Besides the use of lines, perspective, color, etc. to achieve emotional impact in you image, one can use symbolism. For example, one that is commonly used is an empty chair or seat. I find that it can have a different impact depending on the surrounding context. I have included images that illustrate this. The first image from a mausoleum has a couple symbolic elements. For now we will focus on the empty bench. Here the bench helps convey the sense of loss – something/someone missing.
The second and third images present much more pleasant surroundings. I have found these images make the viewer wish they were sitting there and really draws the viewer into the image. Sometimes an empty bench may make the viewer feel loneliness.
Going back to the first image, let us analyze it a bit more:
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Empty seat symbolism – loss.
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Wilted roses – reinforces the idea of death.
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Color – the color in the roses grabs the viewer’s eye. The lack of color in the rest of the image again creates a sense of loss, subdues the mood, etc.
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Lines on the granite wall lead you from the roses back to the empty bench.
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Light – the brighter light on the bench highlights the empty bench and may five a sense of hope to some.
What are some other strong symbolic elements you have seen used? Note, that some symbols may have emotional ties for you but not others.
One Comment
for me events that cause the most emotion are also the ones that leave a lasting impression or can be remembered easily. it might be something related to our caveman days when emotions rather then reason helped us survive. a fight for survival, finding food or water, fire, love to procreate, sense of family and friends, affection for our parents. i think we evolved to wire these emotional things into our memory. theres tons of memories that linger from childhood and the associated places, people, or objects
that are symbolic or cause those memories to stir. not to
reduce symbolism to basic emotions because i think its much more complicated but i think the foundation in finding symbolism in something is related to our caveman emotions and our chances for survival. for example a dark space with a set of glowing eyes can be scary because theres a lot unknown except the eyes might be from a hungry beast, since its dark we wont be able to fight really well, so our instinct is to run away from
fright. fresh fruit on a tree makes me hungry and imagine how nice the fruits must taste. a high cliff or view down from a tall building makes me queasy and want to step away. theres tons more but i think the strongest symbolism evokes these basic emotions connected to memories related to our survival individually and as a species.