Composition

The single most important factor in a photographic master piece is composition!

Composition is basically the structure and balance of the photo. It holds the viewer and stops the eye from straying off the page. It can draw the viewer (literally) into the photograph.

Imagine a photograph divided into 3 equal parts across and 3 equal parts down (9 squares). To compose the subject so that each square is evenly filled with subject and the main attention, or focus point is in the middle square. Easier said than done you may ask yourself but with today's modern digital cameras it is easy. Most, these days have an option to grid the view finder which can help you compose the shot, but i lean toward the easier option. 

The easier option is cropping. Cropping is done using the software package you got with your camera and enables the photograph to be balanced evenly. It can also be used to remove unwanted things that may clutter the picture. As i have done in the picture on the previous post of an old bungalow. The bland colour photograph was nothing special and obviously i could not move the house to arrange the shot as i wanted, so i just cropped the image. Simple.

The image below is of a sunrise i took last week at Mimiwhangata while on holiday. Nothing has been done to the picture. It is, as shot. It is a well balanced shot with the dark fore ground leading the eye into the main subject of the sun and clouds.

 

 

Not all images need to be composed as such. The image below is one of a friends kid. As you are all aware kids don't stop moving, and to try and stop them is a fools errand. I didn't even attempt to compose the shot, i just clicked and this is what came of it. It is balanced with even amounts of sky and kid. Some photographers will critique the composition as being bizarre, however i will disagree and say yes its unusual, but very unique and even different from most perspectives of traditional photographs. But still a great image.