Composition: The Essence of Good Photography!
A snapshot is a picture taken without any thought or planning. The photographer aims the camera in the general direction of the subject and pushes the button. A photograph is taken by a person who makes a plan before pushing the button, a person who asks:
“Why am I taking the picture? What am I trying to show? What is the point I am trying to make with this photo? Who is the client? What has the client asked me to do?”
So let’s examine all the elements that make up good photographic composition:
- Rule of Thirds: Keep your subject out of middle, place in right or left, top or bottom
- A foreground element: Place a person or an object in left or right foreground for depth
- Framing the subject: Frame subject in archway, tree limbs, doorway, or window
- Leading lines: Look for lines that lead the viewer’s eye to the subject
- Shooting at the decisive moment: Wait for a person/vehicle to enter just the right spot
- Turn your subject sideways: Pose people with body sideways, face turned to camera
- Get low and close: Camera lens should be low, at eye level of kids and animals
- Look for red: Wait for the person in a red jacket or with red umbrella to appear in frame
- In Aperture priority: For background: F2 = 2 people in focus, F22 = 22 people in focus
- In Shutter priority: Use it to freeze or blur action, or to make moving objects disappear
- Fill the frame: Avoid too much dead space, fill the frame with the subject, getting close
And there is much much more! Come join us on a safari to see what it takes to make GREAT IMAGES!