Composition in Photography

 What is Composition?

Composition is in simply means, how the elements of a photo are arranged.   Photo composition is how a photographer arranges visual elements within their frame. “It’s a pleasing organisation of objects within your rectangle,” says photographer Adam Long . A composition depend on how the photographer puts the element within a frame that help a photograph become more or less interesting to the viewer.

A good photograph will take many different parts and combine them into an aesthetically pleasing whole. Composition is how an artist tells a story within the confines of a single frame.

Why is Composition Important in Photography?

Composition is everything when it comes to a photograph.  

Rules of composition. 

• Use the rule of thirds.

The rule of thirds is a way of dividing frames for optimal composition. It involves evenly dividing the frame between two equally spaced horizontal and vertical gridlines, creating a three-by-three grid. In order to create balance and flow within the image, compositional elements should be placed where these lines of the grid intersect or segment your image. 

 

• Balance images.

Balance is related to, but distinct from, symmetry. A balanced image doesn’t necessarily look the same right-to-left or side-to-side. Rather, the various quadrants of the image complement each other in aesthetically pleasing ways. A viewer’s eye will likely scan the picture, looking for a point of interest and something else in dialogue with that point — an obvious subject might be balanced on the other side of the image by negative space. “If you have a really complicated photo with a lot of stuff going on, it can cause us to respond by drawing parallels,” says Long, “which can be kind of invigorating, confusing and aggravating in a good way.”

• Work with leading lines, focus and depth of field.

Photography flattens three dimensions into two. In order to preserve a feeling of space and dimensionality, a photographer has to be aware of what’s in a shot and how they’re focusing on it.

 

Leading lines are visual elements that pull the viewer’s eye toward a subject or focal point. They can be anything — roads running off into the distance, an arm stretched out toward something else, tree branches rising toward the moon — anything that pulls attention toward something else. These lines can give flat surfaces the appearance of depth, dimension and shape.

• Find the right point of view.

If you want to play with composition, move around. Simply changing perspective can mean the difference between a great photo and a conventional one. ”All we’re doing is choosing to exclude things or include things,” says Long.

 

Play with your spacing and distance from your subject. “I move around a lot,” says Rivera. “I get really low or really high. I see what it’s like if I get under my subject or see what it’s like if they move side-to-side.” Get close, get far and move to find how you want to frame your subject.

 

• Improve composition with post-production cropping.

If the composition of a photo is a little off, it’s often possible to improve it in post-production with a quick crop. A photo might not frame the subject in an optimal way. But, just by moving the edge of the frame, you can often find a good image within a mediocre one.

PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION

RHYTHM

Rhythm creates movement by repeating patterns and shapes throughout the frame of an image in random or highly organised arrangement.

 

BALANCE

This doesn’t mean that both sides have to be symmetrical… but if you have an object on one side that attracts the viewer's eye, the other side should have something to keep you interested in the whole image as opposed to just the dominant or larger object. 

 

PROPORTION

Proportion refers to the size of objects within a frame as they relate to one another. A successful composition made by changing the camera angle.

The photographer can also position the subjects in such a way to make the differences in proportion the focus of the image.

  

EMPHASIS

Emphasis refers to how the elements of our composition help the viewer to an intentional subject within the frame. To do this, the photographer can employ a variety of techniques.

 

SELECTIVE LIGHTING HELPS TO EMPHASISE THE SUBJECTS BEING LIT.

To emphasize a subject include leading lines and proportion.

 

HARMONY

Harmony uses color, texture, line and other aspects of art to point out the similarities of subjects within an image.  Harmonious images will often showcase how different objects are all the same.

 

VARIETY

Variety is the opposite of harmony. Not to say that it is chaos, but variety juxtaposes different objects together so that their differences are what brings interest to the photograph and the story being told. 

 

MOVEMENT

Movement within a composition is the photographer’s ability to imply motion. Obviously, nothing within a still image is actually moving, but by the use of creative shutter speeds, panning or zooming with the camera, you can create an implied feeling of motion