In this 12.5-minute video and article, I'll share 7 of the composition tricks that I use in the field all the time. First of all, let me say that composition is difficult. It is, without a doubt, the hardest part of photography. But there are some things that you can be doing in the field that can help.
One of the most unintentionally useful influences on my photography has turned out to be the time I’ve spent playing computer games. Some photographers use cinema as a learning tool to observe the way cinematographers and DOP’s use their cameras to capture a scene. This can be a great source of inspiration, but I think it can lead to some photographers heading out and seeking to recreate shots or aesthetic styles (color palette, depth of field, grain, etc) rather than capturing anything unique for them.
This past weekend, the White House posted a photograph that showed President Trump and several others monitoring the raid that led to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But while the photo shows a major military win for the US, it has drawn criticism online, with critics claiming that it's as a poor attempt at recreating a similar photo taken during the Obama administration.
How many times have you returned from what you felt was a productive photography trip only to find that some of the compositions of your favorite images weren't exactly what you expected? This happens to me rather frequently, but fortunately for us, we have access to one of the best Lightroom tools for improving composition in our photos: the Crop tool!
At first glance, all we see is a dinky point-n-shoot camera; not much to it. It slips inside my front pocket, I mean, how powerful can it be? Well, photographers shouldn’t be fooled by its size and minimalism; like many of our subjects in the street. The Ricoh GR III is called a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” for a reason.
Composition is so important in creating an image and it's a cornerstone of the four key elements that make up a photo: subject, light, timing, and composition. However, one of the hardest things to learn in landscape photography is seeing that image and putting the elements together in the most pleasing arrangement.
Here's a short 4-minute video by Light Club that looks at using a vertical or horizontal middle line through the frame, something it refers to as "a secret rule of photo composition."
Photographer Eric Floberg made this 5-minute video tutorial on the subject of composing portraits.
Photographer Toma Bonciu (AKA Photo Tom) made this 10-minute video with 9 composition tips and rules you can use to shoot more effective landscape photos.
Landscape photographer Nigel Danson made this helpful 20-minute video in which he shares 7 simple composition tips that you can use to instantly improve your landscape photos.
If you're just starting out in portrait photography, here's a helpful 4-minute video by photographer Sheldon Evans that looks at 3 big composition mistakes that beginners often make in the genre.
The stock photo service Shutterstock has announced a new powerful photo search tool called Composition Aware Search. It uses advanced deep learning technology to let you search for photos containing certain objects in certain locations.
Here's a 20-minute video in which Serge Ramelli shows how he captured some beautiful fine-art photos of hot air balloons at a festival, even though the photo opportunities were initially looking bleak. Faced with a poor foreground full of spectators and bright yellow buses, Ramelli had to think outside the box.
When it comes to composition “rules”, it’s important to understand the concepts so that you have them in the back of your mind while shooting. You’re not going to jail if you break them, but you will likely end up with a better image if you follow them! This 6-minute video from photographer Evan Ranft runs through 4 common composition mistakes that photographers make, and how to avoid them.
Ever wonder what it is that makes Henri Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment" photos "work"? Photographer Tavis Leaf Glover put out a two-part video series in which he explores Cartier-Bresson's famous photos and shows how they conform to various ideas and principles of composition.
Composition can make or break a photograph. Here's a 7-minute video by photographer Peter McKinnon in which he runs through three tips to help you improve the composition of your photographs.
Ever since I decided to start learning photography, I’ve been looking for a good catalog of composition ideas. Once you figure out the mechanics of how a DSLR works, getting good at the composition of your photos seems to be the 80/20 of rapidly improving at photography.
Improving your composition can bring balance and personality to your photography, simultaneously enabling you to produce more appealing images. And as quick tips go, this 90-second video from Mango Street Lab is absolutely packed full of key compositional advice.
One of the best reasons to learn the rules of photography is so you can start breaking them. In this short video, Canon Explorer of Light and music and sports photographer, David Bergman teaches you how he goes about breaking 3 of the cardinal composition rules in his work, using his Bon Jovi portfolio as an example.
Camera angle as composition isn't talked about as often as, say, how the elements in your photos are arranged. But changing your camera angle can completely transform the message an image sends, something Ted Forbes explains beautifully in this crash course on low angle photography.
Raymond Thi—the creator of the Composition Cam app and ultra-popular Twitter account—is back with another great database for composition-obsessed photographers. It's called Geometric Shots, and it's a searchable collection of great composition from well-known films and TV shows.
When doing photography in general, and in my case travel photography, the use of a photography template can be very beneficial and help improve the overall performance.
You have no doubt heard of the Golden Ratio, which is somehow or other connected to the Golden Mean and the Fibonacci Spiral, which is oft-touted as the basis of all great compositions. It is less likely that you have heard of the Diamond Ratio.
For many advanced photographers, the rule of thirds is seen as something of a beginner's trope or amateur construct, but learning how, why, and when to break it can be a challenge. This short episode of Brain Flick helps deconstruct that question and explain why and when "bad" compositions work.
Every great photograph consists of three key elements. First and foremost composition, then lighting and, of course, the moment. Look at any great image and you’ll notice these elements.
There are no unbreakable rules when it comes to how you should compose your photographs. After all, who likes rules except for your old school principal or heads of H.R. departments? There are, however, several photography composition guidelines you can use to help improve the composition of your photos.
Want to see the composition concepts used in famous scenes from famous movies? Raymond Thi of Composition Cam has been taking still frames and overlaying neon pink lines to show things like symmetry, thirds, quadrants, triangles, diagonals, and more.
This is an older video, published back in February of 2015, but the lesson is timeless. The video's creators call it "the one thing holding you back from compositional perfection," and it's this: style to the camera.
There are only a few people alive as qualified to give photography and composition advice as Huntington Witherill. A former "artist of the year," he studied under the great Ansel Adams and in this video he describes his approach to composing eye-catching images.
Portrait photographer James Allen Stewart wants to show you how to break the old rules of composition... with some new rules. In a recent video, he introduces two of his own rules that have helped him compose more interesting, dynamic images.