Composition is Everything!

I have been shooting a camera for years. When I think of some of the photographs that I have taken over the years that were fabulous (in their own right), they just had a wow factor and I didn’t understand why they were so appealing. More importantly I never stopped and thought about all of the horrible photographs through the years and why they were horrible. Arguably I should have started there first! Whether it was Architecture, sunsets or still life, it doesn’t matter, most great photographs rely on the construct and balance (of light and physical attributes) or what is composition? This is a great website to understand the rules of composition https://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules

The rules apply to both digital and analogue photography and even your phone. Over time I have trained my eye to think about composition and the subject matter that I am trying to enhance or optically give the emphasis I think needs to be seen. I prefer Black & White with great composition as for me color distracts the composition and it can be difficult (again for me) depending on the colors and the audience.  Everyone has their preferences but I will stick with the old school film techniques.

We all have taken photos with this massive white space and I am not talking about clouds, LOL! I’m talking about you are so focused on the subject you are not looking at the balance, content and its surrounding elements. This is where I would say think about how you want the construct and balance of what it is you see and create it in the lens. Sometimes you may want to blur or have a heavy depth of field to create a great photo or if it’s not possible as it could be your equipment, distance or position. Then sometimes you could  get lucky cropping a photo which can also give you some of your composition back in the photo. On the left is a photo that depicts balance or composition between light, color and subjects. On the right is a photo that is the opposite. While the lighting is okay here, there is little contrast, balance or subject focal point with the distraction not knowing the theme or content. I hope this helps you focus (pun intended) on composition!