Advanced Composition Tips

Most photographers are familiar with the Rule of Thirds, which suggests putting the subject at one of the lines of intersection created by dividing the frame with four lines creating nine equally sized sections. That's generally one of the first rules new photographers learn about taking pictures.


There is another whole level of detail when it comes to guidelines for composition. Some of them get amazingly detailed from a mathematical standpoint and relate to a theory call the Golden Mean.


The Golden Mean is a mathematical formula that applies to the shape and curves of an object and how it relates to their visual appeal. The math is fairly involved, so there's no point gelling your brain with the details, but the upshot is that shapes that adhere to certain mathematical formulas are generally considered more in harmony with the visual acuity of the human brain.


How that translates into a practical and simple guide for framing is fairly straightforward. Draw a diagonal line between the lower left corner of the frame to the upper right. Then picture two lines extending from the upper left and lower right corner intersecting the diagonal. Where those lines converge is where you put the subject.


The diagonals can also be used as guide to place leading lines and frame elements in a photograph.


Fill The Frame


Robert Capa, a WWII photojournalist, suggested that if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not in close enough.


One common mistake novice photographers make is too much foreground, like a wide expanse of grass leading up to two people standing in front of a garden. Get in close to the subjects and focus on them, we all know what grass looks like.


Another common mistake is thinking your subject always has to fit within the frame. Forget that, get in close, even if it crops off part of your subject. Get in so close your camera switches over to macro mode. Instead of including a subject's whole face, don't be afraid to crop off part of their head.


In the world of digital photography, you can blaze away with your camera and discard what doesn't work later. Frame a shot like you think it should be, then deliberately get in far closer than you think looks good. Then take another step forward.


Vertical Lines


Strong vertical lines emphasize power, strength and height. They're also a mechanism to lead the eye of the viewer to the subject. As mentioned above, look for vertical lines that line up with the Golden Mean for subject placement.


Shapes


Look for bold and distinctive shapes and align those shapes with the Rule of Thirds and the Golden Mean. Almost any scene can be broken down into collections of rectangles. It's a good mental exercise to examine a scene one rectangle at a time.


Photographers use that trick to analyze the elements of scene. Interestingly, it's also technique taught to law enforcement and undercover operatives for threat assessment. The theory is that there is too much visual information in the whole scene for your brain to process all the details. So by selectively limiting your focus to selective sections of the whole scene, you'll be able to see details that would normally be lost in a wider view.


At first exercising this thought process seems time consuming and painful, but with practice you'll find it can become automatic over time.