By Amy Renfrey
If you look at all the great geniuses of photography you can frequently feel like they all knew a confidential way to make pictures look beautiful and superb. Well, this is not a long way from the truth. The fact is the masters like Sebastio Saldago, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham (just to name a few) did, indeed, know the way to create beautiful structure and composition for their photographs. How did they do this? The secret is that they knew the best way to design and arrange their pictures way before pressing the shutter button. Design basics are practical to photography which creates the assembly and formation of your subject placement within your photo. Let’s examine some of them now. Photography composition basics A good photo is one that represents a strong story. It is clear and delivers a good structure for us to support our assumptions on. There are a number of design methods that allow us to do this and as a consequence, produce some intense images. Basic photography composition is not only photographing with the rule of thirds, which I?ll explain in a moment, but it’s learning why we need to capture things from particular vantage points. Lines and form are the foundation of this knowing.
The elements of visual design To begin with let’s consider tone. Tone, very simply put, is a range of bright areas and darker areas. The difference between the brightest point and the darkest point is referred to as tonal range. There are a range of areas of brightness and dark areas within the majority of photos you come across. If an image has a big tonal range is has many variations of brightness and shadow areas. Consider a really fine black and white photo. What is it that makes it so stunning? It’s often due to the fact it has a large tonal range. Meaning there are lots of variations of brightness and dark areas in the photo.
These variations enrich the photo because highlights tend to move the subject forward and shady areas tend to look as if they are further at the rear. This makes it appear as if the photograph is more three dimensional. The more that a photograph looks three dimensional the more enhanced it tends to appear. Always think about how your brighter areas impact with your shadows to make shapes look the way they do. Think about how you can make them stronger and give them more contrast to bring out lines and shape.
Now let us look at the lines within a photo, how they direct our eyes and what they suggest. Each photo has shape and much of that shape relies upon of lines within your image. Regardless of whether it is the horizon line of your twilight photograph, the vertical shape of a road sign or bending lines of a stunning shell you come across on the beach, you will still require to place those lines in certain places of the photo for greatest visual appeal.
Photography and the rule of thirds
Photography and the rule of thirds The rule of thirds is related to the placement of appealing parts of your subject on areas of your photo. For example, it might be a little bit uninteresting to place a persons happy face exactly in the middle of the image. If you positioned the camera so their face was closer to the boundary of the frame it might be more attractive. It might offer a more positive message and captivate your audience a bit more. The rule of thirds is an imaginary grid that we place over the top of an image. We put the interesting elements of our subject as close as possible to the junction points. This offers you the opportunity to generate deeper and more meaningful images for the rest of your life. You can create stunning photos anytime. Begin by examining your lines and tonal range. These two aspects can prove to be powerful visual elements for generating stunning images.
Amy Renfrey is a professional photography teacher. She is the author of several photography ebooks and a monthly photography emagazine. She shows you how to take stunning photos every single time, even if you have never used a digital camera before. Click here to learn how to take good photographs.