Mastering Basic Photography Composition Principles

1. Basic photography—Art, composition, and computer principles AEE 211 February 24, 2003

2. What makes these images effective?

3. Overview • Basic composition • Mood and atmosphere • Qualities of a good photo • Basic composition • Improving composition • Working with the computer • Files • Scanning • Printing

4. 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

5. Characteristics of a good photo • Shape • Line • Pattern • Texture • Size and space

6. 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

7. Creating shape • Common— • use backlighting to create a silhouette • Uncommon— • side lighting with simple background • underexpose to focus on shape vs. color or texture

9. Line • Lines create • Shape • Pattern • Depth • Perspective • Line leads the eye • Focal point/subject • Diagonals • S-curves

10. 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

17. 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

20. 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

22. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. Depth and perspective • Overlapping forms—overlapping objects in a picture create depth and distance • Selective focusing—focusing on the foreground and blurring the background

30. Improving composition • Rule of thirds • Simplicity • Angle and perspective • Framing

31. Have a strong center of interest • Take pictures at different angles with different compositions • Work around the rule of thirds

35. Simplicity • One strong center of interest • Foreground or background should be simple or complimentary to center of interest • Include foreground or background for sense of isolation, distance, depth, etc. • Avoid mergers

40. Cut offs • Avoiding cutting out parts or wholes of people or main subjects • Avoiding cutting out the path of a moving object

42. Give the object somewhere to go

44. Working with angles • Low angles • Clear sky backdrop • Accentuate movement or action • High angle • Eliminate cloudy sky • 45 degree angles will cut glare • Avoid centered horizons

47. Framing • Adds depth • Should fit theme • Helps subject fill the frame • Can block unwanted subjects from view • Watch focus on foreground • Focus on foreground in landscape • Focus on subject in portraits • Auto-focus should be centered on main topic • Overall—DEPENDS ON CAMERA