a picture are arranged. An interesting landscape photograph will rarely show the main feature in the middle of the frame, you can play with lines (both natural and man made) to guide the eye to your subject and there needs to be some kind of balance in a photo. These are some things I’d like to discuss related to how I frame and compose my tee shots. If you want to lear more about composition in general, check out this website.
So let’s take a look at the first tee of my most recent course Amstel Plains. In the picture below you’ll see that the surroundings are pretty empty. Because the course is quite flat, there is not a whole lot to look at. Apart from some perspective lines, there’s not much help for the player’s eye to find out where to look and what to aim for.
The first thing I did to emphasize that perspective is to add a path – a cart path in this case - and a hedge on the left side of the tee boxes. On top of that, these features cover part of the empty space on the left side of the frame. It balances out the picture as some sort of counterweight to the tree line on the right. Notice how the cart path guides your eye to the start of the fairway. All of the sudden, it’s not all green stuff you’re looking at anymore.
But this is still quite an empty space. If you want to go for a minimalist look, this could work. If you’re interested in that, check out this article on the use of negative space, something I tried to do on some holes on a previous course: ‘Amsterdam Open G.C.’ But for Amstel Plains I found that I needed more objects and color to frame the otherwise flat holes. So I put in a bunch of trees, bushes and grass on the right.
Ok, we’re getting there. But now the live photograph feels a bit unbalanced again. Something is missing, which makes the whole image look like it’s leaning to the left. And the fact that my player if a leftie even makes that stronger. So, one more tree then.
There we go. Now players will know where not to go. The trees block clear sight to areas they will not want to visit on this hole, and on top of that the path lets them know where to aim. I will say that putting in trees is the laziest way to frame and compose those tee shots. I personally consider some other holes on Amstel Plains much more creative examples of how you can steer and guide players around the course, but for the purpose of showing what I do to accomplish that I chose this first hole.
You can use dunes, water, patches of grass, small bushes, striking objects in the distance that players can aim for. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but you need to do it if you want people to enjoy their rounds thoroughly. The screen you play your virtual golf on is flat, but you as a designer can make it a three dimensional experience if you do this well.
I am curious, what are your thoughts on this? What is your approach to creating visually interesting tee shots, and how do you visually guide the player?
Essentially, what you see on that tee shot is a living photograph of the course. A flat image however, and that means that we as designers have some work to do in order to create a sense of perspective: to emulate the three dimensions of a live golf course. I treat it as a photography, so I think about composition and framing. I do that for every shot people will likely take, but for tee shots in particular. I wanted to share with you the steps I take to fill up the space around the golfer in such a way that it helps guide the eye to those parts of the course I want the players to look at.
First, let’s talk a bit about composition. This term will be familiar to anyone who is involved in photography, painting or any other form of visual arts. Composition refers to the way the elements in a picture are arranged. An interesting landscape photograph will rarely show the main feature in the middle of the frame, you can play with lines (both natural and man made) to guide the eye to your subject and there needs to be some kind of balance in a photo. These are some things I’d like to discuss related to how I frame and compose my tee shots. If you want to lear more about composition in general, check out this website.
So let’s take a look at the first tee of my most recent course Amstel Plains. In the picture below you’ll see that the surroundings are pretty empty. Because the course is quite flat, there is not a whole lot to look at. Apart from some perspective lines, there’s not much help for the player’s eye to find out where to look and what to aim for.
The first thing I did to emphasize that perspective is to add a path – a cart path in this case - and a hedge on the left side of the tee boxes. On top of that, these features cover part of the empty space on the left side of the frame. It balances out the picture as some sort of counterweight to the tree line on the right. Notice how the cart path guides your eye to the start of the fairway. All of the sudden, it’s not all green stuff you’re looking at anymore.
But this is still quite an empty space. If you want to go for a minimalist look, this could work. If you’re interested in that, check out this article on the use of negative space, something I tried to do on some holes on a previous course: ‘Amsterdam Open G.C.’ But for Amstel Plains I found that I needed more objects and color to frame the otherwise flat holes. So I put in a bunch of trees, bushes and grass on the right.
Ok, we’re getting there. But now the live photograph feels a bit unbalanced again. Something is missing, which makes the whole image look like it’s leaning to the left. And the fact that my player if a leftie even makes that stronger. So, one more tree then.
There we go. Now players will know where not to go. The trees block clear sight to areas they will not want to visit on this hole, and on top of that the path lets them know where to aim. I will say that putting in trees is the laziest way to frame and compose those tee shots. I personally consider some other holes on Amstel Plains much more creative examples of how you can steer and guide players around the course, but for the purpose of showing what I do to accomplish that I chose this first hole.
You can use dunes, water, patches of grass, small bushes, striking objects in the distance that players can aim for. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but you need to do it if you want people to enjoy their rounds thoroughly. The screen you play your virtual golf on is flat, but you as a designer can make it a three dimensional experience if you do this well.
I am curious, what are your thoughts on this? What is your approach to creating visually interesting tee shots, and how do you visually guide the player?