Good photographers make conscious decisions about what they put in the frame, what they leave out, how elements are arranged and how they interact with each other. In the second and final instalment of our “Composition Essentials” series, Robert Keeley sets out six more tips to help you improve your composition.
01 LOOK AROUND AND MOVE
Imagine your subject is surrounded by a sphere. That’s the sum total of potential positions you’ll theoretically have available to shoot your picture from. Of course they won’t all be available to you. If you’re on the beach photographing your friends you won’t be able to shoot from directly above without a crane or a helicopter. But if you follow this thought process, you’ll quickly be able to discard the most impractical locations, and what you’ll be left with will be a range of practical options, including positions you might not have originally thought about. It stretches your thinking, and that always helps with composition. If you can’t move too far yourself, let your lens do the walking. Most photographers these days have some form of zoom lens. It can zoom in close, or pull right back – often to a wide angle. If you don’t have a zoom, you may own a wide-angle lens. This can give you an entirely different perspective. Most images are shot from eye height in a standing position. Sometimes images shot from a higher or lower vantage point will have more impact. Look around and keep experimenting.
02 FRAME INSIDE A FRAME
This well-used technique has been employed by many great photographers. It’s simple, but effective, as long as you don’t let the framing device overpower your key subject. To focus attention on your main subject, search within your frame for another framing-type element. This might be anything from a doorway or window to a tree branch. The idea is not to dominate the scene with this other ‘frame’, but to use this device to concentrate attention towards your main subject. This framing device can be quite subtle or distinctive. Depending on your subject, either approach can work.
In this image the overhanging tree branch adds interest and acts as a natural frame, keeping our eyes from wondering away from the horizon line.
03 SILHOUETTES
One great compositional idea is to use silhouettes, but the most common mistake with this distinctive approach is to dilute its impact by muddying the outline. Many beginners also make the mistake of adding too much “dead” black space into their image, or they merge two distinct silhouettes into a messy and indistinct “third option”. Most often the dead space will be the ground along the bottom of the frame. Black space is black space – it has no impact in a silhouette if there is no distinctive outline to it! Often silhouettes are shot at sunrise or sunset, so maximise the power of the great orange/yellow light you’ll be working with by finding a distinctive black outline to put against it. Then lower the featureless ground line to near the bottom of the frame. Keep outlines simple, sharp and distinctive. And if in doubt, don’t shoot. The photographic world is full of messy, distracting silhouette images!
Keep silhouettes simple for maximum impact. This composition also uses the ‘rule of thirds’ to keep our attention on the climber.
04 ARRANGING PEOPLE
Most amateurs photograph people as they find them – they aren’t comfortable moving people around, often because they don’t have any real ideas about how to do it! If they’re lucky they end up with an acceptable ‘record’ shot. Composing people for portraits is a whole other story, but here are a couple of quick tips. If you’re shooting ‘front-on’ images using a 100mm focal length – it flattens perspective nicely and minimises any distinct facial features like big noses. Avoid harsh sunlight (find even shadow) or narrowly focused artificial lights.
Take control of your subject (be friendly, but firm), and try turning their body at around 45 degrees to the camera. That way, when they look towards the lenses, they will look across their shoulder, which is a more dynamic arrangement. It can work to set yourself up slightly above the subject so they look upwards a fraction – this smooths out any double chins and wrinkles. Finally, if you’re using flash, don’t shoot with a wall directly behind them – the flash will throw a distinct, ugly shadow. If you shoot parallel to the wall, getting the subject to look at you over their shoulder, it will diffuse that shadow and make a more pleasing composition.
05 COLOUR
Many photographers look to the more obvious elements of composition to construct their images, and these work well, but one area which tends to be overlooked is the importance of colour. You need to train your eye to see colours as separate and essential elements of your scene, irrespective of what objects or subjects are in your image. Colours can be intense or soft, and either type can have a major bearing on how much impact your photo can develop. Colours have three properties – hue (the actual colour), saturation (intensity), and brightness. Colour works by playing on our emotional responses, so that strong, bright colours will elicit one type of reaction (bright reds, yellows and oranges for instance might make us think of happy or fun times, or perhaps some types of danger), and soft, muted colours might make us react in a different way (soft greys or muted blues and greens can lean us towards calm or melancholy thoughts). The degree of intensity in the colours we use can reinforce these concepts. Low-key images with dark shadows might provoke concern or fears (think about the many ‘thriller’ movies which try to scare you out of your seat!), and bright colours might invoke joyous thoughts.
Colours can be used in complementary or contrasting forms to add impact to your composition. One common example is in tourism images. In bush scenes, with greens and blues predominating, you’ll often see hikers or tourists dressed in red jackets or tops. Commercial shooters know that this ‘lifts’ an image of this type. Images for washing powder might feature intense, bright colours, or high-key softer hues if babies are involved. These colours evoke happy, positive, warm thoughts. The psychology behind our reactions to colours is quite involved and it could fill many pages, but it pays to make some basic investigations about it, and to experiment with different combinations to see what your own reactions are to these effects.
Warming and cooling filters (achieved digitally through image manipulation or via filters fitted to a lens), can have a great impact too. Colour is important in itself, but you shouldn’t underestimate its value in composition as well.
Colour can be an extremely powerful part of your composition. This very simple image is based on the strength of the colour red. There are two main colours here – red and green. The simplcity of the image draws attention to the key elements – the poppy flowers. Photo: Thinkstock.
06 RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN
After you understand how to make an effective exposure, the two most significant areas where you can make a creative impact with your images is through lens choice (wide angle, telephoto, shallow depth of field or extensive), and arrangement of the elements in your scene. Both relate to composition. In fact, all the great photographers have used composition instinctively to make their most outstanding images. The rules mentioned above are all made to be broken. There are many examples where powerful images have been created without using some or all of them. But as with most rules, it’s a good idea to learn them first, so you know what you’re not going to do! Once you start trying different approaches to composition you’ll immediately expand your range of creative possibilities, and your pictures will be much better for it.
Muted colours: Soft muted tones and cool colours can invoke feelings of calm and contemplation. Use them when you see them to create images with a certain ambience. Photo: Thinkstock.