Taking awesome photos: Part 3 – Basic Composition
Ok so we have slugged through white balance and how to expose an image, now we are going to learn how to compose an image.
I have detailed some basic principles of composition in this article and then gone into some more depth with different ways of composing, such as the golden mean, the rule of thirds and the golden spiral.
Basic principles of composition
- Center of interest: Decide what the focal point of your image is before composing.
- Simplicity: Avoid busy backgrounds. Keep the composition simple.
- Subject off center: Place a subject slightly off-center rather than in the middle of a photo.
- Horizon lines: Don’t place the horizon right in the middle of the image. This also applies to any strong horizontal or vertical lines. Also ensure that the lines aren’t tilted.
- Leading lines: Strong lines should lead the eye to the main point of interest, not out of the frame.
- Foreground objects: Don’t be afraid to include an interesting object in the foreground of a scene. It can can add depth, dimension and a point of reference.
- Vary angles: Different angles can show the subject from a different view point. Move the camera around. You can shoot looking down (birds eye) or looking up (worms eye).
- Framing: Frame your subject by using zoom or moving closer. Draw attention to what you are shooting.
- Silhouettes: The subject of your image doesn’t always need to be brightly lit. Try finding photographing backlit subjects.
- Reflections: Adds an interesting, sometimes abstract, look to a photo.
- Symmetry: An identical or near-identical image of its other half. Use of symmetry often provides a formal balance.
There are no hard and fast rules for composition of an image. There are five different ways to help us, but they are only used as guidelines rather than rules.
Golden Ratio
The golden ratio is a principle that has been around for hundreds of years. It has been used by Leonardo Da Vinci, who investigated the principle that underlies our notions of beauty and harmony, but before that Egyptian, Babylonian and ancients Greek masters also applied this principle in architecture and art.
The Golden Ratio shows us that certain points in an image attract the viewers attention. The same in regards to nature or man made objects with certain proportions will automatically please us, whether this is by chance or design.
As shown above, the image is divided into 9 unequal parts. Each line is drawn so that the width of the resulting small part of the image relates to that of the big part exactly as the width of the whole image relates to the width of the big part. Points where the lines intersect are the “golden” points of the picture:
Rule of thirds
This method of composition is probably the most well know one. All budding photographers are taught this, as well they should, because it creates well balanced and interesting shots. This is a simplified version of the Golden Ratio.
The principle is very simple. You are just breaking down the image into thirds, horizontally and then vertically. You then are placing the points of interest along those lines.
As you can see from the example below, I have placed the old man on the crutches on the far right hand side of the image, with a wake of swan trailing behind him. I deliberately placed the sky in the top third, the sea at the middle and the beach sand on the bottom third to make him the focal point of the image.
The theory of the rule if thirds is that if you have points of interest of interest in the intersections of the lines or on the lines, your image is better balanced and enables the viewer to interact with it more naturally. Different studies have shown that people when viewing images, their eyes go to the intersecting lines naturally rather than the centre of the image. So by using the rules of thirds, it helps viewing the image rather than working against it.
Golden Spiral
The golden spiral is another way to compose an image. A lot of images that are taken in the fashion are usually flowers, but it can be applied to any image to make it well composed and dynamic. As you can see from the example above, the spiral uncoils starting with the snail, then flows out into the larger part. The focal point is the smallest coil, which is nearer the corner. this means that the viewers eye is drawn to the focal point and then is taken through the image as it unfolds around the golden ratio.
As you can see there are few different methods of how to compose your images, making them more dynamic and interesting to the viewer.
Have fun composing 
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