#learnphotocomposition

Examples of Leading Lines You always want the viewer of your photographs to know where to look. You don’t want them confused or chances are they won’t look at your photos at all. That’s not a good thing, right? Leading lines are an easy way to lead your viewer right into your photograph. By using lines, you are controlling the way people’s eyes move around an image. Roads are always an easy place to find lines as seen in this photo. There are three lines in this image, well four actually. There are the obvious painted lines on the pavement and the line created by the metal guardrail at the edge of the road. Do you see the other line? Yes, the line of shrubs and the line of dirt between the shrubs and the guardrail. Each of these lines draws the eye directly to the mountain in the background.   Is this an interesting photograph? I’ll let you decide, though a good composition has been achieved because of the leading lines. This image is also a great example of the effective use of shadows. The lines from the shadows and light create brilliant leading lines drawing the viewer right into the photograph. The composition of the image is also very strong because of the fantastic use of leading lines. Some sort of light source creates the explosion of lines in this photo. Read the full article

We are now about halfway through learning about composition.  I put special effort into simplifying everything so there is no photography mumbo jumbo big words for you to remember.  Just as your photos should be simple in composition, I’ve composed this course in easy to understand terms. The secret, if there is a secret is practice, practice, practice, and more practice.  I promise you the more effort and time you put into mastering these simple techniques, the better your photo composition will be. Now, the next rule of composition - Leading Lines.  One of my favourite techniques. A poorly composed photograph can leave your viewers unsure where to look.  Their attention might drift aimlessly around the scene in a photo without ever finding a clear focal point.  The viewer doesn’t know where to look. How can you fix this?  You can use lines to control the way people’s eyes move around a picture.  Yes, lines. Lines are going to be present in your work no matter what you do, so it’s all about taking control of them so that they serve the purpose of leading a viewer into your photograph. The next time you are out with your camera, take a look around you first.  Are there any lines or paths that your eye naturally follows to lead you to the main subject?  If so, you should consider backing up from your subject to include them.  A line can be anything your eye will follow. Read the full article

Landscape vs Portrait or Horizontal vs Vertical Every scene and situation is different so it is always best to look through your camera’s viewfinder to know which orientation looks best.  You can also capture both – horizontally and vertically.  Yes, take both and see firsthand what works best for you. It is always best to practice composition techniques so you can learn firsthand what elements work and which don’t. You can also view other photographer’s images and learn. Below are four photo examples. There are two images, each of the same scene. One image has been taken in the landscape (horizontal) format and the second image has been taken in the portrait (vertical) format. Take time to study each scene. Which photo has a stronger composition?  Why? Landscape (Horizontal)? Portrait (Vertical)? Landscape (Horizontal)? Portrait (Vertical)? Landscape (Horizontal)? Portrait (Vertical)? Landscape (Horizontal)? Portrait (Vertical)? Landscape (Horizontal)? Portrait (Vertical)? For some images, both Horizontal and Vertical work beautifully for a strong composition.  In other images, one aspect will make your composition stronger than another.  The perspective of the scene does change dramatically when the camera is held vertically.  Do you notice this? There is nothing wrong with taking a photo both horizontally and vertically.  Sometimes seeing will help you decide which is best for the strongest composition. Read the full article

Horizontal versus Vertical When I was learning photography my mentor adamantly told me to only take photos in the landscape - or the horizontal position.  He never told me why he simply said just do it and don’t hold your camera vertically.  So, for years afterwards I did just what he told me and it was easy to get stuck and take every photo with the camera held horizontally. Needless to say, I missed some interesting photos and compositions by never turning my camera vertically.  Additionally, I lost out on many sales to magazines because all magazines are laid out vertically. Our brains are becoming more and more used to landscape (horizontal) format as a way of viewing photographs.  This may be due to us looking at televisions, computer screens or even movie screens for so long.  Because of the way we are trained to look, it is easy to forget that anything but landscape format exists.  By simply turning your camera 90 degrees, you might dramatically improve your image. So, I am going to tell you to decide which is best. Our cameras are designed to be most comfortable held in a horizontal orientation, providing a nice grip to wrap your hand around so your other hand can operate the controls.  So it stands to reason that many photographers will make far more horizontal images than vertical. Try turning your camera to get a vertical shot instead of horizontal.  In fact, if you are not sure whether horizontal or vertical is best, try both.  Read the full article

Remember, the frame refers to the edges of your photograph or the edges of the viewfinder of your camera when you are shooting. The advice to fill the frame means to get in close, to make your subject a significant portion of the final photograph. Fill the frame encourages you, as a photographer, to really spend some time thinking about your subject and how best to feature that subject in your photograph. How can you bring forward the details or the patterns or the most critical element(s) of your subject? How does the background add to or take away from the story that you are trying to tell? This advice is articulated in a lot of different ways such as "Get close. Then get closer." Photographers tend to leave too much ‘stuff’ around their subject. The viewer gets lost in the chaos and doesn’t know where to look. Less is often more to put it simply. Let's look at a few more examples of filling the frame in photo composition :: Magic is in the air with this clever image of the person levitating above the leaf covered ground. There are a few elements that make the photo work nicely with regard to composition. First, the frame is indeed filled as much as it can be given the person’s feet not touching the ground. Secondly, the line of the barren shrubs frames the person beautifully. Thirdly, the colours work together beautifully. The exposure could be improved, but we are discussing composition. The photographer succeeds in creating a strong composition. Read the full article

One of the most widespread mistakes photographers make is including too much space in the image frame. Amateur and Professional photographers alike make this mistake. When too much empty space included, the viewer is left to decide where to look. And, the viewer might decide to look elsewhere. We don't want that, do we? Let's have a look at a few examples so you can understand a bit better what I'm saying. This photo could be very nice but there are two problems. First, my eye goes directly to the blue sky instead of the man jumping high above the hill. Big mistake on the part of the photographer who captured this. The eye goes to the wrong place. Additionally, the perspective is entirely wrong. For this image to be stronger, the photographer should have zoomed in or moved closer to the jumping man. It could help also if the photographer had gotten lower to give a sense of how high the jumper is jumping. There is one other slight problem, which as a professional I see right away and that is - there are spots or smudges that are visible. If ever you plan to show your photos to other people be sure there are no spots visible on your image. Nice silhouette, but this image is sort of boring. There is too much space and little feeling when looking at this image. Again, moving closer or zooming in could have made this photo powerful. This is a missed opportunity. Read the full article

In the previous post about photo composition, I stressed the notion of clutter leaving the viewer of your photographs confused because they don't know where to look.  All of the clutter leads to no one particular focal point. The photo above is a particular type of image has become popular over the last few years especially with the rise of social media.  The idea is to tell a story with various objects in a single photo. The idea is fine though this image is cluttered and it tells a lot of stories.  The person is a writer, a traveller, an explorer and a photographer of the world. The photo isn’t objectionable, but while viewing this, the eye wanders because there is no clear focal point.  There is not one place for the eye to go.  There is not just one story to follow. But, what if …. What if the only objects left in the photo are:  the eyeglasses, the pencil, the map and the blank journal? The image has been simplified, there is a clear focal point (the journal and pencil) and our eye goes directly there.  Including only these objects makes the photo composition stronger and the image is simple.  No clutter.   And, instead of being a jack of all trades, you're a writer; maybe even writing the next best selling travel book. Another element to consider when composing your next image : Shadows. Shadows can also be used for a simple but dramatic effect.  Shadows tend to give a feeling of anticipation and often a cinematic effect, which is a good thing.  Read the full article

Is it possible to have too much in the frame of your image? The answer is yes, yes and yes. Two key factors will help you gain a full understanding of photo composition despite any rule I offer in this course.  The first factor is viewing other photographer’s work.  By viewing other photographs you can see firsthand what a photographer captured and how they captured it.  You can then make notes of particular ways photographs have been taken then apply these techniques to your own photographs. Do keep in mind I am by no means telling you to copy other photographer’s work.  Instead be original and create your own unique photos using tested techniques. The second factor to understanding photo composition is putting the rules into practice.  You will hear me say this over and over -  practice, practice and more practice will lead you to achieve stronger composition. Above all else, the number one rule of photo composition is the most important to remember.  Simplify your scene the best you can. Too much unnecessary clutter leaves the viewer of your photographs confused because they don’t know where to look.   All of the clutter leads to no one particular focal point. Let’s take a look at a few images that are cluttered. In this first photo, we see an overview of a bunch of buildings. Perhaps the point is to show an overcrowded city scene. If this is the case, the photographer achieved the goal. On the other hand, take a look at the image again. Read the full article