Posts Tagged ‘Composition’

Lines and shapes play an important role in photography. They can be used to guide the viewer's eye around an image. If used unwisely they can also guide the viewer's eye straight out of the image.

You can find lines in almost any scene, but it's how you compose your photo to make use of the lines that is important. Try to compose the shot so that the line(s) lead into the image.

The Grand Corridors @ Tanjore Brihadeeswara Temple by VinothChandar on flickr (licensed CC-BY)

In photography, it is important that the subject you are photographing is clearly conveyed to the viewer. In a portrait photo, you want the viewer to concentrate on the person, not the background. Going further, you probably want the focus to be on the face, and going further still, probably the eyes, or maybe the lips.

This is true not just for portrait photography, but for most types of photography. With landscape photography, there is normally a main point of focus in the image, for example a tree, the sunset, or maybe a river.

You can help focus your viewer's attention on the important part(s) of the photo by assigning the most important a higher visual weight. There are a number of different factors that are likely to affect how much attention a viewer pays to a particular part of an image.

It may be hard to believe, but you can take very nice landscape photography even with the most basic equipment. You don't need the latest and greatest ultra-wide lenses (although that does help create a unique perspective) or the fastest lens with a f1.2 aperture. Landscape photography generally benefits from a deep depth of field, and ironically the type of camera with inherently deep depth of field are compact point and shoot digital cameras! DSLRs have shallower depth of field, hence they lends themselves to creating shots with nice bokeh (out-of-focus elements).

These 5 tips will not feature the discussed-to-death rule of thirds. Anyway, for those looking for something on the rule of thirds, just remember this rule: Don't place your subject right in the middle of the frame unless you are aiming for symmetry (see the next tip below).

It has been that said the most difficult thing for man to do is to judge his or her creative work, objectively. Be honest, can you tell when your work seems to be missing something? More importantly do you know what it is that’s missing? You can only improve your photos if you set a high photo standard to compare yourself against.

The rule of thirds is a compositional aid used to help photographers and artists arrange the elements of a picture in such a way as to actively engage the attention of the viewer. This method can be very effective in creating a strong focal point in an otherwise bland image. It can be applied to most scenes you may come across, from landscapes to portraits, still life to abstracts.

Many people display their printed photographs in frames, and even on the internet it is common to add a frame around your photo. The frame helps gives the photo some space and draw attention to the photo itself. But what about using a frame as part of your actual photograph?

When you find an interesting subject or location for landscape photography, it makes sense to think about the composition of your image in order to maximize the photos impact, rather than just taking a quick snapshot. If the light is changing quickly it may be a good idea to set up your camera and take a quick shot, just so you have at least one shot 'in the bag'. But after that, take a look around the area, and think in more detail about the composition of the photo.

House on the green sea by Luigi Torreggiani on flickr (licensed CC-BY)