Tip of the Day – Think Twice About Composition, Part 1

Composition is an essential aspect of artistic expression. Books are devoted to it. Painters have very specific reasons for putting their subjects where they do. Any primer on picture-taking will explain the ‘rule of thirds’ and the importance of leading lines and how the eye goes where it goes when it sees an image.

My color vision is lousy. My technical knowledge of the camera is OK but my understanding of post-production techniques and all that the digital darkroom can do is woefully lacking because computer technology is a consistent weakness. What success I have making pleasing images comes primarily through composition and taking the best shot I can in the moment.

What does that mean? It means trying to take landscape shots that don’t have overhead wires running through them or tree branches intruding from one side. It means placing people so that a sign post isn’t emerging from the top of someone’s head. It means getting closer to the people so you can tell who they are. Yes, it’s great to visit the Grand Canyon and of course you want pictures of who was there but a shot from the waist up will still show that person had the Canyon behind them. A wide angle shot of the grandeur with a few tiny human figures in front of it is not a picture of us and the Canyon. It is a picture of the Canyon with some figures spoiling the view.

Here are a few examples that I hope will encourage you to pause for a moment before taking photos…especially if you’re a hectic, drive-by tourist like I am. Think about what you want and don’t want in the image.

While in Colorado, I came upon this classic western scene. Blue sky, snow-capped peaks and grazing bison in a meadow.

Colorado Bison – Portrait (November 1989)

I prefer to shoot most outdoor scenes in the horizontal perspective. They don’t call it ‘landscape’ for nothing. Normally, this perspective is better for grand, outdoor scenes. However, this same vantage point becomes something else when the interstate highway and fence are included. Not quite the same natural, wild look.

Colorado Bison – Landscape (November 1989)

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens is a treasure trove of antiquities. I had no idea that Poseidon, God of the Sea, had a third leg adorned with a sneaker. Must be for those times when he emerges from the ocean and needs extra support on land.

Three-legged Poseidon, Athens (September 1998)

I love my zoom lenses. It sounds very suggestive but looking through the view finder, the process is one of up/down, back & forth and in/out until a pleasing arrangement of the scene is captured. We were in Amsterdam and going to the fine Rijksmuseum to see Vermeer and Rembrandt paintings. On the bridge that crosses the canal in front of the museum was this pleasant scene of still water, old buildings and a great willow tree accent.

Amsterdam (26 July 2007)

Clearly, a little wider angle shot would not have been as pleasing.

Leave out the scaffolding (Amsterdam; 26 July 2007)

I have more examples of the do’s and don’t’s of composition and will share them in a future post. Essentially, the idea is to include what you want and to leave out what you don’t. Sometimes, there will be an overhead wire or other object you can’t avoid and today’s digital editing tools can eliminate the unwanted intrusion. The best option is to take a moment to position yourself and use the camera/lens to frame the shot as well as you can.