Composition in Photography
Composition in photography refers to deciding what to include within the frame of your photo and where within the frame those things should be. Over the years there have been a number of guides to composition to help photographers think about that framing. I’d like to present some of those here that might be helpful to beginner photographers starting.
That said, keep in mind that these are “guides” and not “rules.” Photography, like any art, is still very subjective, and once you understand the different composition guides and why they “tend” to work, you can then begin to break them in situations where they might not get you the best photo of your subject.
Leading the Eye
You want your viewer’s eye to move around the photograph and notice all the key elements and subject, without their attention being drawn out of the photograph.
When you compose your photograph think about how the viewer’s eye will move through the scene? Circular, in a direct line across, diagonal, top to bottom, etc. Is there anything in the scene that’s distracting from that movement? If so, can you find a way to remove it or change your position or angle to create better focus for the eye?
Jeff Gardiner
Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth, US
Published on October, 2019
James Wheeler
Alouette Mountain Fire Access Trail, BC, CA
Published on October, 2018
Rule of Thirds
Divide your frame up into nine equal rectangles by imagining a grid. What you want to do is place your subject or key elements at the intersection of those grid lines or as close to them as you can.
The theory is that it creates a more balanced photo and allows the viewer’s eye to drift around more naturally. There are many studies showing that people’s eyes tend to go to one of these intersection points first rather than the dead center.
Bailey Zindel
Yosemite Valley, US
Published on September 29, 2017
The Rule of Thirds isn’t the only layout guide to aid in composing photographs but it’s probably the best one to start out with and will help you create better photos.
If you use Lightroom Classic, you can access these guides as overlays on your photo when using the Crop tool by pressing ‘O’ to turn on and cycle through the different crop overlays, and 'Shift-O’ to cycle through a single overlay’s orientation.
Rule of Odd Numbers
The rule of odds is the idea that a composition should have an odd number of objects, not an even number of objects. Three flowers rather than two, and five people rather than four.
The rule of odds plays on the human tendency to create order. When viewing a group of objects, we unconsciously want to group them in pairs. But when we’re faced with three, five, or seven objects in a photograph…we have a group that can’t be easily organized.
With an odd number of objects, one might be dominant. At the very least, the viewer will look longer at the image, moving between the individual elements.
All Images Above - Rick Ohnsman
Unknown Locations
Published on 2020
Create Depth
Photography is a two-dimensional medium, we have to choose our composition carefully to convey the sense of depth that was present in the actual scene.
You can create depth in a photo by including interesting objects in the foreground, middle ground and background.
Another useful composition technique is overlapping, where you partially obscure one object with another. The human eye naturally recognizes these layers helping the viewer mentally create more depth.
Bailey Zindel
Yosemite Valley, US
Published on September 29, 2017
Check the Edges
Skirt your eyes around the edges of your frame in every photo and make sure there are no unwanted subjects invading from the borders.
In this picture we have a partial fence post on the right side and an unseen car halfway in the frame on the left. We can easily fix this by cropping in on the frame to remove those distractions, keeping the focus on the cabin and lines of the road instead.
David Atchley
Valles Caldera, New Mexico, US
Published on August, 2021
Cropped to unclutter edges.
Conclusion
These are just a handful of compositional guides that can get you started. Keep exploring the web and other resources to find more and experiment with your photography to understand why those particular patterns work and, in which cases, would it make for a better photo to break from the guides and do something different.
