ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how the arrangement of figures in the readers' scene tells the story — and how that story can be radically changed by making subtle adjustments to the position of the characters involved. The position of figures in a scene can have dramatic results in terms of the story being told. As photomontage artists, we’re used to being able to manipulate objects so that they fit the scene. And yet composition is an area that’s often overlooked by Photoshop artists: so tied up are they in the detail, they forget to look at the bigger picture. Da vinci’s Last supper is not only the painting that inspired The Da Vinci Code, it’s also a masterpiece of classical composition. Jesus sits right in the center, surrounded by his apostles — who form four distinct groups of three. Each group would be a perfectly composed painting in its own right if it were taken in isolation.
