# Any ideas on improving composition?



## designerfoo (Dec 16, 2011)

Would love to hear if you know of any techniques to improve composition?


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## oldmacman (Dec 16, 2011)

Good composition comes with experience, but some guides you can use:
- rule of thirds - placing items of importance at power locations.
- leading lines - use the surroundings to help lead the viewer's eye to what is important in the photo
- rhythm - finding that right visual rhythm can be tough, but when you do it just makes your photos sing.
- breaking a rhythm - if you can find a good rhythm and then use your subject to interrupt it, the contrast works very well.
- colour harmony - too often photos look cluttered because the colour is all over the place. Try to control colour and colour relationships as much as possible. Your eye tends to triangulate on colours so distributing colours throughout a composition will help lead the viewer to move through the image. This can be used strategically as well by only using colour in one spot in an area of importance. Colour is why so many people do black and white. BW helps to simplify a composition and bring unity to an image even before considering other compositional elements.
- contrast - it's all about making what is important stand out. Your can contrast any of the elements of design and the way that you play with contrast can make your images more appealing. So, contrast texture, contrast colours, tones... to name a few
- space - use your space strategically. Are you trying to communicate that something is big or small? These little decisions will help you decide how to frame your image and where to place your subject in the frame. Space and proportion are closely related. Try playing with different amounts of space for different visual effect.
- point of view - change it up to offer a perspective on your subject that might help tell the visual story better.

These are just a few considerations off the top of my head. When you get going, you will make a lot of these decisions very quickly. You may even find yourself automatically moving objects, changing angles, and looking for the right light. Use your view finder to help frame the scene and get an idea of what the end product will look like.


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## WesternGuy (Dec 16, 2011)

There are probably thousands and thousands of web sites that cover some aspect of composition in photography and if you Google "photography composition"  you will get more than you can read in a month of Sundays, but you could start with - Advanced Composition -- Part I - there are two following web siteswith the links at the end of the site. As well, have a look at this one - PhotographyComposition Articles Library as there are a number of links to sites on composition.  There are anumber of books that have been written on composition - you might want to lookat one by Bryan Peterson called _Learning to See Creatively_ - Amazon.com: Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color& Composition in Photography (Updated Edition) (9780817441814): BryanPeterson: Books. There are lots of others.  I hope this is what you were looking for.

Cheers,

WesternGuy


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## imagemaker46 (Dec 16, 2011)

If if looks right, chances are it is right. Don't over think what is being shot.


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## DiskoJoe (Dec 16, 2011)

Honestly this is quite a broad question. It would be better to add some specific kind of situations or types of subject matter to your question to get a better response. So what are you taking pictures of? The subject will greatly influence how to photograph it. Also what type of gear are you working with here? Lens? motors? Lights/flash? Tripod? Environment?


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## imagemaker46 (Dec 16, 2011)

DiskoJoe said:


> Honestly this is quite a broad question. It would be better to add some specific kind of situations or types of subject matter to your question to get a better response. So what are you taking pictures of? The subject will greatly influence how to photograph it. Also what type of gear are you working with here? Lens? motors? Lights/flash? Tripod? Environment?



I don't think gear has anything to do with composition.


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## AlphaValues (Dec 16, 2011)

"Crop everything that doesn't add to the photograph" - Great advice I got from an instructor


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## designerfoo (Dec 17, 2011)

AlphaValues said:


> "Crop everything that doesn't add to the photograph" - Great advice I got from an instructor



Lols I will definitely keep that in mind!


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## designerfoo (Dec 17, 2011)

WesternGuy said:


> There are probably thousands and thousands of web sites that cover some aspect of composition in photography and if you Google "photography composition"  you will get more than you can read in a month of Sundays, butyou could start with - Advanced Composition -- Part I - there are two following web siteswith the links at the end of the site. As well, have a look at this one - PhotographyComposition Articles Library as there are a number of links to sites on composition.  There are anumber of books that have been written on composition - you might want to lookat one by Bryan Peterson called _Learning to See Creatively_ - Amazon.com: Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color& Composition in Photography (Updated Edition) (9780817441814): BryanPeterson: Books. Thereare lots of others.  I hope this is what you were looking for.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> WesternGuy



Thanks for the links! I wanted to do a search, but thought you guys must have searched and narrowed some really good ones (links) and would definitely shoot some pointers!  Thanks again!


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## designerfoo (Dec 17, 2011)

DiskoJoe said:


> Honestly this is quite a broad question. It would be better to add some specific kind of situations or types of subject matter to your question to get a better response. So what are you taking pictures of? The subject will greatly influence how to photograph it. Also what type of gear are you working with here? Lens? motors? Lights/flash? Tripod? Environment?



I know the question is broad, but I was looking for improving my point of view or how to look at things through the lens!


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## michaeljamesphoto (Dec 17, 2011)

One of the best pieces of advice i received was not a solid compositional rule, but it makes more sense and becomes easy the more you use it. Basically I was working on a project and my professor said, "You don't have to tell the whole story." I took this to mean leave some of the work to the imagination of the viewer, it can help create much more powerful and grabbing images


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## KmH (Dec 17, 2011)

Take an art appreciation course. Study how the painting masters used composition. Look closely at how they used light too, because light is the essence of photography.


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## GreatPhotoRace (Dec 17, 2011)

I would suggest studying your favorite photographer's photos and critiquing their composition. You don't have to mimic them, but you'll learn a lot from them. If you don't have a copy of the The Photo Book, get one!


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## gsgary (Dec 17, 2011)

Try reading The Photographers Eye


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