Composition

Composition

When a photographer points their lense at something and clicks they are mounting a frame around the object. They are trying to show something to viewers as a piece of the world at one moment in time. What they are doing is making a composition. A monkey banging on a piano is composing but it is likely to be less pleasing than giving the piano to a composer. So photographers are learning to be good composers and frame something that is pleasing to look at.

Science has shown that the human brain can respond to certain mathematical patterns and so there are some basic "rules" which can be followed when learning to compose a picture. These rules will make it easier for a viewer to "read" the picture and allow the photogrpaher to lead the eye of someone looking into a picture.

The "Rule of Thirds" is one of the most commonly used by new photographers and "phi" is a Greek expression of harmony in nature and also known as "The Golden Ratio" or the "Fibonacci sequence". You can find out more about these by following the links below:-

Rule of Thirds -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GcpP-n-94I

Phi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CiS3SU4lk0 

In some ways these rules are both helpful and misleading. To work with either can certainly help make your photograph interesting but to believe they are the only thing that will make your picture outstanding is naive. Aand anyway, rules are made to be broken! In looking through the lense the photographer also needs to consider colour, balance, action, light and shade and might even use nothing (known as negative space) or depth of field (where some of the picture is in focus and some out of focus) to accentuate the object they wish you to look at.

In the West we "read" from left to right and look at pictures in the same way. The picture of the rape field above has a patch of strong yellow leading down to a track which then sweeps up and ends near a hedge on the horizon. This automatically leads the eye towards the lone tree which stands proudly around one third of the way into the picture from the left. So the picture uses some elements of a classic rule but not all of it as the horizon cuts through the centre of the picture.

The photograph below is a completely different type of composition. Many people looking at this photo will immediately recognise the Liver Building on Liverpool's waterfront as an internationally recognised landmark. However it is dwarfed by a new office block which takes up half the photograph. Nonetheless this is a picture of the Liver Building and the new offices have been included both as a contrast and to draw attention to the older, better known building. It might also add an emotional element as we consider whether newer buildings are as elegant or iconic as older architecture. The street lights at the bottom are included to give a sense of scale and the blank blue of the sky leaves the negative space which helps focus on the Liver Buildings pinaccle. In the photograph of the rape field the clouds add a sense of the sort of day it was and also fill the sky. A blank sky in that photograph would have made it rather boring whereas clouds in the photograph below would have distracted from the main topic.

So when you take a photograph these elements should be in your mind. However remember Edward Weston's quotation - "To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk". In other words practice until you don't need to....