12. Creative Compositions
Improve Your Pictures with Sound Compositional Elements
Creating a great photograph takes more than just the right settings on your camera. To take your photography to the next level, you need to gain an understanding of how the elements within the frame come together to create a compositionally pleasing image. Composition is the culmination of light, shape, and, to borrow a word from iconic photographer Jay Maisel, gesture. Composition is a way for you to pull your viewing audience into your image and guide them through the scene. Let’s examine some common compositional elements you can use to add interest to your photos.
Poring Over the Picture
Weplanted a crab apple tree outside my office window many years ago, and it is a year-round source of beauty. One of my favorite times of year is in the fall when the leaves are gone and only the bright red fruit remains. Various species of birds stop by for a meal, and I keep my camera ready for times when the light and subject come together for a great photograph. This cedar waxwing was kind enough to turn his head back enough for the setting sun to create a catchlight in his eye.
Depth of Field
Long focal lengths and large apertures allow you to isolate your subject from the chaos that surrounds it. I utilize Aperture Priority mode for the majority of my shooting. I also like to use a longer focal length lens to shrink the depth of field to a very narrow area (Figure 12.1).
FIGURE 12.1 The combination of a telephoto lens and a fairly large aperture can create a shallow depth of field that isolates the subject.
The blurred background forces the viewer’s eye toward the sharper, in-focus areas, which gives greater emphasis to the subject.
Occasionally, a greater depth of field is required to maintain a sharp focus across a greater distance. This might be due to the sheer depth of your subject, where you have objects that are near the camera but sharpness is desired at a greater distance as well (Figure 12.2).
Or perhaps you are photographing a reflection in a puddle or lake. With a narrow depth of field, you would only be able to get either the reflected object or the puddle in focus. By making the aperture smaller, you will be able to maintain acceptable sharpness in both areas (Figure 12.3).
FIGURE 12.3 Getting a distant subject in focus in a reflection, along with the reflective surface, requires a small aperture.
Angles
Having strong angular lines in your image can add to the composition, especially when they are juxtaposed to each other (Figure 12.4). This can create a tension that is different from the standard horizontal and vertical lines that we are so accustomed to seeing in photos.
Point of View
Sometimes the easiest way to influence your photographs is to simply change your perspective. Instead of always shooting from a standing position, try moving your camera to a place where you normally would not see your subject. Try getting down on your knees or even lying on the ground. This low angle can completely change how you view your subject and create a new interest in common subjects. Taking a trip in a helicopter allowed me to see things from a unique vantage point (Figure 12.5).
Patterns
Rhythm and balance can be added to your images by finding the patterns in everyday life and concentrating on the elements that rely on geometric influences. Try to find the balance and patterns that often go unnoticed (Figure 12.6).
FIGURE 12.6 The playa in Death Valley is like a hard, dried clay, with patterns and shapes that spread as far as the eye can see.
Color
Color works well as a tool for composition when you have very saturated colors to work with. Some of the best colors are those within the primary palette. Reds, greens, and blues, along with their complementary colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow), can all be used to create visual tension (Figure 12.7). This tension between bright colors will add visual excitement, drama, and complexity to your images when combined with other compositional elements.
You can also use a color as a theme for your photography. Scenes that combine color, pattern, shape, and point of view are all around you when you start looking for them (Figure 12.8).
FIGURE 12.8 Combining a telephoto lens and a wide aperture turned boring grass into a lovely background of green that contrasts with the colors of the flower and shirt.
Contrast
We just saw that you can use color as a strong compositional tool. One of the most effective uses of color is to combine two contrasting colors that make the eye move back and forth across the image (Figure 12.9). There is no exact combination that will work best, but consider using dark and light colors, like red and yellow or blue and yellow, to provide the strongest contrasts.
You can also introduce contrast through different geometric shapes that battle (in a good way) for the attention of the viewer. You can combine circles and triangles, ovals and rectangles, curvy and straight, hard and soft, dark and light, and so many more (Figure 12.10). You aren’t limited to just one contrasting element either. Combining more than one element of contrast will add even more interest. Look for these contrasting combinations whenever you are out shooting, and then use them to shake up your compositions.
FIGURE 12.10 On a drizzling day I came across a patch of stones partially protected by a fallen branch, which created a contrast between light and dark as well as wet and dry.
Leading Lines
One way to pull a viewer into your image is to incorporate leading lines. These are elements that come from the edge of the frame and then lead into the image toward the main subject. This can be the result of vanishing perspective lines (Figure 12.11), an element such as a river, or some other feature used to move the eye through the image.
Splitting the Frame
Splitting the frame right down the middle is not necessarily your best option. While it may seem more balanced, it can actually be pretty boring. Generally, you should utilize the rule of thirds when deciding how to divide your frame (Figure 12.12).
FIGURE 12.12 The frog is in the upper-right portion of the frame, its mirror image resides in the lower right, and both are framed nicely by the arc of the grass.
With horizons, a low horizon will give a sense of stability to the image. Typically, this is done when the sky is more appealing than the landscape below (Figure 12.13). When the emphasis is to be placed on the landscape, the horizon line should be moved upward in the frame, leaving the bottom two-thirds to the subject below.
FIGURE 12.13 I love the parallel lines of the vapor trails and the way they contrast with the feathery soft clouds in the background.
Frames Within Frames
The outer edge of your photograph acts as a frame that holds the visual elements of the photograph. One way to add emphasis to your subject is through the use of internal frames (Figure 12.14). Depending on how the frame is used, it can create the illusion of a third dimension to your image, giving it a feeling of depth.
FIGURE 12.14 The inside of the Utah State Capitol building is amazing and a frequent venue for wedding photographs—if you follow the frames of the receding arches, you’ll see one in progress.
Chapter 12 Assignments
Apply the shooting techniques and tools that you learned in the previous chapters to these assignments and you’ll improve your ability to incorporate good composition into your photos. Make sure you experiment with all the different elements of composition, and see how you can combine them to add interest to your images.
Learning to see lines and patterns
Take your camera for a walk around your neighborhood, and look for patterns and angles. Don’t worry as much about getting great shots as about developing an eye for details.
The ABCs of composition
Here’s a great exercise I learned from Vincent Versace: shoot the alphabet. This will be a little more difficult, but with practice you will start to see beyond the obvious. Don’t just find letters in street signs and the like. Instead, find objects that aren’t really letters but that have the shape of letters.
Finding the square peg and the round hole
Circles, squares, and triangles. Spend a few sessions concentrating on shooting simple geometric shapes.
Using the aperture to focus attention
Depth of field plays an important role in defining your images and establishing depth and dimension. Practice shooting wide open, using your largest aperture for the narrowest depth of field. Then find a scene that would benefit from extended depth of field, and use very small apertures to give sharpness throughout the scene.
Leading them into a frame
Look for scenes where you can use elements as leading lines, and then look for framing elements that you can use to isolate your subject and add both depth and dimension to your images.
Share your results with the book’s Flickr group!
www.flickr.com/groups/d610fromsnapshotstogreatshots