Looking for a screenshot I needed for something else... and I found this amazing promo image.
I like to imagine that John and Sherlock are taking a publicity photo, and Mycroft just wandered in on the shot and is grumpy that Sherlock asked him to move.
It fails. It fails so hard. I didn't even crop this image, it is the only way I could find it online. The composition is terrible in so many ways.
Let me break this down!
The shadow across Mycroft's face is hilarious. The fact that this photo is public enough that I could find it is bad enough, but taking this photo with shadows looking is just unforgivable. And for some reason they are all shiny and shadowy at the same time.
Let’s talk height. In other photographs in this set, Mycroft is about the same height as Sherlock, maybe even a little taller. Fine. In this image, he looks a little shorter, but he’s standing farther away and we know what perspective is, so it should make sense.
Except... Look at their shoulders. In this picture Mycroft’s shoulders are actually still higher than Sherlock’s. And yet his head is noticeably smaller. I am pretty dang sure this isn't a photo composition. So with that in mind, the photographer is doing Mycroft absolutely no favours.
It is probably their poses that really ruins things. John and Sherlock are both facing forward with their chins tilted slightly down, which gives us just slightly more of the tops and backs of their heads. More hair. More volume.
Meanwhile, Mycroft is leaning back and looking down his nose, and vaguely up and to the right, apparently doing everything in his power to make his head look even smaller.
So now we have three men standing together, all holding their heads at completely different angles, with Mycroft farther away, his shoulders inexplicably higher than Sherlock’s, and his skull apparently retreating into the distance without the rest of him. Totally bonkers choices there.
Ok, let's move on.
Composition-wise, this image struggles to have a focal point. Mycroft is stealing focus in the image by having a darker saturation and being in the middle. John and Sherlock are more muted and stand out less.
And though John has the most interesting expression on his face in this image, they just tuck him to the side. All we see is Mycroft looking at Sherlock, and Sherlock, who is wearing a mild expression isn't doing anything to draw attention.
And finally, with Mycroft off-centre, it just makes the eye impossible to rest comfortably.
So how to make this photo better?
Just get rid of Mycroft. Easy.
Look at that! Powerful! They still have their attitudes, and John looks fantastic with the "I can kill you and you can't do nadda," look on his face, and Sherlock's look still reflects "Yup, he's with me."
But if Mycroft is a must, I've added him this way.
I did it this way because he's over there looking like he's judging them both instead of the weird glance at Sherlock. I changed the lean of his head slightly, the direction of his eyes, and put him on a body that was from the same set of pictures (i think it is still a little out of proportion, but that wasn't my point).
So what do you think? Did I fix it?
(also the colours and lighting in this image were brutal to work with. Don't yell at me for those!)
