3 Simple Tips to Help You Master Photography Composition [video]

In this video, Nigel Danson shares three simple photography tips to help you master photography composition. He uses seascape photography to illustrate his tips.

Here are the Three simple tips to help you master photography composition that Nigel covers in his video:

1. Tell the story

You are trying to portray the story of the place you are photographing in your image. Look for things that might make a difference to your shot. With seascape photography, look for things like rocks, and waves, and where the light is coming from. Is it windy? How can you show that? Do you want to capture the isolation, or busyness of the location? Is there a significant landmark you want to capture?

2. Be mindful of the foreground

One of the most important things in landscape composition can be getting the foreground right. Something that is really simple, perhaps with repeating patterns can work really well.

Use leading lines to draw the viewer into your image. A beach or seaside location is a great place to do that.  Use the shoreline as your leading lines towards rocks or other parts of the landscape that may be significant.

Danson says four things are important in achieving a good photograph: Timing, subject, composition, and light.

Try to include secondary compositions within your main composition to better tell the story.

Shutter speed is also important – do you want soft water and movement in the clouds? Or do you want them sharp and crisp?

3. Try different focal lengths

Explore different focal lengths. Try macro, go super-wide, or use long-lenses to bring backgrounds closer in an image.

You may also want to try intentional camera movement (ICM) for interesting effects.

You may also find the following articles helpful:

Composition Tips for Drawing the Viewer’s Eye Through Your Photographs

4 of the Most Common Composition Mistakes In Photography

Divine Composition With Fibonacci’s Ratio (The Rule of Thirds on Steroids)

Four Rules of Photographic Composition

Composition Checklist for Beginners