If you have an automatic camera, or you put your camera in auto mode, you stand a pretty strong chance of producing an in-focus, properly exposed image. But we have all seen pictures from a party, wedding or vacation where in you can see the subject; it is visible and in focus, but for some reason, the picture doesn’t hold our interest. What is the difference between those pictures worth framing and displaying and those that remain in the photo box or in the depths of your computer? A major factor is composition.
When you take a photograph, you get to decide what is seen and what remains unseen. You choose the boundaries of your image; this is called cropping. You can also decide what will be the focal point, or viewpoint, of your picture. If you are taking pictures of moveable objects or subjects, then you get to play with the “shape” of your composition, too. Creating a triangle with your subjects is popular and the result is a balanced image.
If you are shooting landscapes or other subjects that cannot be moved, then you have to move yourself to create the best viewpoint to reveal your vision.
There are a few rules (or guidelines) of composition that will help you take more interesting, eye-pleasing pictures. Of course, you can find brilliant images that defy these guidelines, but learning them allows you to creatively break the rules with an artistic intention.
Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is basically the idea that, instead of placing the subject in the center of the image, you should place the main focus of interest at the intersection of the thirds. Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid placed over your image, and compose the image such that the main focal point falls one third up and two thirds in, or one third up and one third in. You get the idea. In the image of the woman doing yoga, the eye is drawn to the flash of light by her hand, which is one-third up and one third in to the image. In addition, her head, arms and torso are slightly to the left of center, so that her legs lead the eye toward the center of the image, but not out of the image.
Using Diagonals
Placing your subject on a diagonal nearly always makes for a more interesting picture. Diagonals lead the eye through the image, ensuring that the viewer sees what you intend. Even if the diagonal is an invisible line between two points, your image will be more effective. The yoga picture above also shows how her body creates a diagonal line across the image, producing a lovely leading line.
Leading the Viewer
Lines, implicit or explicit, lead the viewer through the image. It is therefore important that your lines do not lead the viewer out of the picture. There are many tricks to keeping the viewer “in” the image. If there is implied action in your image, be sure there is somewhere for the action to go. In other words, if you take a picture of your dog running down the beach, try to position it so that he is running “into” the image, not out of it. Give him some room to run! In Megan's Senior picture above, you can see that she was running from right to left when she leapt into the air. Capturing her on the right third of the image creates the appearance of her jumping into the picture. If I were to take the picture as she moved out of the frame, the eye would be drawn out and away from the image, and it would appear as if Megan were jumping into nothing.
Dark vs. Light (Corners)
In general our eyes are drawn to light, so in an image, our eyes will typically find the lightest parts of the picture. If the corners are much lighter than the rest of the image, the eye will be drawn to those spots and then promptly lead right out of the image.
Once you become adept at using these guidelines to improve your pictures, you can begin to challenge these guidelines to improve your pictures.
When you take a photograph, you get to decide what is seen and what remains unseen. You choose the boundaries of your image; this is called cropping. You can also decide what will be the focal point, or viewpoint, of your picture. If you are taking pictures of moveable objects or subjects, then you get to play with the “shape” of your composition, too. Creating a triangle with your subjects is popular and the result is a balanced image.
If you are shooting landscapes or other subjects that cannot be moved, then you have to move yourself to create the best viewpoint to reveal your vision.
There are a few rules (or guidelines) of composition that will help you take more interesting, eye-pleasing pictures. Of course, you can find brilliant images that defy these guidelines, but learning them allows you to creatively break the rules with an artistic intention.
Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is basically the idea that, instead of placing the subject in the center of the image, you should place the main focus of interest at the intersection of the thirds. Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid placed over your image, and compose the image such that the main focal point falls one third up and two thirds in, or one third up and one third in. You get the idea. In the image of the woman doing yoga, the eye is drawn to the flash of light by her hand, which is one-third up and one third in to the image. In addition, her head, arms and torso are slightly to the left of center, so that her legs lead the eye toward the center of the image, but not out of the image.
Using Diagonals
Placing your subject on a diagonal nearly always makes for a more interesting picture. Diagonals lead the eye through the image, ensuring that the viewer sees what you intend. Even if the diagonal is an invisible line between two points, your image will be more effective. The yoga picture above also shows how her body creates a diagonal line across the image, producing a lovely leading line.
Leading the Viewer
Lines, implicit or explicit, lead the viewer through the image. It is therefore important that your lines do not lead the viewer out of the picture. There are many tricks to keeping the viewer “in” the image. If there is implied action in your image, be sure there is somewhere for the action to go. In other words, if you take a picture of your dog running down the beach, try to position it so that he is running “into” the image, not out of it. Give him some room to run! In Megan's Senior picture above, you can see that she was running from right to left when she leapt into the air. Capturing her on the right third of the image creates the appearance of her jumping into the picture. If I were to take the picture as she moved out of the frame, the eye would be drawn out and away from the image, and it would appear as if Megan were jumping into nothing.
Dark vs. Light (Corners)
In general our eyes are drawn to light, so in an image, our eyes will typically find the lightest parts of the picture. If the corners are much lighter than the rest of the image, the eye will be drawn to those spots and then promptly lead right out of the image.
Once you become adept at using these guidelines to improve your pictures, you can begin to challenge these guidelines to improve your pictures.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment