2. WHAT IS COMPOSITION?
• Composition is a way of guiding the viewer’s eye towards the
most important elements of an image. A good composition
can help make a great representation of the dullest objects
and subjects in the plainest of environments.
• On the other hand, a bad composition can ruin a photograph
completely, despite how interesting the subject may be. A
poorly judged composition is also not something you can
usually fix, unlike simple and common exposure or white
balance errors. Cropping can sometimes save an image, but
only when tighter framing and removal of certain portions of
the image is the correct solution. That is why giving your
choice of composition plenty of thought before capturing an
image is a step of utmost importance.
3. CREATING A GOOD COMPOSITION
• Focal length, angle at which you choose to position your camera
relative to your subject also greatly affects composition. For
example, choosing a wider scaled image will blur the background
and foreground, effectively lessening the importance of objects
placed in there. It will also be more often than in more noticeable
corner shading which will help keep viewer’s eye inside the frame
for longer. On the other hand, closing down the shot will bring more
objects into focus which, in turn, may result in better image balance.
How so? Well, “sharper”, more in-focus objects may attract more
attention than a blurry shape, but not always. An experienced
photographer will use all the available means to achieve the desired
result. Simple shapes, tones, shadows, highlights, colours are all
strong elements of composition.
5. AN EXAMPLE OF STUDYING A
COMPOSITION.
Despite the fact that part of a wall showing in the foreground
is completely out of focus, it is the most vivid part of the
photograph as well as being quite bright. For this reason, it
attracts our attention much more than the main subject (man
with the tea cup and his dog hiding in shadows). The bright
yellow rectangle is the first thing you see when you glance at
the photograph. A good and obvious way to fix this would be
to reduce the vividness and luminance of the yellow colour.
6. RULES
• Photo composition doesn’t have to be complicated.
There are all sorts of theories about the ‘Rule of Thirds’
and more complex ‘Golden Mean’.
• Simplify the scene
• Fill the frame
• Aspect ratio
• Avoid the middle
• Leading lines
• Use diagonals
• Backgrounds
• Creative with colours
7. RULE OF THIRDS
• Imagine that your image is divided into 9 equal segments
by 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines. The rule of thirds
says that you should position the most important
elements in your scene along these lines, or at the points
where they intersect
8. LEADING LINES
• When we look at a photo our eye
is naturally drawn along lines. By
thinking about how you place
lines in your composition, you can
affect the way we view the image,
pulling us into the picture, towards
the subject, or on a journey
"through" the scene. There are
many different types of line -
straight, diagonal, curvy, zigzag,
radial etc - and each can be used
to enhance our photo's
composition.
9. VIEWPOINT
• Before photographing your subject, take time to think
about where you will shoot it from. Our viewpoint has a
massive impact on the composition of our photo, and as
a result it can greatly affect the message that the shot
conveys. Rather than just shooting from eye level,
consider photographing from high above, down at
ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long
way away, from very close up, and so on
10. BACKGROUND
• The human eye is excellent at distinguishing between
different elements in a scene, whereas a camera has a
tendency to flatten the foreground and background, and
this can often ruin an otherwise great photo. Thankfully
this problem is usually easy to overcome at the time of
shooting - look around for a plain and background and
compose your shot so that it doesn't distract or detract
from the subject.
