Composition is what makes or breaks a picture; it is the placement, arrangement or organization of the component or subject/s in a camera frame.
The goal of
composition is to create a strong compelling image that makes sense instantly
to anyone who views the image. It is about getting the basic underlying
structure of a photograph to register on an elementary level in our
subconscious mind. Composition captures and holds our
attention while directing it within the picture.
Composition and
Framing
Composition is an
art and it comes naturally to some people, for the rest of us it is an art that
can be studied and mastered. It is the arrangement of the different components
in a picture in relation to each other. The only way to re-arrange a
composition is to change your perspective or view-point by moving your camera
along one of the four dimensions, left or right, in or out, up or down, angled
left or angled right; the only way to do this is before taking the picture.
Framing on the
other hand is pointing the camera, and either zooming in or out. It doesn't
have anything to do with the positioning of the different components of a
picture. After the picture is taken framing can be changed by cropping.
There are many
composition guides and in themselves enough to write a book about, since this
article is aimed at the beginner, we will be focusing on the common traditional
compositional techniques listed below;
- Simplification & Brevity
- Limiting Focus (Bokeh)
- Rule of Third (Golden Mean)
- Rule of Odds
- Rule of Space
- Geometry and symmetry
Simplification
& Brevity
Photography is a
story and like all stories there should be a structure, this structure is the
composition, and is made up of the compositional components.
Brevity a very
important concept in photography means showing as much as we need and no more,
this means we must learn to compose our story using the least number of
Composition has
been described as making order out of chaos; in this respect brevity and
simplification goes hand in hand.
Simplicity, a
large part of composition in photography is making sure that the biggest, most
obvious components are properly arranged by keeping them as simple and
straightforward as possible.
In conclusion the
more components included in a picture the more the clutter, the weaker the
picture becomes; whereas the less extraneous content included the
stronger the
impact of the picture.
Limiting Focus
(Bokeh)
This is a
technique in photography whereby everything that is not the subject of the
photography is placed out of focus. This is achieved by using a wide aperture
lens, usually f2.8 or smaller to get a narrow depth of field. This is also a
simplification method which focuses the eyes on the subject since it is the
only thing in focus.
Bokeh is the term
that describes the blur in the out-of-focus areas of an image and it occurs for
parts of the photograph outside the depth of field. It is defined as "the
way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light". There is good and bad
Bokeh.
Good Bokeh is when
the blur around an image in a photograph is pleasing to the eye, while bad
Bokeh is when the blur around the image is unpleasant or distracting to the
eye. Good or Bad Bokeh is determined by the lens aberrations or lens quality.
Rule of Third
(Golden Mean)
The rule of thirds
is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography
and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into
nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced
vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed
along these lines or their intersections.
This is based on
the fact that the human eye is naturally drawn to a point about two-thirds up a
page. Crop your photo so that the main subjects are located along one of the
lines or around the intersection points rather than in the center of the
picture frame.
The Golden Mean is
basically a mathematical ratio.
Mathematicians have argued over who discovered it, Pythagoras or
Vitruvius. It is related to the rule of third, in that if we take anyone of the
two equally-spaced lines in the rule of third either horizontally or
vertically, there is a ratio between the rectangle left on both side, this is
to be expected since the lines are drawn equally distanced from each
other, we use this ratio within our
picture to get a proportion that has been found extensively in nature, and is
also pleasing to the eye.
Another practical
way to use the Golden Mean in photography is to find the "Golden
Points".
The Golden Points
are places within the picture plane on which to place subjects which will give
a more aesthetically pleasing composition, and this is the intersection of the horizontal and vertical lines for the rule of third.
Rule of Odds
The "rule of
odds" states that by framing the object of interest with an even number of
surrounding objects, it becomes more comforting to the eye, thus creates a
feeling of ease and pleasure. It is based on the assumption that humans tend to
find visual images that reflect their own preferences/wishes in life more
pleasing and attractive.
The "rule of
odds" suggests that an odd number of subjects in an image is more
interesting than an even number. This means it is better to have three subjects in the frame than two.
Rule of Space
The rule of space
is applied to photography where the photographer wants to apply the illusion of movement,
Geometry and
symmetry
Related to the
rule of odds is the observation that triangles are aesthetically pleasing, and
shapes with implied shape within an image is pleasing to the eyes. For example, in a generally recognized attractive face,
the mouth and eyes normally fall within the corners of the area of an equilateral
triangle.
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