Camera Skills - A guide to Photographic Composition

 Excellent tutorial.

 http://photography.worth1000.com/tutorials/161809/camera-skills-a-guide-to-photographic-composition

Composition is a tricky business. There are a hundred guides out there that explain it all differently. This is one of them ;) Frankly, these systems all describe similar things. Many of the common elements have developed common names. This tut is based on thinking that seems most intuitive to me. Maybe it will strike a chord with you too. Please use what you feel works for you, and develop your own understanding for what makes a valid composition. Be aware though that while the names and system of thinking may vary, the concepts behind them are pretty universal.

So lets get started. The very first thing you need to do is identify what are the key elements in your scene, and how they relate to each other. In photography we talk about Primary and Secondary subjects:

Primary Subject:
This is the most important element in your photograph, and what you want to draw attention to. It is where you place the focus of the shot.

Secondary Subject:
This is what gives your primary subject context, its purpose and the story you want it to tell. It will invariably be a thing which implies some relationship with the primary subject, as opposed to simply a graphical or geometric element that holds no meaning in itself.


Having said that, each choice of composition will emphasize a certain relationship between the Primary and Secondary subjects, so determining the message is a necessary part of this first step before you start planning out the composition. By assessing how the subjects relate to each other you've probably done most of this work already. However there are a few more subtle cues you need to pick up on as well:

When picking the composition you will need to be aware that subjects often have an implied direction. A traveling car has a direction of travel, but similarly stairs imply a direction of motion (ascending or descending) as do cliff-sides (usually down). Be aware that you want the subject placement to leave space in your frame accommodating the direction of travel through the image, unless you mean to consciously obstruct it. Each subject placement will create a tension in your composition that should be used to further the message.

For example, a car leaving on the right of the frame will portray the story of distances traveled and experiences gained, as opposed to future challenges and adventures.

In order for the story you want to tell with your photograph to be effective, you must lead the viewers eye around the scene, or at least make sure that nothing interferes with the guiding influence of the composition.

Guiding is achieved along leading lines, most notably straight diagonals but also smooth curves and arcs. The eye travels down these paths freely, and if they coincide with a compositional strong-points the effect is amplified. 

Leading lines are unclosed and add motion to the scene, and will be your first compositional consideration after identifying your primary and secondary subjects. Breaking a leading line by crossing it with another graphical element like a perpendicular subject has much the same effect as placing a fallen log onto train tracks; the flow will be broken and the eye will stop dead. 

The eye usually scans left-to-right (western), and front-to-back depth-wise. In the absence of strong perspective It also scans the frame top-to-bottom.

Subjects can be considered has having a mass that is more or less substantial, and usually relative to its area of frame coverage and its visual intensity. When using the basic compositional guides on these larger areas it is the center of mass that must be taken into account.

Subjects also have an inherent prominence, determined by several environmental factors such as lighting intensity and local contrast, but also relative subject size and placement. By adjusting the perceived power balance between these masses you can create additional meanings within your scene. 

Placing a large subject above a small one will lead to a sense of defied gravity, dominance or oppression. Letting the large subject eclipse the smaller leads to an impression of unimportance or perhaps budding curiosity or even a sense of danger. Think about what it is that you're revealing and what you're concealing, and the subtle psychological implications of the choice.