description
project presentation
Transcript of Composition Guidelines
- 1. Composition Refresh placement or arrangement of visual
elements organization of the elements of art according to the
principles of design biggest difference between a good photograph
and a mediocre one is the composition Besides the Rule of Thirdshow
can you improve your photographic compositions?
- 2. Eliminate Unimportant - Cropping If main subject is too
small, photo will lack impact and subject will become lost among
the clutter. Crop tight around the subject to eliminate background
'noise', ensuring subject gets viewer's undivided attention.
- 3. Balancing Elements Rule of Thirds creates a more interesting
photo, but can leave a void in scene making it feel empty. Balance
the 'weight' of your subject by including another object of lesser
importance to fill the space.
- 4. Background Busy backgrounds often end is poor photographs.
The camera will flatten the foreground and background. Solution
look around for a plain and unobtrusive background and/or compose
your shot so that it doesn't distract or detract from the
subject.
- 5. Avoid Mergers Easy to spot, hard to define. They occur due
to poor framing. Examples cutting feet off at the bottom catching
half a person standing in a crowd standing in front busy background
- looks like objects are sprouting from peoples heads
- 6. Perspective or Viewpoint Viewpoint has massive impact on
composition and can greatly affect your message. Dont just shoot
from eye level consider photographing from high above, down at
ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away,
from very close up...
- 7. Landscape only? Try Portrait! Turn the camera on it's side
and shoot an upright picture. Consider and experiment with both
formats to see what a difference it can make to the picture.
- 8. Framing, Edges, Frame within a Frame The world is full of
frames trees, archways and holes. Place these around the edge of
the composition to help isolate main subject from the outside
world. The result is a more focused image which draws your eye
naturally to the main point of interest.
- 9. Leading Lines Eye is naturally drawn along lines. Thinking
about how you place lines in your composition affects the way we
view the image - pulling us into the picture, towards the subject,
or through the scene.
- 10. Diagonals Setting your subject matter on a diagonal will
almost always make for a more dynamic picture. Even if this is an
invisible diagonal that draws your eye between two points. Move
around the subject and look for a diagonal.
- 11. Repetition & Pattern Emphasize Fill your frame with a
repetitive pattern to give the impression of size and large
numbers. Zoom in close so the pattern fills the frame and breaks of
the edges. Examples faces in a crowd, bricks on a wall, a line of
bicycle wheels all on the same angle etc.
- 12. Repetition & Pattern Breaking Patterns Interrupt the
flow of a pattern by adding a contrasting object (color, shape,
texture) or removing one of the repeating objects. Sometimes these
broken patterns appear naturally or you can interrupt a pattern
yourself. Pay attention to where in your frame to place the break
in the pattern (think rule of thirds), and consider where your
focus is.
- 13. Symmetry Can make very eye-catching compositions,
especially in places where they are not expected. You can also try
to break the symmetry in some way, introducing tension and a focal
point to the scene.
- 14. Assignment: 40 Image Contact Sheet plus 2 Best You should
take pictures showing EACH of the compositional techniques (there
are 12) in this presentation. Some of your pictures will include
multiple compositional options. Due: Tuesday, September 16th