Photography: More Composition Tricks

My photo tips and tricks are back! YAAAAY!

This week I am going to talk a bit more about what goes into composing photos. I’ve already detailed the rule of thirds, so here are a few other techniques I use to take dynamic photographs.

One of the easiest ways to get better photos is to get closer to your subject. Here are a couple examples:

This photo of Annie and Mike is really cute. But with the wide angle, there is so much to look at. I want the focus to be on Annie in her little bikini. So I zoomed in and got this:

I love this photo. I can see every roll of chub on her body, along with the details in her curls. When I look back on the picture, I won’t care about the scenery around her – I care about HER.

Mike actually took the next two photos (part of my vow to get in front of the camera). I told him to get a shot of Annie and me playing in the water:

This is a perfectly fine photo, but I told him to be sure to zoom in on our faces, and he NAILED it:

I just adore this photo! Well done, Mike.

My favorite compositional trick is leading lines. Leading lines are lines that run through a photograph that help add depth or highlight a certain element of the photo.

This bridge is a great example. The guardrails and the bridge itself draw your eye to the back of the photo, giving depth. Roads and paths are the most common leading lines, but if you look closer at the world around you, you’ll see them everywhere.

The line where the wet sand hits the dry sand caught my eye, and I love that if you follow the line it leads right to the clock tower, surrounded by the gorgeous blue Arizona sky.

I have one more photo to show you that is my absolute favorite. My friend Meghan took this picture of the pier in Goleta, CA:

I seriously want to hang it on my wall.

As always, if you want to share your pictures upload them to the TSAM Photo Fun Flickr group so we can compliment and learn from each other (If you don’t have a flickr account, just link to your photos in the comments).

Want more basic photo composition tips? You can find them here thanks to HP, my awesome photo partners.

Next week I am going to get into using natural light instead of a flash. Woo hoo!

Be Sociable, Share!

•