Photo Composition

Simple tricks you can use to make your photos look great!

What is a photograph?

• What is a photograph? It is a story. What is a story? It is is a series of sentences connected to each other. The same is true about photography. To create a photograph, it is not enough just to take an image of something. The first impression from a photograph is determined by the composition balance of an image.

• To increase the expressiveness of your pictures, apply the picture composition rules while taking the photos or modeling their edges.

Keep it simple

Pick a subject

Balance

• shots with strong points of interest on one side of an image and ‘emptiness’ in another area.

• I’m not talking about symmetry - images don’t need to be the same on each side - but sometimes images can be improved greatly by having a secondary point of interest counter balancing the main focal point of an image and providing those ‘empty’ spots with a little weight.

• Achieving Balance in shots is something that photographers learn over time. The best way to learn it is to scan through some of your older images, looking for those that could be more balanced.

How can you achieve balance?

• cropping (sometimes some post production processing will achieve a lot)

• altering your shooting view point (shooting from higher up or lower down

• zooming (more tightly cropped or wider angles)

• moving an element of your picture (sometimes scenes can be rearranged)

Rule of Thirds

• The Rule of Thirds is based on the fact that the human eye is naturally drawn to a point about two-thirds up a page. Crop your photo so that the main subjects are located around one of the intersection points rather than in the center of the image.

Diagonal rule/lines

• One side of the picture is divided into two, and then each half is divided into three parts. The adjacent side is divided so that the lines connecting the resulting points form a diagonal frame. According to the Diagonal Rule, important elements of the picture should be placed along these diagonals.

Have a look.

Linear elements, such as roads, waterways, and fences placed diagonally, are generally perceived as more

dynamic than horizontally placed ones.

Framing

One of the easiest ways to take a creative photograph is to compose your subject with a frame around it. A photographic frame is an object that that acts as a border or frame for your subject. The frame directs the viewer’s attention to a particular subject or point of interest within the photograph. Frames also create perspective and show depth.

Tips for framing• Creatively think of objects to use as a frame. Some examples include

branches, windows, tunnels, doorways, and archways. Anything that lets you look through one thing at another thing will make a good frame.

• Use an interesting frame for your photograph. If possible use a symbolic object for framing your subject, something that has a meaning in relation to the subject

• Consider depth of field when working with a frame as a foreground object. Since you have a foreground object (the frame) and a background object (the subject) you can chose your depth of field. Do you want your foreground to be in focus? If so, then use a small aperture to keep the frame and subject in focus. Conversely, if you want only the subject in focus, use a large aperture.

• Keep the camera’s focusing and lighting sensors on the main subject. If possible, use a foreground frame that is a darker object than the background. Expose for the subject in the background and let the frame darken.

• Emphasize your subject. All framing directs the viewer’s attention to the subject, but you do not need to always go tightly into the frame. You can leave the subject framed but still leave other objects around the edges of the photograph. In this photograph the frame is a window, but you can still see the cannon around the edges of the photograph.

Video Summary