19. Curious Composition

Using a 50mm lens allows you to physically get close. I was talking with my mentor and friend Keith Carter, a fine art photographer. At one point, he raised his glasses and pointed to his cancerous eye that might go blind. While listening, I quietly composed and created this frame as the conversation continued. The composition conveys what this picture is about. Fortunately the cancer has been cured and he is doing fine.

Canon 5DMii, 50mm lens, f/4

PHOTOGRAPHY, like most art forms, requires a selective mind. Consider the musical composer who sets out to write a new song. The first step is to choose a key, and this is a defining event. Once the key is selected the creativity and composition can begin. This is one of the great paradoxes of creativity—restraint begets potential. The selection or limitation creates the space needed for the song to be born. Without a key, the composition wallows in self-doubt.

And composition is a curious thing. It can refer to music, painting, drawing, photography, dance, writing, poetry, and so on. At the same time, composition can refer to how one carries herself. Consider the athlete who is well-composed and calm in spite of a competitive threat. What connects all forms of composition is a certain amount of restraint. Good composition isn’t reckless but well thought out. Great composition tends to bring order and peace to an otherwise cluttered and confusing world.

Relationship of Photographic Elements

In photography, composition refers to the way that we use space. At its most basic level, it refers to the use of the frame. Good framing requires that we leave, cut, crop, or intentionally compose something out. Ask a seasoned pro about composition and she will tell you, “What is left out is often as important as what’s inside.”

When making compositional decisions, a photograph relies on the lens and a particular point of view. Is the vantage point low or high? Is the lens an up-close zoom or something expansive and wide? Equally important are the spatial relationships of each of the photographic elements. The photographer is always asking, “How do the lines, density, tonality, color, contrast, and subject relate and interact?”

As all photographers know, improving photographic composition requires an inquisitive mind. Photography isn’t something you ever truly figure out. It requires an insatiable curiosity to explore different ways to see.

The two kids climbed into the apple cart for a ride through the orchard. Knowing that sometimes a slice is as good as the whole, I moved up close to compose a picture with more poetic cadence and restraint.

Canon 5DMii, 50mm lens, f/4

Exercise: An Economy of Means

In people photography, composition is the language photographers use to express how they want the subject to be understood. With a slight compositional change a picture can go from cluttered to serene. The skill to make the change is something that is gained through practice over time. The better we get, the less we need to say. Like the novelist who learns how to use more precise language to express more profound ideas, composition is about the economy of means.

Step 1 Leading Lines

When you look at a photograph your eye follows the lines like a hiker sticking to a well-trodden path through the woods. In pictures, the lines lead and create a dynamic flow.

To learn how to harness the power of lines, find a location with well-defined straight or curved lines. When looking for the right spot, consider exploring park paths, bridges, city streets, stairways, or anything that provides distinct perspective. Position the subject so that the lines lead up to his spot. Strive to create a dramatic and obvious path. When composing the shots, carefully organize the scene. First look at the subject and then look around the frame. Pay careful attention to where each line starts and stops. Consider starting with a symmetrical approach. Next, change the composition to try different extremes. Create at least 15 dynamic line-filled shots in one location.

Step 2 Vantage Point

Too often, people photographers stand still hoping to find an interesting frame. As most seasoned photographers know, this doesn’t work. The best photographs result from of a unique point of view. Good photography requires that you move.

Movement starts with what we wear, so throw on some functional clothes and a pair of running or hiking shoes. You have to plan to get dirty in order to learn how to see. Before the shoot, get out a few tools that will help you change the way you stand. Here are a few ideas: ladder, towel or drop cloth, some kneepads, and anything else that will get you off your feet.

Choose a location and subject that have potential for many perspectives. Before the shoot create a checklist of different vantage-point types of shots. Your list might include shooting from perspectives like this: bug, dog, upside-down bat, or bird in a tree. During the shoot make sure to capture each type of shot. As you experiment with these perspectives be sure to shoot both up close and far away. Choose five perspectives in your location and shoot at least five pictures of each.

Step 3 Offbeat

Rodney Smith once said, “Composition is to photography as rhythm is to music.” Rather than following your typical beat, I want you to veer a bit off the ordinary path. To prepare for this type of work, listen to a few songs by Miles Davis from the album Kind of Blue. (Look it up online if you don’t own it.) Let go of whether you like the music or not and embrace the tunes. As you listen, remember that jazz is about creating mood, interpreting sound, and combining the improvisations of a group.

ABOVE In typical portraits the subject’s face and eyes are located in the top half of the frame. Rather than follow that rule, I flipped the logic to create a different feel.

Fuji FinePix X100, 35mm lens, f/2

Set up a shoot and strive to collaborate with your subject to improvise in a completely different way. In particular, try taking pictures where you crop in a way that breaks all the rules.

Try some of these ideas: Photograph a person and vertically crop him in half. Try a portrait without showing his head. Ask him to hold up his hands and block the camera’s view. Manually focus everything but the background to a blur. Turn your camera upside down. Get creative and loose. Let go of the old notion that the horizon needs to be level or that the eyes need to be sharp. Resist using your typical bag of tricks and bend the notes a bit. Create 19 photographs that belong in a set.

OPPOSITE Compositions like this are risky, and they will either turn out great or be a complete flop. In this case, I like the results of the portrait, because of the graphic composition and the focus on the hands. With your own pictures take chances to compose in subtle and dramatic ways.

Hasselblad 503CW, 80mm lens, f/2, Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White Film

“You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them.”

—Elliott Erwitt