Composition for newbies

[zespri]

I just got back from #4 photography night-class, and have a couple of things to share for newbies such as myself.

1) If you are (for example) taking a photo of a person walking, don't centre them. Have more space in front of their face than behind their face, so they are walking into the frame. (I have heard this rule before and think of it as 'speaking room'). The same goes for animals, make sure they are coming into the frame rather than leaving it. Even the same for cars!

2) Apparently studies show the eye starts at the top left of the frame, moves to the right, down and left, then to the right again (in a Z pattern). We were given the example of a photo of a winding road. A backwards S shape road would look better than a standard S shape road, because it is closer to that Z shape.

There were other rules discussed which all seemed to have the word 'golden' in them, but those were the two that I wanted to share.

[micnew]

Thanks for sharing, now all I have to do is remember what you said.

[TammyB74]

Their are so many things a person needs to think about to get a decent shot. I know with working with animals they aren't always corporative. And if you look away for a second you can miss the shot. (yeah done that) Did they talk about ways to make a bad composition picture to a decent shot?

[kencaleno]

Originally Posted by zespri

I just got back from #4 photography night-class, and have a couple of things to share for newbies such as myself.

1) If you are (for example) taking a photo of a person walking, don't centre them. Have more space in front of their face than behind their face, so they are walking into the frame. (I have heard this rule before and think of it as 'speaking room'). The same goes for animals, make sure they are coming into the frame rather than leaving it. Even the same for cars!

2) Apparently studies show the eye starts at the top left of the frame, moves to the right, down and left, then to the right again (in a Z pattern). We were given the example of a photo of a winding road. A backwards S shape road would look better than a standard S shape road, because it is closer to that Z shape.

There were other rules discussed which all seemed to have the word 'golden' in them, but those were the two that I wanted to share.

The ones with Golden in them are the most important:Golden Mean ,Golden Section, and Golden Ratio. And the eye goes straight to the lightest or brightest part of the image first,then looks around the image for more information. Regards, Ken

[zespri]

Yep, I acknowledge there are loads of rules. But like I said, those were the ones I wanted to share. Not because I thought they were the most important, because I was most excited to learn them and wanted to share something I was excited about. *shrug*

Mind you, I don't recall anything being said during class about the eye being drawn to the brightest point of the image. I learnt that from 'Private' here on the forum! She casually mentioned it in one of her post replies, I had never heard it before.

Originally Posted by kencaleno

The ones with Golden in them are the most important:Golden Mean ,Golden Section, and Golden Ratio. And the eye goes straight to the lightest or brightest part of the image first,then looks around the image for more information. Regards, Ken

[jiminyClickit]

zespri,

These are going to turn into things you automatically do, think about, and consider before you shoot. It's often overlooked when we describe how a photo might be taken better, mainly because of time and space: we can't include everything in each comment. So I'm glad to see you sharing lessons not everyone is going to be able to get from a class, and putting them into a conversational language. Helpful and thoughtful: thanks for taking the time.

[Skarlett]

And always keep in mind, rules don't always have to be followed!

[edmDusty]

These are rules because the look natural and look right. If you look at your photos while composing them, you can see what looks right. Having rules helps to think about and talk about what works and what doesn't, but don't forget to rely on your intuition. If you try to remember everything a teacher tells you to do your mind will be too cloudy and you'll be too worried to even take your camera out.

[rpcrowe]

There will (hopefully) be a time when you don't need to think about "rules" but when your images actually conform to "rules" automatically until you make a knowledgeable decision to break the rule.

[skclicks]

Thanks for sharing these tips. I didn't know that before but now I'm gonna try out these tips! =)