photography friday: composition

today i wanted to talk about composition. that is - the way things look in your viewfinder/on your lcd screen in the finished product. i’m not going to go in-depth because there are literally entire books devoted to the subject but i did want to share a few tips that i find particularly helpful when composing some of my pictures.

the most important compositional rule [and of course rules are meant to be broken on occasion!] you’ll probably come across is the rule-of-thirds. haven’t heard of it? that's okay! 

this is basically how it works. when you look at your lcd screen [or in your viewfinder] divide the screen into 9 equal parts - so essentially you’re picturing 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines on your screen which would form a 9 square grid. [some cameras even have a feature in the menu that allows you to turn a grid on - so that when you look in your viewfinder or on your screen there are lines there - making it easier for you!] now when you take your picture DON’T PUT YOUR SUBJECT IN THE MIDDLE! 

place your subject [whatever is the focus] along one of the 4 intersecting points of the grid.you’ll immediately see that by implementing this one tiny step your pictures will become much more interesting and tell more of a story. the rule-of-thirds applies well to most scenarios but i especially love it’s use when dealing with horizon lines. mostly, when composition isn’t really given a thought, you’ll notice that in a beach scene [for example] the horizon line literally cuts the photo in half. this can cause confusion to the viewer - what do you want them to focus on? what should they be looking at? the sky - with the dark interesting clouds? or the water with the lovely boats floating along? unless you tell your viewer what they should be focusing on you risk them just taking a quick glance at your photo, reply ‘oh that’s nice’, and moving on without really “seeing” what it is you wanted them to see.

so how do you resolve this? well, if the foreground -the beautiful palm trees dotting the landscape - or the water - with its rocky waves or beautiful boats - are most important place the horizon line on the top horizontal line. this way there’ll be more of what’s important in the photo - in effect telling your viewer what’s more important. if the sky is more important - with the dark interesting clouds coming in - then place the horizon line on the lower horizontal line - giving more importance to the sky.

the importance here is on the sky

trust me. the rule-of thirds works. try it.

the next time you’re taking a quick snapshot of someone place them in the centre of the frame and take your pic. then place them off-centre to the left or right and see which photo you find more interesting.

of course you wouldn’t use the rule-of-thirds in every scenario but i find it a good rule of thumb, in general, to follow.

if you snap some photos this weekend apply the rule-of-thirds and let me know what you think!

*all photos mine except for ocean picture...that's from secondpicture.com

p.s. happy fourth of july to readers in the US :)