Composition by Dorene Hookey

Composition by Dorene Hookey

Who doesn’t love taking photographs in a stunning location in the beautiful light of golden hour? If you are like me, that doesn’t happen very often and if it does, my boys usually set limits on how many pictures they are willing to cooperate for. I often find myself capturing my children in not so pretty light and in not so perfect locations. That’s just what happens when you are documenting the everyday moments. This is where composition becomes so important. It can help you create great images when conditions are less than ideal and help you get the most fantastic shots when you are lucky enough to get oh so perfect lighting and backgrounds.

Composition in photography is the art of arranging or using the elements in a scene to guide the viewer’s eye towards the main subject.

There are many composition guidelines or “rules” which can be used to help you take photographs that are more visually appealing. These are the ones I tend to rely on the most:

1. Rule of Thirds: Positioning your subject away from the center of the frame at the 1/3 or 2/3 areas in the frame (horizontally or vertically).

This doesn’t work for every image though. Sometimes centering the subject works better depending on what might be framing it or the symmetry of the scene..

2. Leading Lines: Use lines to guide the eyes towards the subject. They can be natural lines found in clouds or trees or man made ones such as railings, fences, roads and walls.

3. Negative Space: leaving empty space around the subject helps draw the eye

directly to it.

4. Fill the Frame: Getting in close to your subject can help eliminate background clutter or distractions and give a more interesting take on things.

5. Framing: Use surrounding objects to frame your subject. Things like windows, archways, tunnels or branches make great frames for your subjects.

6. Symmetry and Patterns: Look for patterns and symmetry that are eye catching, especially when broken up by your subject.

7. Viewpoint: Try to avoid only shooting from eye level. Instead, get high or low and try photographing your scene from different angles and viewpoints. I can often be found laying on the ground or standing on a chair to get the angle I’m looking for.

Often your images can have many different compositional elements working together. Here are a few of my images that contain several elements to illustrate this point. You may notice that most of these images are taken in pretty average locations with less than ideal lighting but the compositional elements they contain help give them interest.

This image is using the rule of thirds, negative space and leading lines (in the clouds and rocks).

In this image the pattern of the lines in the tunnel is broken by my son walking into the frame. It uses the rule of thirds for his placement as well as negative space in front of him.

In this image I used the bars of the playground equipment to frame my son and there are also leading lines and the rule of thirds at work.

Here I placed my son in the bottom third of the image and used the cars to frame him. The cars also provide symmetry, patterns and leading lines. I shot this from pretty far above him to add an interesting viewpoint.

Try searching for these elements in your own images and when you take your camera out, look for specific things such as lines, symmetry and patterns to help you compose the image or shoot with a specific element like negative space in mind. The more you use them, the more you will see them everywhere!