So, welcome to my new ‘tip of the month’. Sorry i couldn’t think of a more original name for it, but how many ways can you say ‘tip of the month’? (it sort of does what it says on the tin).
What’s the tip? Well every month i am going to attempt to enlighten (hopefully) beginners and those new to photography. *
*note here, i’m not pretending i ‘know it all’ about photography, or am trying to sway people’s own methods. If you have a system that works then stick with it, but hopefully a few can benefit from my tips.
April: Composition
What is it that makes those stunning photographs so special? Light? Probably (but that’s another story, or in this case tip). The location? Perhaps, but you still have to capture it. The camera then? Doubtfully. No, even though all of these factors contribute in varying amounts, there is something that isn’t listed. Something in my opinion that is so important that it can undoubtedly make or break an image.
What is this amazing factor? (come on its slightly obvious).
Got it? Good. Yep, composition is the business. Lead in lines, horizons, rule of thirds. If all this is gibberish to you then hopefully i can help.
So what it composition? Well composition is the makeup of the photo. How things are placed for maximum (or minimum) effect. You can have golden light, a beautiful location, and a Canon 5D, but without good composition you might as well go home.
There are several factors to consider when ‘composing’ a photo. First, what is your subject? For instance is it a mountain summit, or a specific tree, or a person? In any case you will want the viewers’ eye to be ‘drawn’ to this subject as it is the focus point of the image.
To do this you have several ways. You could for example use ‘lead in lines’. These are objects such as walls, fences, and rivers (i.e. they act as lines). By placing these where the viewers’ eye will fall they can be used to ‘lead’ them to the main subject (fig 1.).
Fig. 1
Another way is to use the almighty (and slightly confusing) ‘Rule of Thirds’. This is a method dating back thousands of years throughout art, and if used correctly can have a major effect of an image.
Basically (and it’s way too easy to draw something like this out) the Rule of Thirds is a grid; two lines horizontally and two vertically across a picture, essentially cutting the image into nine boxes each measuring a third (following ok?). Where the four lines of the grids intersect, these are places where subjects of importance should be placed.
So for example; instead of placing a tree as the main subject in the centre of the frame, which is a common mistake, by placing it on one of the intersects we can maximise the effect the tree has.
The Rule of Thirds should never be forgotton about, and although it is slightly complicated to first grasp hold of, the technique will eventually become second nature.
Another factor not to be forgotten about is cropping. Cropping is what the frame has and does not have within it. A far too common mistake is to rush taking a photograph and thus including all sorts of unwanted objects ranging from leaves, to people to your own hand!
These can be extremely distracting in an image and can lead the eye away from the intended subject. There’s one simple way to prevent this; take your time. Check what’s in the frame and what isn’t, and if you see something you don’t want, either zoom in or re-compose.
Another point to remember is that many digital SLR’s do not show a true representation of what you actually take. This is due to the sensor size in relation to the viewfinder (but it doesn’t really matter why). Therefore when composing you have to take into account that the scene through the viewfinder is already ‘cropped’, and thus it may be necessary to take a test shot to see the actually image.
Ok, well that’s about it folks. Hope that was of some help, or just made for interesting reading. Just remember the 3 key points to composition; Subject, The Rule of Thirds and Cropping and you should do just fine. Till next time, happy shooting.
Rich
