While in Las Vegas last week, exploring the Paris casino, my husband and I squeezed into a chair, held the camera out in front of us, and snapped a self portrait.
Then a stranger sitting next to us asked to help and took the same shot of us, only it was no where near the same shot. While it was a better shot of us humans, it got nothing of the background of Paris. (Notice this stranger made it into our "self" photo too!)
What makes excellent photographers stand out above the rest isn't their equipment, it's their eye for composition. If you took everything I learned in four years studying visual arts and crammed it into one word, it would be "composition." What most people do when shooting photographs is look at the shot, hold up the camera, and snap. But sometimes all it takes is a different point of view and a few reminders to improve your photos results by 100%. The goal is to achieve unique photos that even if they're of something quite familiar, you're giving the subject new meaning, new life. Here are some tips for framing the shot so you look like a pro.
Before reading further, if you're using a point and shoot camera, make sure you read previous photo101 posts on using your camera to the maximum.
Cropping: Rule #1 is definitely crop beforehand. While computers have helped us become better editors, they have handicapped us into relying on Photoshop. Back when dark rooms took up 70% of a photographer's time, pre-cropping was a must. If you look closely before you shoot and see things that shouldn't be there, zoom in a little more or move the camera to one side and crop them out. Sometimes all it takes is moving two feet to the left for the perfect shot, but if you don't move around and experiment, you'd never know the shot was there. See the two images below, and the difference it made just walking around the statue a little.
Layers: Every image has a foreground and a background. Play with the focus so these layers take different priorities, and if there is a specific subject matter (ie person, pet, object), see how the focus affects the contrast of this subject.
Thirds: Artists use the "rule of thirds" in many mediums, but in photography it's especially important to remember to frame your image around this type of grid. If you divided your image into 3 rows and 3 columns, you'd have nine squares in your screen. Many cameras have a setting that will make these guide lines appear. By placing your subject off-center in one of the side squares, the composition will improve dramatically.
Framing: Use elements in the shot to help frame it- architectural buildings, trees, lighting, shadows, and people can all help the composition through framing. Also with framing comes filling the entire frame; make sure everything that's in the image has a purpose to be there. Likewise, make sure you haven't cropped anything out that's of value to the composition.
Angle: The best angle is not always right in front of the subject, and rarely acheived by simply tilting the camera on diagonal to take your shot, although that will sometimes make for good composition, don't rely on this technique alone. Lowering the camera to the eye level of the pet or child, raising the camera above your head for a crowd shot, or even putting the camera on the ground will entirely change the composition of the shot. And then there's the rotation of the camera as well, landscape or portrait, and which composition best frames the image. With the digital age saving us from wasting film, take several shots of the same image, from different angles, so you can choose later.
Balance: Last, look at the lighting, colors, and shapes in the image, making sure there's a harmonious balance in the composition- by far the hardest of all of these rules to achieve. Time of day can even affect lighting enough so the balance is off. Especially given the "thirds" rule above, these two rules seem to condradict each other at times. If you're intentionally placing your subject off center, make sure to balance it with something on the other side.
While even just one of these rules can help improve your composition, spending a season working on all of them will dramatically improve the quality of your images, I guarantee it.
Then a stranger sitting next to us asked to help and took the same shot of us, only it was no where near the same shot. While it was a better shot of us humans, it got nothing of the background of Paris. (Notice this stranger made it into our "self" photo too!)
What makes excellent photographers stand out above the rest isn't their equipment, it's their eye for composition. If you took everything I learned in four years studying visual arts and crammed it into one word, it would be "composition." What most people do when shooting photographs is look at the shot, hold up the camera, and snap. But sometimes all it takes is a different point of view and a few reminders to improve your photos results by 100%. The goal is to achieve unique photos that even if they're of something quite familiar, you're giving the subject new meaning, new life. Here are some tips for framing the shot so you look like a pro.Before reading further, if you're using a point and shoot camera, make sure you read previous photo101 posts on using your camera to the maximum.
Cropping: Rule #1 is definitely crop beforehand. While computers have helped us become better editors, they have handicapped us into relying on Photoshop. Back when dark rooms took up 70% of a photographer's time, pre-cropping was a must. If you look closely before you shoot and see things that shouldn't be there, zoom in a little more or move the camera to one side and crop them out. Sometimes all it takes is moving two feet to the left for the perfect shot, but if you don't move around and experiment, you'd never know the shot was there. See the two images below, and the difference it made just walking around the statue a little.
Layers: Every image has a foreground and a background. Play with the focus so these layers take different priorities, and if there is a specific subject matter (ie person, pet, object), see how the focus affects the contrast of this subject.
Thirds: Artists use the "rule of thirds" in many mediums, but in photography it's especially important to remember to frame your image around this type of grid. If you divided your image into 3 rows and 3 columns, you'd have nine squares in your screen. Many cameras have a setting that will make these guide lines appear. By placing your subject off-center in one of the side squares, the composition will improve dramatically.
Framing: Use elements in the shot to help frame it- architectural buildings, trees, lighting, shadows, and people can all help the composition through framing. Also with framing comes filling the entire frame; make sure everything that's in the image has a purpose to be there. Likewise, make sure you haven't cropped anything out that's of value to the composition.
Angle: The best angle is not always right in front of the subject, and rarely acheived by simply tilting the camera on diagonal to take your shot, although that will sometimes make for good composition, don't rely on this technique alone. Lowering the camera to the eye level of the pet or child, raising the camera above your head for a crowd shot, or even putting the camera on the ground will entirely change the composition of the shot. And then there's the rotation of the camera as well, landscape or portrait, and which composition best frames the image. With the digital age saving us from wasting film, take several shots of the same image, from different angles, so you can choose later.
Balance: Last, look at the lighting, colors, and shapes in the image, making sure there's a harmonious balance in the composition- by far the hardest of all of these rules to achieve. Time of day can even affect lighting enough so the balance is off. Especially given the "thirds" rule above, these two rules seem to condradict each other at times. If you're intentionally placing your subject off center, make sure to balance it with something on the other side.While even just one of these rules can help improve your composition, spending a season working on all of them will dramatically improve the quality of your images, I guarantee it.
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