Composition 101

5 Elements of Composition

1. Pattern
(plants at Blue Mounds State Park)

2. Symmetry
(a Gruyere cheese house in Switzerland)

3. Depth of field
(a street in France)

4. Texture
(a frozen bush outside our apt.)


5. Lines
(a road in France that I just fell in love with)

(a tree in Shorewood. I looked up and saw the sun through the branches and thought it looked so cool.)



Composition Tips

1. The Rule of Thirds
*Notice in the following photos how the subject(s) are in the upper/lower/left/right thirds of the photograph. This will make for a more interesting composition than placing the subject(s) directly in the center.


2. Off center your subject
(You'll notice this shot is very grainy. It's because I didn't use a flash and there was no sunlight coming into the window on him. Which is too bad, because it's our favorite expression of him as an infant. Moral of the story?... Take notice of the light! But love the photos anyway even if they're not "perfect".)
(a fill in flash here would have been good to pop open his eyes and even his skin)

3. Keep horizons straight (and try to follow the rule of thirds):

4. Frame the subject

5. Zoom in

6. Watch out for distractions in the background (notice the bug)



Portrait Tips
(and these apply to landscape too, of course)

1. Rule of triangles:

2. Alter your perspective:

3. Shoot into the light:

4. Shoot from slightly below your subject’s eyeline:


5. Take a series of shots:

6. Subject(s) should look within the frame (meaning, give space within the photo for your subject to look):
(I probably should have been paying more attention to the sunlight coming in through the leaves, but I think I really like the little flecks of sunlight.)

7. Tilt your camera or your subject: