What is composition photography?
Composition in photography is composing the image in the viewfinder in a process of organizing the elements and individual details of a scene into a balanced and clear arrangement and composition is a matter of personal taste and different opinions. As well as this composition can also be about picking a viewpoint to form a visual outcome and it's the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a picture.
Composition in photography is composing the image in the viewfinder in a process of organizing the elements and individual details of a scene into a balanced and clear arrangement and composition is a matter of personal taste and different opinions. As well as this composition can also be about picking a viewpoint to form a visual outcome and it's the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a picture.
Examples of composition photography
Eric Kim street photographer
When you are taking composition photography you need to remember the steps which are pattern, symmetry, texture, depth of field and lines to take great pictures and you will find out that how much better the picture is when you do that.
Eric Kim is a street photographer currently based in Berkeley, California. His passion for photography came when he studied sociology and combined the two together to make statements about society through street photography. He tries to share all the insights, wisdom and knowledge that he has learnt with the world we live in.
Eric Kim uses many elements to put his photos together and these include the composition of triangles, figure to ground, diagonals, leading lines, depth, framing, perspective, curves, self portraits, urban landscapes, spot the not, colour theory, multiple subjects and square format. Also these bring different emotions to his images and he believes that every composition can make his images have a lot of meaning behind them and he makes them black and white too.
Angles
Horizontal lines bring a static and calm feel to a picture while vertical ones often suggest permanence and stability. To introduce a feeling of drama look for diagonal lines in your images. You can need nothing more than a shift in position to get them wider angles of view tend to introduce diagonal lines because of the increased perspective. With wide lenses you’re more likely to tilt the camera up or down to get more of a scene in. You can also introduce diagonal lines artificially using the ‘dutch tilt’ technique. You do this by simply tilting the camera as you take the picture.
Horizontal lines bring a static and calm feel to a picture while vertical ones often suggest permanence and stability. To introduce a feeling of drama look for diagonal lines in your images. You can need nothing more than a shift in position to get them wider angles of view tend to introduce diagonal lines because of the increased perspective. With wide lenses you’re more likely to tilt the camera up or down to get more of a scene in. You can also introduce diagonal lines artificially using the ‘dutch tilt’ technique. You do this by simply tilting the camera as you take the picture.
Leading lines
A poorly composed photograph will leave your viewers unsure about where to look and their attention might drift aimlessly around the scene without finding a clear focal point. However you can use lines to control the way people’s eyes move around the picture.
Converging lines give a strong sense of perspective and three dimensional depth drawing you into an image. Curved lines can lead you on a journey around the frame, leading you towards the main subject. Lines exist everywhere in the form of walls, fences, roads, buildings and telephone wires. They can also be implied perhaps by the direction in which an off centre subject is looking.
A poorly composed photograph will leave your viewers unsure about where to look and their attention might drift aimlessly around the scene without finding a clear focal point. However you can use lines to control the way people’s eyes move around the picture.
Converging lines give a strong sense of perspective and three dimensional depth drawing you into an image. Curved lines can lead you on a journey around the frame, leading you towards the main subject. Lines exist everywhere in the form of walls, fences, roads, buildings and telephone wires. They can also be implied perhaps by the direction in which an off centre subject is looking.
Simplify the scene
When you look at a scene with your naked eye, your brain picks out things that interest you. A camera doesn’t do this – it captures everything in frame, which can lead to a cluttered picture with nothing that catches your eye. To create a main subject have an object then select a viewpoint (or focal length) that makes it the centre of attention in the frame. You can’t always keep other objects out of the picture so try to keep them in the background and you could potentially blur them.
Silhouettes, textures and patterns are all devices that work quite well in simple compositions.
When you look at a scene with your naked eye, your brain picks out things that interest you. A camera doesn’t do this – it captures everything in frame, which can lead to a cluttered picture with nothing that catches your eye. To create a main subject have an object then select a viewpoint (or focal length) that makes it the centre of attention in the frame. You can’t always keep other objects out of the picture so try to keep them in the background and you could potentially blur them.
Silhouettes, textures and patterns are all devices that work quite well in simple compositions.
Avoid the middle
When you first start in photography it’s tempting to put whatever you’re shooting right in the centre of the frame. However this produces boring and standard images. A way to avoid this is to use the rule of thirds, where you split the image up into thirds, both horizontally and vertically and try to put your subject on one of these imaginary lines or intersections. Move your subject away from the centre and get a feel for how it can be balanced with everything else in the scene including any areas of contrasting colour or light.
Another way of this technique is called the golden ratio.
When you first start in photography it’s tempting to put whatever you’re shooting right in the centre of the frame. However this produces boring and standard images. A way to avoid this is to use the rule of thirds, where you split the image up into thirds, both horizontally and vertically and try to put your subject on one of these imaginary lines or intersections. Move your subject away from the centre and get a feel for how it can be balanced with everything else in the scene including any areas of contrasting colour or light.
Another way of this technique is called the golden ratio.
Click on this link for more information on composition theory
The golden ratio
What is the golden ratio?
The golden ratio is a mathematical constant that appears repeatedly in nature and artwork. Believe it or not but maths is really important when creating quality art. To construct a golden rectangle, choose a number that will be the length of the rectangle’s short side.
Some argue that the rule of thirds is simply a simplification of an even more advanced mathematical equation known as the golden ratio (also known as the golden mean). The golden ratio is a ratio which has continued to surprise artists, scientists, musicians and mathematicians for centuries. The reason being is that the golden ratio seems to pop up everywhere. Not only does the golden ratio pop up in everywhere but it also seems that the human eye is very attracted to the results of the ratio.
The golden ratio is a mathematical constant that appears repeatedly in nature and artwork. Believe it or not but maths is really important when creating quality art. To construct a golden rectangle, choose a number that will be the length of the rectangle’s short side.
Some argue that the rule of thirds is simply a simplification of an even more advanced mathematical equation known as the golden ratio (also known as the golden mean). The golden ratio is a ratio which has continued to surprise artists, scientists, musicians and mathematicians for centuries. The reason being is that the golden ratio seems to pop up everywhere. Not only does the golden ratio pop up in everywhere but it also seems that the human eye is very attracted to the results of the ratio.
What is the rule of thirds?
The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section. The rule of thirds is perhaps the most well known principle of photographic composition. The rule of thirds is one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.
The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. When viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot, using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.
The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section. The rule of thirds is perhaps the most well known principle of photographic composition. The rule of thirds is one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.
The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. When viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot, using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.
watch this video which explains more about rules of thirds