Composing Your Pictures

Photography is based on some basic rules of composition, such as the Rule of Thirds and using a vanishing point. Composition is more than what your subject is and how it’s posed: It also comprises the background, foreground, colour, lighting, and framing.

Simplicity - Keep your shots clean and uncluttered. Be aware of how you place your subjects. Avoid having odd things in the background seemingly sprout from their heads.

Balance - Pay attention to how you arrange shapes, colours, or areas of light/dark to complement one another.

Rule of Thirds - Imaginary lines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. If you place the subject or important elements of your composition where these lines intersect, your photo becomes more balanced.

When you’re shooting a wide area of land or water, the third-line will usually be two-thirds up from the bottom. Conversely, if you want to showcase the sky, like for a remarkable sunrise or sunset, your main line is effective one-third up from the bottom.

Breaking the rule of thirds can result in some striking shots - so once you’ve learnt it experiment with purposely breaking it to see what you discover.

Vanishing point - Create a vanishing point by arranging lines to converge in a distant point, usually at a corner of an image.

Depth of field - Basically, the depth of field is how much of your picture is in focus. Some photos have detail throughout the foreground and background with no blur, and others show a subject clearly with blur in the background.