Composition and framing, The language of seeing.
A still life. Composition according to plan.
Introduction
What is composition?
Dealing with subject vs brightness
Composing:
Centered
To describe a location, action or event
Using the environment and space
Children
Sports
There are essentially two areas within photography that separate the pros and the boys with their toys... They are one: Understanding how to use a camera manually, and two: Composing of the image within the frame. Where the first is essentially milking the most from the camera to record a particular moment in time. The other is about creating a picture that expresses the image in a meaningful way to others.
Putting it bluntly, using your camera in manual mode will increase the success rate of your captures, and good composition and framing will sell it.
That said, it's possible that even novices can improve their results even if they never switch their cameras from Auto.
So where do we begin? Well, lets explain the technical terms of composition: The relationship or arrangement of elements within a given space, set forth to create a desired effect upon the human senses.
In a way it's a form of language, and it is the arrangement of elements (how they are framed) that communicate something to the viewer.
(Warning, we are getting deep here, so stay with me...)
In reading that last statement, we can conclude that there really is no right or wrong way to compose a subject... BINGO! Take a breath. However, there are both good and bad ways that can either aide or detract from a given message... depending on what that message is.
Let's work with an example: Imagine that we see a very tall building and that we want to communicate to the viewer it's height? Would it be better to compose the shot of the building from a distance or get right up close and shoot with a wide shot?
Well, the latter of course. Unless we're architects, we don't care about the exact dimensions of the structure, only that it's HUGE. By putting the viewer right up against the structure we create a sense of them feeling small in comparison.
Therefore, to really understand Composition and framing we have to understand how to communicate a concept to your viewer.
This will obviously involve more thought about the subject matter and might be too much work for just taking a picture... Well is it? Think about it. What made you pull out the camera and take the shot to begin with? Was that not the message in your head already?
It's the "Oh, look at that sunset over the boat.." out comes the camera and you point and fire away. Later you look at the image and in your mind you replay the event, but find that to others it's just another sunset. Then you realize that what you saw was not what you shot, and had you composed it more carefully they could have seen it like you did.
You need to listen and comprehend your own thoughts, even if you don't listen to your wife, don't tune yourself out.
There are some mechanics, or rules of thumb that you must also consider when composing a shot.
One is that the eye is always drawn towards the brightest part of the image.
Therefore, if you have something in the frame that's brighter than your main subject, then it will create a sense of unease as the viewers eyes will be drawn away from it towards the brighter object. Now in some cases that works, like a clean sharp knife in a horror scene, or a flashing gun barrel in an action shot.
In such cases, you must recompose your shot to either remove the bright object, or somehow involve your subject matter with it. A face near a window, a glowing candle, something where both subjects are equal.
Involving subjects with bright objects, an obviously bright light overhead. However, the subjects are relatively close and are bathed in it's light.
Backlit shots also work in cases with dominate light sources.
Background too bright or dominating? Do a backlit shot.
"Never center your subject matter.." I don't how many times I've read or heard that and yet I am constantly breaking this rule. There are things in life where centering your subject works out perfectly. Some examples are given below:
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Window panes, reflections and uniform patterns can look good centered. However, in the above shot the reflection of older building on right counters center in artistic way. This is also a good use of other forms of contrast (old vs. modern, etc.) as well.
Another good use of center is fountains as they are usually centered into their surroundings. So we are comfortable with seeing them in that way. Here, the Pier One fountain, Atlantic City, is huge, and so I took the wide from low to shot to communicate that.
Compose your subjects to fit within their environment, by including the parts of the environment that will help to describe the location, event, or action. A well composed shot will quickly communicate the idea almost in an instant. Below are a few comparisons and examples:
Korey and his kite... which one is communicates that message better? "Oh, snap!"
Gabby and her Kite... Notice the use of balance.
Jaeden on a train ride...
Gabby on a swing... which one best describes the action?
One more... you get the point.
Give your subject some space, or breathing room.
Lone traveler..
Escalator people...
Including the audience with Alex Skolnick... yeah, it's a live concert and he's center of attention here.
Two shot's of Jay Pierce. In the right shot he pauses to look up, so I provided some space to help convey that feeling.
Here we have Chris Caffery and Alex Skolnick performing live. I made sure that some of the audience was included.
When conveying live concerts, put some heads into the foreground... (of course that's always the case if you wind up in seat ZZ100,000...) In my case I made a point to crouch down and frame it.
Danielle Landherr walks through a packed house, this shot would not have been as dramatic if I did a tight shot, (at least I wasn't in her way that time... :)
Don't be afraid to include the surroundings, and whatever else describes the scene. The trick is include just enough without making your dominate subject... uhm, less dominate.
When shooting children, stoop, kneel, or get down on their level, after all that's where the fun is (keep your cell phone handy in case you need to call someone to get back up):
Gabby and her backwoods boogie...
Korey, the asphalt surfer...
Getting low and using a slow shutter I moved with him for brief moment to capture the action and immerse the viewer. I also provided plenty of space ahead of him to put the viewer at ease (the opposite would have created distress).
Help guide the viewer by providing direction using exaggerated offsets.
A long walk back...
When shooting sports, you want a ball, a player and some direction.
Smashing grace... In the shot above the original on the left is centered, but in the right shot, I cropped the player to the left to exaggerate the moment and give some space for the ball to go.
In many cases regarding action and sports, you will have to correct or improve the composition in post. Since I always use the center AF point to lock the target, I don't have much time to recompose. So I leave some space to aide in that process.
No ball required here... the players expression says something about it.
Well, I hope I have conveyed the subject of composition in plain enough terms. We didn't go into charts, diagrams or the old 'rule of thirds'. It's simply better to think in terms of communication: What do I see? What am I trying to say? Then that's how I need to compose the shot.
Again, there's right or wrong way, only you know the difference. It's kinda like a live play on the stage and someone messes up their lines and quickly ad libs to recover. Only the actors and director are aware of the mistake.
Learning to actually see what your are seeing will take time and practice. In the meantime, you can always improve your existing shots by cropping them in software. Once you get the idea, you'll make a majority of those choices before you press the shutter.