Composition is what goes into, the placement of, and what is left out of the objects within the photo. With the auto exposure and the great exposure metering in today’s state-of-the-art cameras, together with the new fast auto focus lenses taking care of keeping the subject in focus, the most significant difference between a good photograph and a great photograph is often the composition.
The first and one of the most important tasks of the photographer is to decide what the subject of the photograph will be. Without knowing what you want to say with the photo, composing the scene successfully is hardly possible. Is the subject a single wild flower or a group of people at a party? Only when the subject is known can you decide on the best way to present it.
Having decided what the main subject of your photograph will be, you ought to check the rest of the scene. Are there elements behind or in front of your main subject that will be distracting later? Many photos have been ruined after finding that the tree in the background is growing out from the top of Uncle Henry’s head. Sometimes a shallow depth of field can help you to keep the background out of focus, but often just trying to recompose the scene from a slightly different point of view is a better idea. One thing that could aid keeping the main subject the center of attention is deciding on the orientation of the frame. For example, shooting for a magazine cover means that the image must be in portrait mode. As the photographer, it is up to you to choose the viewpoint and angle. Standing under a tree and shooting at an extreme upward angle may turn out to be a lot more interesting than shooting that same tree straight on from 25 feet away. When shooting a group of children playing in a football match, it is often more interesting to get down on a knee and shoot the event at the height of the kids, as opposed to shooting down from the height of an adult. Changing the shooting distance and angle brings your unique view to the composition.
Composition has some basic rules, yet you ought to think of these more as guidelines. These rules are to help you compose good-looking photographs, but sometimes breaking the rules is just fine. Once you know what the rules are, you can break them as often as you like.
The Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is one of the most popular composition rules for photographers. This rule is central to all kinds of photography. It does not matter if the subject is a group portrait or a landscape. The rule is very simple and applying it ought to really enhance your composition.
Imagine that lines divide the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. The design is similar to a tic-tac-toe board. The idea is to set important elements of your composition at one of the four points where these lines intersect. It is that simple, and yet this rule can make all the difference between a good photograph and a great photograph.
Placing elements of your photo a third of the way up, or a third of the way in from the left or right, is a good idea, and with a little practice, it’s quite easy to accomplish. When you use the Rule of Thirds, it helps to produce nicely balanced photos. It is a great starting point when evaluating a scene to find the best composition.
Other compositional tips
Below are a few more compositional tips that generally help to produce better photographs. As with all rules in photography, if you feel the urge to break them, there is no punishment.
• Look inward. Subjects ought to face in towards the center of the frame or towards the camera. This goes for all subjects, but the rule is broken more when it comes to animal and human subjects.
• Make use of the diagonals. Placing the subject on a diagonal line from one of the corners of your photograph helps draw the eye to the subject.
• Use contrast. A darker object stands out on a lighter background and a lighter object stands out on a darker background. This seems so simple, yet it can sometimes be one of the most technically challenging things to do because of the exposure problems discussed earlier. Only if the subject is exposed correctly, a large light object against a dark background works.
• Human scale. When shooting very large objects, you can sometimes lose perspective by not including another object in the frame that acts as a point of reference. Including an object whose size is readily identifiable lends scope to the photograph.
• Simplify. One of the key things to remember is to simplify the image. Make sure that you have done everything you could to keep the clutter out of your composition.
• Frame the image within the image. In order to highlight the main element in the photograph, another element can frame it. This is a great way to add depth to a static scene.
• Leading lines. Any lines in the scene which provide a path that leads the viewer’s eyes to the subject are used to create a strong composition.
• Direction of movement. With subjects that can move or that are moving, you ought to leave more space in front of the subject than behind. It is better for the subject to be moving into the frame than out of it.
Break the rules
All the rules above may and ought to be broken under some circumstances. Just remember that these rules are more like suggestions, and because the final composition is all about your choices, feel free to do what you want. The idea is to start with one of the rules, but if you feel the composition does not work using the rule, it is high time to break it.
The Rule of Thirds suggests that the subject of your photograph ought to be placed one-third of the way from the top, bottom, and sides of the photograph.
At times leaving more space behind a moving object can show where an object has been instead of where it is going. And, having the subject look toward the camera is not always necessary.
Composition is subjective, and nobody can tell you what is right or wrong.
See also: Understanding Exposure, Understanding focal length, Controlling Exposure