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EASY GUIDE FOR COMPOSITIONin Tutorials |
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By jerrys/Jerry (970) 
on December 6, 2002 4:59:44 PM CST
THE 7 BASIC RULES THE 7 BASIC RULESAN EASY GUIDE TO COMPOSITION FOR BEGINNERSMore often than not, if your great shots arent getting recognized it could be due to poor composition. Points are lost because the simple rules for composition are ignored, were never learned, or have been forgotten. This is a short, to-the-point, primer on some facets of composition designed to get the photographer better pictures with or without photoshop. Dont think that just because you are proficient in photoshop you can easily correct the composition and produce an award winning picture. Just by taking an extra moment or two prior to shooting the picture may save you hours of work and produce an extraordinary picture. And if you are not proficient in PS, (like me), then you have little recourse but to carefully compose the picture before shooting. Nothing in this article is inviolate. We all see professional photographers breaking or rewriting the rules all the time. However, it takes time and experience to know when and what rules can and should be broken, and of course, why. Please rate this article. You may e-mail me (gschneir@juno.com) if you have other questions relative to composition.
RULE 1- LOOKING PAST THE SUBJECT1. Identify the subject and then figure out how to isolate the subject from all the other junk in the picture. Look beyond the subject to see what else is included in the picture, what can be excluded, and what must be in to complete the picture. Here is an example of a very busy photo MASKThe background on the right and the florescent light just take away from what might be a very interesting shot if done from another angle.
RULE 2 THE RULE OF THIRDS2. Follow the rule of thirds whenever possible. Divide the frame into a 3x3 grid with horizontal and vertical lines. The subject should be at the intersection of any of the grid lines. Any action should be moving into the largest remaining area of the picture, not out of it. Roads or fences move into the picture, not out of it. The subject's eyes should be looking into the picture, not out of it. Action moves into the frame not out of it.Here is an example of WHO ME Note that the eye of the goose is approximately at the junction of two grid lines and that the goose appears to be looking into the frame. Here is another picture which again represents the rule of thirds. Happy with just a plastic fork In this shot the photographer (not me) placed the boys deliberately off center. The result is a much more interesting picture than had the boys been placed dead center. You may want to question the format, but this is one case where the picture can be done either way. In this 3rd picture, Eric Graham's Tungsten Self illusrates how some rules can be bent. The eyes are located at near the intersection of the grid lines (upper right) and even though Eric cuts into the face, the eyes carry the viewer back into the shot. Normally, good composition tries to avoid cutting into the face of the subject, but here, I think it works well.
RULE 3- HORIZONTAL VERSUS VERTICAL3. Strong horizontal images demand a horizontal format for the picture while strong vertical lines generally require a vertical format. Just because your original image was shot horizontal doesnt mean it cant be cropped into a vertical image.The issue of format seems to be a difficult one for many photographers. Try looking at the image in both formats. If it looks OK to you either way, the chances are you should follow the rules presented. If one way looks materially better than the other, go with that one. This image was shot horizontally but was cropped to a vertical format. SAILBOAT ON THE NILE In this picture the almost vertical mast won out over the horizon. Here the mast was much closer while the horizon was dimmer and further away. One may also note that the boat is moving out of the picture. I should have cropped the picture somewhat tighter on the right and leave more open water on the left. Here is another picture which clearly demands a horizontal image. In this picture by Bryan Talbot called VANCOUVER 01 the strong horizontal format of the image demands a horizontal framing. Here too, the reflection leads you into the picture.
RULE 4- DEPTH OF FIELD -ELIMINATE CLUTTER4. Eliminate or diminish clutter. This is better done in the camera simply by changing the photographers position or the camera angle. It can also be done by using a wider aperture to blur the background. Dont be afraid to shoot several pictures at widely different settings. A blurred background really needs to be blurred, not just slightly out of focus. FOUNTAINIn this picture a wide aperture was selected to blur the background. I had tried about 8 to 10 other shots with varying aperture and shutter speeds. I wanted the aperture as open as possible to reduce DOF and thus blur the background. I could not change the camera angle without losing the sun shining through the water
RULE 5 - IDENTIFY THE SUBJECT5. If shooting in color, use color to help identify the subject. Avoid shooting the subject against a similarly colored background. If shooting in B&W, use shadows or light to isolated the subject. ILUMINATED CROSSThis shot shows how the light on the stone against the dark background clearly sets the subject out from the rest of the picture. Note the worshiper in the shadow on the left side. In this picture by Windel Dickerson called Flower Lady of Tam Ting note how the photographer uses color to isolate and identify the subject. Here again, the format is presented in the vertical to match the strong vertical lines and the subject is in the lower right grid lines.
RULE 6 - KEEP IT SIMPLE6. If you have a scene with a multitude of similar items or subjects, do you really need more than 3 to tell the story? Eliminate objects that are out of focus or too far away from the center of interest. A failed example of this may be seen in the picture BATHING BEAUTIESThere were about 8 to 10 other bathing beauties in this picture so I eliminated all but 4 of them. Of course, had I followed my own advise, I would have seen the clutter in the background of these beauties and moved my position to eliminate it.
RULE 7 - SIZE MATTERS7. Size matters. If the center of interest is much smaller than the things around it, it may be lost in the picture. Small items do not carry the impact that larger ones do. Change the distance to the subject, magnification, or crop to get the impact necessary.In this next picture, BUNCH OF RED FLOWERS the impact of size is easily seen. What is first shown is the bunch of flowers. Follow the link to see the impact of cropping just to one flower. Here the flower fills most of the frame. In the photo LYCHEE Neo Wang,the photographer, took great pains to present an enlarged view which captures and holds the viewer. The contrasting colors and texture also add greatly to the effect of this shot.
CONCLUSIONAs you read through these guidlines, one fact should spring out to the reader, all the rules deal with some aspect of the subject of the picture. Size, color, movement, placement, identification and competition all have an impact on the subject and all add to having and producing great pictures.Also note, that some pictures may be very private, designed to remind the photographer of some place or time and thus may not have to follow guidelines to be a great picture in the mind of the photographer. Your rating of this article is greatly appreciated. You may of course feel free to e-mail me in order to address specific comments or concepts.
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