The direction in which a subject or subjects is looking in an image tends to draw the viewer's attention in a similar direction. In other words, we follow the subject's gaze. This gives the picture a sense of movement, especially if the gaze is towards an object within the frame of the image or to another person.
A number of authors have explored the issue of how a depicted person gazes out of the frame. In his study of women’s magazine advertisements, Trevor Millum distinguished between these forms of attention:
- attention directed towards other people;
- attention directed to an object;
- attention directed to oneself;
- attention directed to the reader/camera;
- attention directed into middle distance, as in a state of reverie;
- direction or object of attention not discernible.
He also categorized relationships between those depicted in the following way:
- reciprocal attention: the attention of those depicted is directed at each other;
- divergent attention: the attention of those is directed towards different things;
- object-oriented attention: those depicted are looking at the same object;
- semi-reciprocal attention: the attention of one person is on the other, whose attention is elsewhere.
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| Attention directed towards other people |
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| Attention directed towards an object |
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| Semi-reciprocal attention: towards another person and to middle distance |
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| Attention directed towards the camera |
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| Attention directed towards the camera |
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| Divergent attention |
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| Object-oriented attention: object of attention not discernible |
