Whether you’re new to photography or an experienced photographer, the power of composition can make or break your work. Composition in photography is like the skeleton in your body: it keeps everything together, supports the weight of different elements, and helps you frame your image with flow, direction, and visual balance.
The Rule of Thirds
An image is divided into nine equal sections using the basic compositional approach known as the Rule of Thirds. The horizon lines fall along one of these horizontal gridlines, and significant compositional components are positioned at the intersections or along the lines. This technique is typically utilized by amateur photographers like Zoe Reardon, who takes a lot of images as a pastime.
This helps you to create dynamic, engaging images that tell a story. It also helps you create an image pleasing to the eye.
However, the rule of thirds doesn’t have to be rigid or set in stone. Sometimes you can break the rule if the story you’re trying to tell is strong enough.
Many popular photo editing software suites, including Adobe Lightroom and Skylum’s Luminar, offer a Rule of Thirds grid overlay to help you compose your shots. This is especially useful if you’re new to the concept, and it can help you align your composition with the correct gridline positions.
Repeating Elements
Repetitioning a certain element within a photo can add visual rhythm and harmony to your image. It can help your eye follow an imaginary line around the frame, much like a music line, to draw the viewer’s attention to different parts of an image.
Repetition also adds a sense of depth to your images. It can highlight the vanishing point of your subject and give your image perspective by using repeating elements with progressive rhythms.
In nature, repeating elements can be organic, such as a leaf’s stem, or man-made, such as bricks in a building. They can also be found in texture, such as sand.
When repetition fills a frame, it can remove all context or sense of scale. This can be a good thing when your goal is to emphasize a specific item, but it can also make your photo feel busy and crowded, so use this technique sparingly.
Leading Lines
Leading lines are a vital part of the composition. They draw a viewer’s eye to the subject of the photograph and can be used to place emphasis or tell a story.
Our brains are hardwired to follow lines unconsciously. This is why roads, trails, fences, and canyons are so powerful in composition.
They also help a viewer travel through your image as they would in real life – which helps to keep them engaged and keeps them wanting to look at your image for longer.
They also help create a flow within your image – something difficult to achieve with simple lines. By taking your time to spot potential lines and carefully composing them, you can turn these into powerful compositional elements.
Power Points
Composition is using lines, angles, and other visual elements to make a photo or design work. The rule of thirds is a good starting point for creating a composition that works well with a viewer’s eye.
The rule of thirds creates points of interest that are evenly spaced in a photo and balance out empty spaces in the remaining two-thirds. These are called power points, often making a photo more visually appealing to the viewer.
A key element at one of these intersections encourages the viewer’s eye to journey throughout the entire photo. This makes for a more dynamic, pleasing image that looks natural to the eye.
