9 Composition Techniques to Use to Improve Your Photography

There’s a lot to learn when you’re starting out in photography and one of the key areas to experiment with is that of composition techniques.

While some call these ‘rules’ for many they are simply things to get your head around so that you can make better choices while composing your images (either by using them or ignoring them).

This video – based upon the photography of Steve McCurry – looks at 9 such composition techniques that will be useful for those starting out (and maybe a few of us who are a bit further along). We’ve included links to tutorials on each of the techniques below the video.

Video Source: Cooph

Further Reading on the Composition Techniques Mentioned in The Video

We’ve touched on each of these techniques (and many more) in the archives of Digital Photography School. So if one of the techniques has piqued your interest – here’s where you can learn more.

1. The Rule of Thirds

2. Leading Lines

3. Diagonals

4. Framing

framing

5. Figure to Ground

6. Fill the Frame

Fill Your Frame
Portrait Tips: Don’t Fill the Frame! (for when this rule can be effectively broken)

7. Center Dominant Eye

We’ve not written specifically on this topic but will put the challenge to our authors. Here’s a short article on the topic for you in the mean time.

8. Patterns and Repetition

pattern

9. Symmetry

Two Shot Strategy – Symmetry

11 More Composition Techniques and Tutorials

There are loads more tutorials on different aspects of composition in our archives. Here’s just a few!