Reveal the Lapse of Time in a Scene.......323
Join a Photography Forum.........323
Chapter 21: Viewing Ten Compositions of One Scene..325
Choosing a High Angle to Show the Scene.......325
Selecting a Low Angle to Emphasize the Subject....326
Highlighting the Subject and the Scene with a Wide-Angle Lens..327
Showing More Scenery with a Wide-Angle Lens......328
Narrowing In on Your Subject with a Long Lens.....329
Creating an Intimate Portrait by Using a Long Lens.....330
Paying Attention to the Foreground Elements in Your Scene...331
Giving Your Photo a Compositional Frame......332
Finding Negative Space.........333
Backlighting Your Subject to Emphasize Shape......334
Index.........335
If you want to create interesting and aesthetically pleasing photographs, you need to understand great composition. You have rules (which can, of course, be broken) to guide you, decisions to make, and techniques and tools to get the job done. Put all these together, and you give purpose and meaning to your photographs.
After you realize why some photographs look better than others and more successfully tell their stories, you can create amazing images wherever you are and in any conditions. You can approach any scene in many ways, and each photographer will do so differently. You want to be sure that you approach a scene with the confidence of a person who understands how to compose great images — and has fun doing so.
Whether you're an amateur, pro, semi pro, hobbyist, scrap booker, traveler, artist, or someone who just received a camera as a gift, knowing more about composition will make your photographs better. Besides, if you're going to take pictures, they may as well be good ones.
Contentions Used in This Book
In this book, I use the following conventions to make sure the text is consistent and easy to understand:
For each photograph, I include the following information:
• Focal length: This number shows the angle of view provided by the particular lens used. It determines how much of your scene is captured when composing a shot.
• Shutter speed: This number indicates how long it took to complete the exposure (usually measured in fractions of a second). It determines how precise the moment of capture is, and it's particularly important when photographing subjects in motion.
• Aperture: This number shows how much light the lens let in at the time of exposure (measured by an f-stop). It helps to regulate your depth of field, which determines how much of your scene is sharp or blurry.
• ISO: This number displays how sensitive the digital sensor is to light during the time of the exposure. A sensitive ISO rating (determined by a higher number) can produce a properly exposed image more quickly and with less light than a less sensitive rating (determined by a lower number).
You can find this info beneath each photo. To save space, I give you just the numbers — no labels. So when you see "35mm, 1/250 sec, f/11, 320," you'll know that I'm referring to the focal length, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. The specs are always in this order.
All Web addresses appear in mono font.
New terms appear in italic and are closely followed by an easy-to-under-stand definition.
Bold highlights the action parts of numbered steps and the key words in bulleted lists.
When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that I've added no extra characters, such as hyphens, to indicate the break. So when using one of these Web addresses, simply type in exactly what you see in the book as though the line break doesn't exist.
What you are Not to Read
If you're in a hurry to start taking amazing photographs, you may want to skip around this book to areas that most appeal to you. No problem. If you are in a big hurry, here's a tip: You can skip the sidebars (those gray-shaded boxes) and any text marked with the Technical Stuff icon. The information you find in these places may interest you and add something to your work, but it isn't necessary for understanding how to compose beautiful photographs.
Foolish Assumptions
Before I could write this book, I had to make some assumptions about you, its reader. For example, I assume that you:
Want to get a reaction from the people who view your images u• Are familiar with the basic functions of your camera and have some experiences using them
How This Book Is Organized
Photographic composition is all about organization: The way you organize elements in a frame determines how people view the image. Similarly, writing a book requires you to stay organized as well. So, each part in this book gives you valuable information related to a specific topic. Each part works on its own or can be combined with information from another part. The following sections give you an overview of what parts this book contains.
Part 1: The Basics of Composition
This part introduces you to photographic composition and explains why it's a necessary skill in producing interesting and aesthetically pleasing images.
It covers the topic of training your eyes to see things from a compositional standpoint and discusses the abilities and equipment you need to consistently create beautiful photographs.
Part 11: Elements of Photographic design
Certain key elements are the building blocks of composition. This part shows you ways to put these elements together when composing an image. I tell you about critical factors like lines, shapes, patterns, and color, and I introduce you to the "rules" that have arisen from the blood, sweat, and tears of photographers who came before you.
Part 111: Arranging the Key Elements to Compose a Successful Shot
A well-composed photo has various parts — or elements — that work together to create a cohesive message. I provide you with an overview of these elements in Part II, but in this part, I delve into each in more detail. You find out how to use focus, perspective, background, and lighting to tell your story. I also show you ways to use framing techniques to keep viewers' eyes on your image. I round out the part with a chapter on the other compositional ideas you can use to make sure your subject headlines the show.
Part IV: Composition in Action
Your subject matter typically determines how you compose an image. For instance, you compose images of people differently from images of architecture or landscapes. Each chapter in this part discusses how to handle a common subject by combining the elements of design and the photographic techniques you find in Parts II and III. And after you've taken your photos — whether they're portraits, still-life images, or abstracts — you can polish them using the postproduction improvements I tell you about in this part.
Part V: The Part of Tens
This part provides three short chapters in which I share important aspects of my experience as a photographer to help better your understanding and execution of interesting photo compositions. You discover ways to give yourself assignments that will enhance your photographic composition skills, find inspiration, and compose one scene in various ways.