Learn Proper Composition
Make YOUR Photographs Better

What is Proper Composition? We all respond better to a photograph that has all elements in balance leading the eye along an interesting path through the picture. When I took Photography Basics 101,(which I took right after cave painting) we were taught the Rule of Thirds.

Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid super imposed in your viewfinder or on your LCD screen. Place your subject where any two lines cross or along a vertical or horizontal line and you can't go wrong! Well, there is a little more to it than that, but it's a good start!

Notice in the top photograph I placed the horse's head very close to the right vertical line and centered their bodies between the two horizontal lines.

Try to place your subject so it appears to be moving or looking into the frame. This tends to lead the eye into the photograph and create interest.

In the bottom photograph I placed one horse (The main subject) almost dead center in the frame. Not a bad picture, but not as visually interesting as the one above!

Keep a close eye on the borders of your viewfinder. Nothing can ruin a well composed photograph faster than an unseen branch, your lens cap or finger! Notice the Yucca branches at the bottom right border of the bottom image? It's a distraction that draws the eye away from the subject.

The Perfect Photograph

Have you ever taken what you thought was going to turn out to be a Great Photograph? But when you got it back from the lab or made your own print were horrified to find a telephone pole growing out of your subject's head! And you didn't even see it when you composed the picture. Come on, admit it, we ALL have.

Place your subject where it belongs in the photograph, not just where it happens to fall in the viewfinder. Try different angles and positions. Changing your viewing angle just a small amount can make a big difference in the composition of the final photograph.

Make sure the horizon line is level! This one mistake spoils more photographs than just about anything else. Sure, you can fix it in Photoshop, but the more you get right in the camera, the more time you'll have to take pictures.

I intentionally cropped the first photograph with a skewed horizon line. You may not notice it at first, but after you become aware of this condition, it will jump out at you when you see another image with a tilted horizion line.

You could probably get away with it in a photograph this small if you didn't look very closely at it.

The second image was shot using a tripod and a small bubble level that attachs to the camera's hot shoe. They are inexpensive insurance against having that problem again. I have one on each one of my camera bodies. Using a tripod and bubble level set-up may take a little longer, but you will come away with a more professional image!

Learning Composition

The best way to learn composition is to look at a lot of photographs by top photographers. Then take lots of pictures and be your own worst critic! When I started out in photography, my most valuable accessory was given to me by my father, a very large trash can! He said it was also a great place for your ego.

The greatest things about digital photography are it doesn't cost anything to take the pictures, you don't have to wait until you get them back from the lab to see if you screwed up and if you don't like the photograph you can send it away in an instant and take another one!

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