161

pictures

H OW T O U S E I M A G E S

mario garcia

162

Photo compositesIt is fashionable these days for newspaper designers to display

“photo composites” on their pages. This is not a bad idea, and it’s

actually not a new one. Publications during the 1950s displayed

many groupings of photographs in order to maximize photo usage

within a limited space. During the 1970s, the big picture era hit

upon us, and photo composites became a rarity. But they are back.

Photo composites work best for groupings of images that tell a story,

but they should never be a substitute for selecting one image that really

tells the story. For example, in staple news coverage, such as fires,

accidents, plane crashes, and so on, using one dominant image is still

better than to put five smaller images together within a rectangle.

Photo editing is exactly what the name implies: someone editing from

a field of many images, and coming up with the definitive one to tell

the story. On the other hand, if one is illustrating the offerings in a

museum that just opened, or describing pieces that are part of an

ensemble in a fashion article, composites may be the best solution.

Remember: when designing photo composites, avoid splitting the

rectangular area into equal units; a Mondrian architecture, with

pieces in various sizes (some horizontal, some vertical) works best.

And divide the photos with a four-point rule. Also, composites

work better in color, where contrast stands out, than in black and

white, where, if printing is not good, the images blend into a

muddy surface.

pure design

163

When composites work: Rumba,Rabo y Oreja, El Pais’s maga-zine, use photo composites lib-erally, incorporating shape andcolor to a dramatic editorialeffect.