Photographic composition, at its simplest, is framing and placing the subject within a frame. Creating an impactful photograph begins with composition. Photographers face the risk of losing or obscuring valuable elements within their frames without proper composition.
As an example, let’s say you’re taking a photo of a glass of water for a stock photo. Cropping too closely into that glass of water and not leaving negative space limits the image’s potential use for potential customers. For an advertising campaign, they won’t be able to add text to it. Similarly, they can’t crop their own images to fit with the style of a particular brand.
Poor composition can also be characterized by crooked horizon lines, distracting backgrounds, or unwanted elements within the frame.
There are ten rules of composition that every photographer should be aware of, even if they decide to break them.
Rule of Thirds
A well-balanced shot starts with the basic rule of thirds. You can do this both horizontally and vertically by breaking the photograph into thirds. In terms of composition in photography, you should place your subject at one of the four intersection points between these lines since our eyes are naturally drawn to that area.
Fill the Frame
It can be tricky to strike the right balance between allowing enough negative space within the frame and not leaving too much. An excessive amount of white space can detract from your subject.
Concentrate on what’s important to the picture and zoom in or out to get a variety of frames. Start by moving closer to your subject, then away from it. When you upload images to stock photography or provide images to photography clients, offering a variety of frame fills will give you options.
Fill the Frame
It can be tricky to strike the right balance between allowing enough negative space within the frame and not leaving too much. An excessive amount of white space can detract from your subject.
Concentrate on what’s important to the picture and zoom in or out to get a variety of frames. Start by moving closer to your subject, then away from it. When you upload images to stock photography or provide images to photography clients, offering a variety of frame fills will give you options.
Strong Point of Interest
It is essential to have a strong point of interest in a photograph. The subject of a portrait would be the point of interest, while a landscape might contain a distant mountain or sunset.
Photographs with a focal point give their pictures meaning, thereby attracting viewers’ attention. There’s nothing wrong with having more than one dominant point in an image, but too many can cause confusion and people won’t know where to focus their attention.
Depth of Field
The depth of field you choose can significantly impact your images. You can also think of it as your aperture. As the depth of field widens, for example with f/16, more of your image will come into focus. With a narrower aperture, f/2 for example, your frame will have fewer elements in focus and your bokeh will be more noticeable.
Landscape shots require a wider depth of field so that the entire scene appears sharp and in focus. A product shot, on the other hand, is better taken with a shallow depth of field so that the background blurs and any distractions are removed.
Leading Lines
Leading lines are a clever way to attract the viewer’s eye from one part of a photo to another, thus creating a brilliant composition. The best example of this is two diagonal lines converging towards a point since the lines draw the viewer into the subject. Parallel, vertical, and prominent horizontal lines can also be used to achieve a leading effect.
Our eyes are accustomed to reading text from left to right, so placing your subject on the right side of the frame may be more effective. A stronger image will result, and you will be able to guide people toward the focal point.
Dark Edges
To make your subject stand out in the photograph, make sure there are no bright items or lights in the background. It is easier for the viewer’s eye to focus on the subject when there are darker, less obvious edges.
The brightest point of an image is generally what your eyes are attracted to. Whenever the viewer sees a bright object in the corner or edge of a portrait, they are more likely to be drawn to that rather than the subject itself.
Room to Crop
It is especially important to use this principle when taking photographs of people or close-ups of products. It is imperative to focus on what you are photographing.
Take photographs that are a bit wider than you think you need, then crop in post-production. When you are editing your shots after shooting, there’s nothing worse than finding out that you shot too close to your subject and didn’t leave enough room for cropping.
You should crop to emphasize the strongest aspects of your subject. Remove all other distracting elements.
However, crop with caution. Unless you are using a top-of-the-line camera and shooting RAW, try to minimize the amount of cropping in post-production. The image will become smaller if it is cropped, lowering the resolution. RAW is a smart choice if you plan on cropping, or if you want to be able to crop.
Use the Environment for Interesting Composition
Using natural elements of the environment to frame a subject is a great way to start when creating a compelling composition. However, there are several more ways you can do the same. Consider reflecting surfaces like ponds or building sides for creating mirrored images. The enhanced perspective makes your image seem even larger.
It is also a good idea to find shapes in the environment. Any form can provide a compelling visual opportunity to create a beautiful image, regardless of its leading lines. To create dynamic interest within your frame, search for circles, squares, triangles, and anything in between.
Break Some Rules
All things considered, sometimes breaking these rules is the best way to go. Using all of these tricks will help you to take a clear, balanced shot, but sometimes the winning shot will require you to do something out of the ordinary.
Because each scene is unique, the prudent course of action is to trust your instinct. Having knowledge of the rules, however, makes it easier for you to break them.
When making a stock photo or taking a picture for fun, remember to follow the rules of composition. Try different things and figure out what works for you.
When working for clients, you sometimes must follow the rules, but once you establish a style and a relationship with that client, you may find that you can experiment more.