IMAGE COMPOSITIONYahaya Lawal

DEFINITION OF COMPOSITION

Composition has been defined as a laying of comparative

objects and elements in an artwork ( www.photographylife.com).

DEFINITION OF COMPOSITION IN PHOTOGRAPHY

This can be described as placing essentials or features within a

photograph in a way that fits the central idea or target of your

work

(www.digitalcameraworld.com). GOOD COMPOSTIONGood composition has been defined as the careful selection and arrangement

of the photo’s subject matter within a frame (Busch: 2009)

EXAMPLE OF A GOOD COMPOSITION

It is a fact that best pictures are not by accident, they are calculated and crafted. The following will guide us on how to prepare and apply good composition in our photography. They are only guidelines your intelligence will tell you when to break the rules.

• VISUALISING A CONCEPT FOR YOUR PICTURE

Photo talks. You should decide what your picture will say and also determine your audience. Is your photo communicating emotions: happiness, sorrow, mourning, sympathy, pains or a pathetic situation.

PHOTO TALKS

It is significant to remember where the image will be used. If it is for display you

need to have tight composition for adequate sharpness and should be framed

And enlarged. If it is on the web page, you need to move back a little, you can crop it later.

Another essential factor is for who is the photo: family, friends, colleagues, etc

SELECTING A SUBJECT AND A CENTRE OF INTEREST

You should not leave your viewers in limbo or confused on what is your soul

intention or focal point. Every picture must have one strong Mecca. Do not

include everything, rather narrow down your subject matter by eliminating all the

unwanted object, cropping or excusing them to leave. Choose one main subject

and allow the other interesting secondary subject to appear.

Some of the prominent compositional techniques to have centre of interest are

as follow:

Most prominent should be your center of interest : you may think that Sister Hafsatshould be pictured but if she stands in front of a latest car in town, she can hardly be noticed.

CHOOSE ONE MAIN CENTER OF INTEREST

SIMPLICTY / CENTER OF INTEREST

Center of interest should be the brightest object or should not be conquered by

a brighter object. Dazzling background and reflections should not distract

viewers from your core subject.

SINGLE CENTER OF INTEREST

Avoid placing your center of interest always at the at the center of the picture

do not use the literal meaning of the word center every time

SUBJECT SHOULD NOT ALWAYS BE IN THE MIDDLE

Presenting multiple center of interest is confusing. If a picture has many

important subjects just include secondary objects that enrich the photo.

Secondary objects can be identified through: brightness, location, and sharpness ( by editing).

USING SECONDARY SUBJECT

One of the essential basics of composition is appropriate arrangement of subjects within a frame. It matters seriously: where subjects are facing and where they are placed. The most important arrangement is selection of the subject’s distance.

Choosing Subject Distance: Distance selection should not be permanent, it should be reviewed according to the situation demands. The following are ways to select subject distance:

Use wide –angle lens or move back to create the feeling of space or depth.

Your subject should not be appear too small.

For pictures that stress a person, group or object move as close as possible.

Fill in the frame entirely.

ARRANGING YOUR SUBJECTS

Optimizing Background: Unwanted background is somehow indispensible

unless if the picture is in the night or somehow. Background can be an

advantage or disadvantage to you. The following points can help in managing

Your background.

Make sure your background is not flamboyant, brightly colored or occupied.

Plain background suits portraits.

Natural settings such as trees, skies, mountains, waterfalls, etc can make an

attractive compositional background.

FRAMING & THE RULE OF THIRDS

The best position to be assigned to an important subject is usually at one of the

points located one third of the way from top or bottom and sides of the frame.

Burch (2009) defined rule of thirds as a process of breaking up your picture

horizontally and vertically into thirds.

To stay away from placing your subject at the middle, you can

stage it at off-center position with the support of imaginary rule of

thirds. We can do this by:

Splitting the frame into thirds horizontally and vertically.

Place your center of interest at of the four intersections of the imaginary lines.

Do not position your object at the edge of your picture.

PLACING IMPORTANT OBJECT AT IMAGINARY JUNCTION POINTS

RULE OF THIRD

WHEN TO BREAK THE RULE OF THIRDS

The rule of thirds is just a guide, one can break it rationally. We can neglect the

rule if:

The main object is big enough to occupy one of the imaginary intersection points.

Placing the image at the centre will help in demonstrating a concept.

If illustrating symmetry.

BREAKING THE RULE

Your viewers will like to see the subjects arranged interestingly. Lines and

curves within your image can direct your eyes toward your focal point. Line and

curves can be in a form of walls, fence, building, roads, falls etc

LEADING LINE AND CURVES

Putting every subject of interest on one side of the picture leaving little or nothing to look at on the other side is making the composition of the photo to be unbalanced. Balancing an image requires that all the object that occupy one side should be counterbalanced by other objects on the other side. This is not akin to multiple centers of interest. Object can be balanced in two ways:

Symmetrical balance: this is where objects of the same size and weight can be placed on both sides.

Asymmetrical balance; Here the objects of different sizes and weights are stationed on both the opposing sides.

BALANCING AN IMAGE

BALANCING IMAGE

Usually, printed pictures are put in physical frames for some reasons. Border

delineates the shape of the picture and help to center attention on the image

Within the frame. We can apply the basic notion on framing to create an

attractive border within our picture by utilizing the following guidelines:

Search for clear framing shapes where you can place your composition, example; doo-ways, windows, spaces between building, etc

Change position to edge the shot so that the forefront object create a border around your image.

Situate your frame in the foreground

Use your frame to breed a sense of depth.

FRAMING AN IMAGE

FRAMING IMAGE

DEPTH

• As conclusion there a few basic composition which are;

• Photo Talk

• Simplicity

• Rule Of third

• Breaking the rule

• Balancing

• Line

• Framing

• Depth

Busch, D.D (2009). Digital Photography, Wiley Publishing, Inc. Canada.

REFERENCES

THEME AND MOODS Mohd Emran Ngadiman

MP111370

What makes these

images effective?

CREATING MOOD

• Overall feel of a picture

• Created by

• Perspective

• Color

• Focus (isolation and distance)

• Weather and light

• Sunrise/sunset

• Misty, rainy days

• Sun vs. overcast

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD PHOTO

• Shape

• Line

• Pattern

• Texture

• Size and space

SHAPE

• Tends to be noticed first, before texture and pattern

• Easiest and most recognizable composition tool

• Shape helps create a mood/character for the picture

• Search for the unconventional or surprise shape in objects

CREATING SHAPE

• Common—

• use backlighting to create a silhouette

• Uncommon—

• side lighting with simple background

• underexpose to focus on shape vs. color or texture

LINE• Lines create

• Shape

• Pattern

• Depth

• Perspective

• Line leads the eye

• Focal point/subject

• Diagonals

• S-curves

LINE CREATES PERSPECTIVE

• Lines into the horizon show depth and perspective for the viewer

• Vanishing point

• Point at which lines converge and vanish in to the horizon

• Place off-center

• Close-ups decrease perspective while wide-angles can exaggerate it

PATTERN

• Orderly combination of shape, line, or color

• Pattern can help echo the character of a photo

• Catching attention

• Random patterns

• Slight variation in a pattern

• Pattern in common places

TEXTURE

• Adds realism (sense of touch) to a photo

• Sharp (hard) light highlights texture

• Especially important for close-up and b/w shots

• Side lighting highlights texture

• Most portraits use front lighting to decrease texture on skin

USING LIGHT FOR DEPTH

• Sometimes hard light is inappropriate for illustrating shape and depth

• Soft side lighting can give a sense of shape and depth without high contrast

• Portraits

• Still life

• When shape/depth is more important that texture

SIZE AND SPACE

• 2D pictures distort depth, relative size, and distances

• Include reference item

• Include parts of the fore- or background

• Use a frame

• Be creative—maybe you want to distort

GIVING PERSPECTIVE

• Linear—Lines which converge into the distance

• Diminishing size—objects further away are smaller

• Aerial perspective—atmosphere creates haze, which lightens objects farther away

CUT OFFS• Avoiding cutting out parts or wholes of people or main subjects

• Avoiding cutting out the path of a moving object

Give the object

somewhere to go

SHOOTING TECHNIQUE

Ahmad Fathur Rahman bin Hasmiy

MPP141070

HIGH ANGLEHigh angle from the subject

LOW ANGLELow angle from the subject

EYE LEVEL/NORMAL ANGLE

Eye level from the subject

PANNING

• A moving object become static but the background still moving

PANORAMA

SILHOUTE

• Picture that the background is brighter than the subject and make the subject black but people well know what is the subject

ZOOM IN ZOOM OUT

• We use the bulb setting or slow shutter speed and we zoom our lens

ZOOM OUT

ZOOM IN

CREATIVE LIGHTING SYSTEM

• We use the flash as a slave them we put out of the camera body

REFLECTION

• Take the reflection of the object

There is only you and your camera.

The limitations in your photography are in yourself

-Ernst Haas

THANK YOU