In every photo you snap, you consciously or unconsciously choose what you want in and what you want out. This is composition. Taking a little extra time and thought when framing a photo can distinguish an amazing photograph from a good one. Everything within the frame plays a part in the overall composition of your photo. In other words, the background and what you do with it is as important as your main subject(s). Survey your environment to see what can compliment your main subject or what can become a distraction. No expert can tell you how you should frame your photo exactly. Each scenario is different. This lesson supplies you with tips every professional photographer keeps in his or her utility belt at all times. Taking these tips into account when taking photographs will help you build a style that suits your vision.

Tip #1 – Your Subject:

All composition fundamentals surround your chosen subject. A subject can be anything you want it to be, or more than one thing. A person, an animal, a mountain, a tree, a tire, a doorway… the choices are endless. The goal is to have your subject chosen before even thinking about framing your picture as it’s clearly the most important aspect of your photograph.

Once you’ve chosen your subject, you can apply the next set of tips.

Tip #2 – The Rule of Thirds:

The rule of thirds is one of the most popular principles in photography. It’s also popular in other mediums such as film, painting, and design. This technique is most commonly used by landscape photographers though the theory works in pretty much any situation.

The rule states that any image can be broken up into thirds both vertical and horizontal (9 parts). Rather than placing your subject in the center you place them at any or more than one of the intersecting lines, or the points of interest (seen in red).

(The baby, the subject of the photograph, is at two of the four intersecting lines.)

Research study shows that the natural eye does not automatically go for the center of the photo but the points of interest. Also, centering your subject can become a little boring.

Tip #3 – Avoiding the ‘Eye-line’:

I find one of the magical characteristics of photography is viewing a photo that illuminates an almost surreal feel to it. Even an everyday image, one that you may walk by everyday to work, can have a surreal twist to it in a photograph. Achieving this can be simpler than you think:

The eye-line is commonly perceived as the first person perspective, or viewing the image from the persons eye line. The reason you want to avoid this because everyone’s day to day view is from the eye line. By avoiding the eye line to begin to venture into that surreal area.

Shooting photos from different angles can be very resourceful. A photo shooting on a downward angle can look far different then shooting from an upwards angle. There is no reason you have to always shoot straight on. You can angle your subject or angle your camera. Or both. Don’t feel like you can’t move around. I find myself down on one knee all the time getting a great angle. Shooting a variety of angles gets yourself out of the common straight-on shooting. Be adventurous!

Tip #4 – Shooting Horizontally and Vertically:

As almost anyone has once or twice experimented with, along with horizontal photography you may also turn your camera sideways and shoot vertically. This is great for framing buildings, waterfalls, and people. Although there is no specific way to shoot any one subject. Taking into account what you want to get out of the shot can help you choose which angle to shoot.

For example, if you want an in-tight shot of your subject and don’t want the background to be taken into account, a vertical shot is a great way to get the most out of your subject and the least out of the background.

Try experimenting by shooting the same picture both horizontal and vertically. You might be set on shooting the image horizontally and end up being surprised how great the photo looks vertically. The more you experiment, the more your style will surface.

Tip #5 – The Background & Merging:

When composing your shot you have to always take into consideration the background. It’s not going anywhere, it will always be there. Depending how you frame it with your subject, it can either distract from your main subject or help apply the focus.

If you consider the example of photographing a person in a busy park. The background could be extremely distracting. Children are playing, cars are parked, sports are underway. You may not want any of this in the background. Try angling your camera so that the only background is the grass. Or angle upwards and get the sky in the background.

Also, using Depth of Field to blur the background is a great way to erase the background.

Tip #6 – Take a lot of photos:

Tip # 7 – Depth of Field

When you think about framing you also need to think about using your Depth of Field to your advantage. It can give you control over what otherwise could be a busy photo.

Deciding what to keep in focus and what to blur our will drive the viewer to focus on exactly what you want. Blurring out an object that is still important to the scene can create a cool “background effect”. Also try placing something in the foreground that is out of focus.

Tip #8 – Be Creative:

Homework: ‘Compose your Visual Symphony’

In this assignment I want you to compose an of-beat scene. When it comes to a subject, I want you to pick the most uncommon thing to shoot. For example, if you pick a person, don’t photography their face but their hand, or elbow. Create a scene from that. Add props, a background, as much visual stimulation as possible. There are no limitations on this assignment just compose a really off-beat photo using the tips above.

To post your image(s) in the comments below, simply upload your image to Flickr or any related image hosting site. Copy the link location into the comment field and encase it in !.

!http://image.location.com/image.jpg!