Composition in photography can be a difficult subject to
teach to others. This is because composition can be a
deeply personal thing. What appeals to me may not appeal to
you.
However, many photographers, beginners in particular, are
not happy with the way their photos look. But often they
can't quite put their finger on why.
There are plenty of rules and guidelines to help you with
composition. Possibly the best known is the Rule Of Thirds.
This rule suggests your composition should be divided into
a nine-part grid, by running two lines horizontally (a
third from the top and a third from the bottom) and two
lines vertically (a third from the left and a third from
the right). According to the rule, large objects (trees,
buildings etc) should be placed on these lines, and small
objects are most effective if positioned where the lines
intersect.
Photos composed around these guidelines have a balanced
look. Objects seem to appear exactly where your eye expects
to find them. So when you build a composition around the
Rule Of Thirds, your photo satisfies the viewer's natural
sense of proportion.
Some people have an innate sense of visual balance. They
have a flair for composition without needing to be guided
by rules. However, if you were to examine their photos, you
would be sure to find that most of their photos fitted the
rule perfectly - even if they were not aware of it.
The Rule Of Thirds is an excellent place to start if you
are a photographer struggling with composition. I recommend
to every beginner to learn it, practice it, get so familiar
with it that you start to apply it without even thinking.
Then, once you are truly comfortable with the Rule Of
Thirds - ignore it about half the time.
Recently a man walked into my gallery, and before I even
said hello I heard him telling his friends: "You see, this
is a good photo because it fits the rule of thirds. This is
a bad photo because the kangaroo is right in the middle.
This sunset is no good because the horizon is too low when
it should be here, a third of the way up..."
This man was obviously an ardent devotee of the Rule Of
Thirds. For him, anything that stepped outside the
boundaries of the rule was automatically a bad photo. But
is composition really so simplistic? Of course not.
The real world is not nearly so neatly organised as the
Rule Of Thirds. More importantly, being creative means
finding your own way to express the character of a subject,
which may not always require a traditional approach.
I can give you two very simple examples from my own
collection. One of my outback photos has a very detailed
foreground, and some tall bushes in the background. I have
positioned the horizon right through the centre of the
photo. If I raised it higher, I would have lost the
foreground. If I dropped it lower, the tops of the bushes
would be cut off. In this case, the composition was
influenced by the circumstances.
The other example is a sunset photo. The sky in this photo
is truly spectacular. I dropped the horizon very low so the
colours of the sky fill the frame. If the horizon had been
set a third of the way up, that would mean one third of the
picture was black. Not only would this be wasted space that
did nothing for the photo, it would also diminish the
impact of the sky.
Choosing to ignore the Rule Of Thirds is not the same thing
as not being aware of it. In each case when taking a photo
I would consider the Rule Of Thirds, and judge whether its
application will make my picture better, or worse. If I
choose to ignore it, it is a deliberate method of adding
impact to the composition, possibly by drawing attention to
a particular feature like the sky in my sunset photo.
So, back to my earlier statement. If you are struggling
with composition, the Rule Of Thirds may be the best thing
you ever learn. Not because you should always use it, but
because you should know when to use it and when to lose it.
That way, when you choose to compose your photo
differently, it is not just a clumsy mistake, but a
creative choice to improve the impact of the photo. Once
you cross that threshold, your photography will become a
true expression of your artistic eye.
----------------------------------------------------
Composition, aperture, shutter speed, depth of field...all
the essentials of good photography seem simple when they
are explained in terms you can understand. Visit
http://www.naturesimage.com.au and check out Andrew
Goodall's ebook "Photography in Plain English" to discover
your own talent for photography. While you are there,
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