COMPOSITION
Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is likeconsulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk.”
--Edward Weston
I just walk around, observing the subject from various angles until thepicture elements arrange themselves into a composition that pleases myeye. -Andre Kertesz, Margaret R. Weiss, Saturday Review – World, January
1974
There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there werewe would be able to put all the information into a computer and wouldcome out with a masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have tocompose by the seat of your pants. -Arnold Newman, "Interviews With
Master Photographers :
COMPOSITION
Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting thelaws of gravity before going for a walk.”
--Edward Weston
I just walk around, observing the subject from various angles until the pictureelements arrange themselves into a composition that pleases my eye. -Andre Kertesz,
Margaret R. Weiss, Saturday Review – World, January 1974
There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would beable to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a
masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have to compose by the seat of yourpants. -Arnold Newman, "Interviews With Master Photographers :
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you
create more purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Center or Point of Interest
Center or Point of Interest
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
“Putting four edges around a collection of information or factstransforms it. A photograph is not what was photographed, it’s
something else…a new world is created” Gary Winogrand
Elliot Erwitt
Lee Friedlander
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Avoid mergers
• Photographs collapse 3d space into 2d space• Photographs create compositional relationships
we might not recognize while in the act ofphotographing
• Mergers-awkward combinations oflines/shapes/subjects as a result of collapsing 3dspace to a 2d image
• Strategies to avoid mergers:– Photographer moves– Subject moves– Background moves
Examples of Mergers
Examples of Mergers
Playing with Mergers
Elliot Erwitt
Playing with Mergers
Playing with Mergers
"Probably one of the worst things that happened to photography is that cameras have viewfinders."- John Baldessari
Mergers: things to watch for• Background objects can merge with the
primary foreground subject. (For example, apower pole can "grow" out of your uncle'shead.)
• Strong colors or similar colors of objectsbehind or near the main subject can mergewith the subject. A white hat might mergewith a light background and all butdisappear.
• Remember, mergers are often removed bysimply moving the camera or subject
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Balance
• Symmetrical balance– Two matching subjects in size or shape– Symmetrical balance distributes visual
elements evenly in an image.• Asymmetrical balance
– A heavier presence balanced against a lighterpresence
Symmetrical Balance
Diane Arbus
Roy DeCarava
Asymmetrical Balance
Asymmetrical Balance
Asymmetrical Balance
Asymmetrical Balance
Asymmetrical Balance
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Keep it simple: an empty frame
Keep it simple: an empty frame (inthis case ‘empty’ is complicated)
Keep it simple: an empty frame
Keep it simple: an empty frame
Keep it simple: shallow depth of field
Keep it Simple - Shallow Depth of Field
Keep it simple: shallow depth of field
Keep it simple: shallow depth of field
Keep it simple: shallow depth of field
Elliot Erwitt, NYC 1950
Elliot Erwitt, Ernst Hass 1955
Matthew Tischler
DEEP DEPTH OF FIELD - Walker Evans
Martin Parr
Martin Parr
Martin Parr
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Frame within a frame
Frame within a frame
Robert Frank, Butte, Montana
Robert Frank, New Orleans, 1955
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
SUBJECT PLACEMENT
Rule of Thirds
Use the rule of thirds to help with
Horizon line placement
Strong lines placement
Single subject placement
Main subject/secondary subject placement
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
The Golden Ratio / Fibonocci Spiral
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Use Strong Lines
“This recognition, in real life, of a rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values is for me theessence of photography; composition should be a constant of preoccupation, being asimultaneous coalition – an organic coordination of visual elements. “- Henri Cartier-Bresson
Use strong lines
Use strong lines
Use strong lines
Use strong lines
Always beconscious of wherelines are enteringyour frame: fromwhich side? Fromwhich corner?Which of theseimages is mostsuccessful?
Strong Lines / Patterns (repeated)
Strong Lines / Patterns (repeated)
Patterns and Repetition
Use strong lines
Use strong lines
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
LIGHT AND SHADOW
LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham
LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham
LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham
LIGHT AND SHADOW
SHAPES
Texture
Texture
Texture -- Aaron Siskind
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Use the edge of the frame
Use the edge of the frame
Use the edge of the frame
Use the edge of the frame
Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more
purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance
• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background
– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field
– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point
• Birds eye• Worms eye
Vantage point: your angle of view
Vantage point: your angle of view
Vantage point: birds eye
Vantage point: birds eye
“In order to accustom people to seeing from new viewpoints it is essential to takephotographs of everyday, familiar subjects from completely unexpected vantagepoints and in completely unexpected positions….one should shoot the subject fromseveral positions, as if encompassing it--not peer through one keyhole”- Rodchenko
Vantage point: close up/abstraction
Vantage point: close up/abstraction
Vantage point: close up/abstraction
Vantage point: worms eye
Vantage point: worms eye
And one last thing…Consider placing a moving subject so
they move into the image
Experimentationis key, trydifferent
approachesconstantly
Andy Goldsworthy
Experimentation is key, trydifferent approaches constantly
Experimentation is key, trydifferent approaches constantly
Todd Hido Roaming
Martin Parr from Bad Weather
Martin Parr from Bad Weather
Walead Beshty
James Welling from Torsos
Strategies: Composition and ShootingHow do I balance these ideas?
• Shooting with a preplanned idea when photographingThings you may be able to plan ahead:– location– Props– time of day– vantage point– artificial lighting– Make a list of things to shoot
• Improvising in a rapid situation– Keeping subject at center of frame– Moving frame around with subject somewhere in picture
• Editing a group of images down to ones that have compositional strength– Shoot in quantity, edit for quality– Constant experimentation to ensure a variety of images, more chances for success
Make a list….
What composition elements are these photographers using?
Elliot Erwitt
Roy DeCarava
Robert Frank
William Eggleston
Candida Höfer
Roy DeCarava
Elliot Erwitt
Andreas Gursky
Lee Friedlander
Elliot Erwitt
Lee Friedlander
Elliot Erwitt