| 1. Rule of Thirds |
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A lot is written about the rule of thirds. You might have a grid structure in your camera settings that you can use (by pressing the display button) when composing. Try and position your main point of focus, your subject, on one of the intersections or or along the lines. You will find this makes for a more pleasing image. Positioning in this way will help to give the image a more dynamic feel. If your image is intended to evoke movement or direction, position the subject with sufficient space in direction of travel. |
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2. Add Balance
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Having obeyed The Rule of Thirds above, now try placing a another point of interest on one of the adjacnet intersections or lines. This adds balance to the image, gives secondary interest and will help create a good composition. |
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| 3. Symmetry or Patterns |
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Start looking for patterns in your photography, you will find them almost anywhere once you start to look! Patterns can be simple or intricate. If using symmetry, it need not be exact but it will challenge the viewer to explore. |
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| 4. Leading Lines |
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Photographs are flat, they are two dimensional. We want to invite the viewer into our composition and so by introducing leading lines into our photography, we are giving and interesting path to follow and and take a journey through our work. |
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| 5. Viewpoint |
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Take photographs from a different viewpoint. Anything that is taken not at the usual eye level and straight ahead will automatically be of interest. Choose an oblique angle and it will become even more excting. |
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| 6. Background |
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Backgrounds can be distracting. Looking at your prospective composition with the naked eye before shooting and the proposed background can seem a long way distant. Shoot the image and view on the computer or print and now in two dimensional the background is right there alongside the subject. A plainer background will place more attention on the subject. |
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| 7. Depth |
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Similar to leading lines, introduce objects, obstacles or "stepping stones" in your image foreground to invite the viewer "into" the photograph. Interested parties might want to look around these "markers" to get themselves where they want to be! |
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| 8. Framing |
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Use a natural frame of trees or perhaps an architectural structure. Place you subject within a natural frame and the viewer will be more easily drawn to the point of focus. |
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| 9. Crop or Get in Close |
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Be aggressive in your photography. Ask yourself, what is the photograph about and does the periphery add anything or can you discard it and get straight to the point. |
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| 10. Light |
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Light is everything in photography. Optimum lighting conditions are the difference between good and bad and this is right every time. The early morning or evening sunlight give us the golden hours in landscape photography and the winter months provide some of the most exciting opportunities.
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| 11. No black and No white |
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A good photograph will have tones ranging from very light to very dark, it will however have no totally black areas and no white areas, which carry no information about the image. (There are exceptions to this such as where a silhouette is required for a sunset perhaps or for studio photography). Review your image as soon as you have taken it and if this is a problem, see if you can recompose or make camera adjustments to reduce harsh contrast. |
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| 12. Experiment |
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Push the boundaries...try something different. |
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| 13. Cheat! |
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Digital manipulation software is here to stay; we might as well enjoy it! |
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| 14. Drama |
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Look for drama in your composition. Ask yourself, what is going to set your image apart from the rest. Try to look for extraordinary in the the ordinary. It could be a particular mood, time of day, lighting conditions or tension in the image. |
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