RULES OF COMPOSITION
They’re not called RULES for nothing.
by: Dave Stabley
Models: Christine Lopez & Courtney Aragon
1. Fill The Frame / Cropping
If your shot is in danger of losing impact due to
a busy background/surroundings, crop in tight
around your main point of focus, eliminating the
background so all attention falls on your main
subject. This works particularly well with portraits
when you’re trying to capture something more
intimate and focused or are shooting in a busy
location where
what’s around
them
would
just cause a
distraction.
Filling the frame
could
involve
you capturing
them from the
waist up or for
more impact, fill
the frame with
just their face.
Patterns
are
another subject
that
when
capturing, you
should fill the frame with, aligning it up carefully
to ensure it’s straight.
2. Straighten Your Verticals and Horizontals
This seemingly insignificant thing takes so little
effort to accomplish, but unless you do it, that
image you worked so hard to shoot and edit will
wind up looking like a amateur snapshot.
3. Understand The Rule Of Thirds
The most basic of
all
photography
rules is all about
dividing your shot
into nine equal
sections by a set
of vertical and
horizontal
lines.
With the imaginary
frame in place, you
should place the
most
important
element(s) in your
shot on one of
the lines or where
the lines meet. It’s
a technique that
works
well
for
20
NM CliQ Magazine | October 2015
landscapes as you can position the horizon on
one of the horizontal lines that sit in the lower
and upper part of the photograph while you’re
vertical subjects (trees etc.) can be placed on
one of the two vertical lines.
4. Don’t Cut Off Limbs
Keep an eye on the edges of your frame to make
sure the person/animal you’re photographing
hasn’t had any of their body parts chopped off
by it. Cutting off your cat’s tail, your dog’s ears or
even part of your model’s head, will not only spoil
your shot, the unintentional limb chopping can
pull attention away from what the viewer should
really be looking at.
5. Use Frames
Frames have various
uses when it comes to
composition. They can
isolate your subject,
drawing
the
eye
directly to it, they can
hide unwanted items
behind it, give an image
depth and help create
context. Your frame can
be man-made (bridges,
arches and fences),
natural (tree branches,
tree trunks) or even
human (arms clasped
around a face).
6. Make The Most Of Lead In Lines / Shapes
Our eyes are unconsciously drawn along lines in
images so by thinking about how, where and why
you place lines in your images will change the
way your audience views it. A road, for example,
starting at one end of the shot and winding its