Composition

Before you begin to arrange things in your photo, first decide what it is that attracts your attention to a particular sceene. What do you want

to be the center of intrest?

2 parts of a photo:

1. Subject - the reason we take the photo (things, emotion, message, story, place).

2. Treatment - how the subject is arranged within the frame as well as the technical side of things.

The Rule of Thirds:

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows.

The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines, your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing imagespeople’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot - using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it. http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/rule-of-thirds/

Leading Lines: used to lure the eye deeper into a picture or to an important subject. Can be straight, curved, parallel, or diagonal.

S-curve: use shapes as a more relaxed casual way to lead your eye through the composition. A road, a stream, or even the shape of the ground or grasses in front of you can do this very well.

Depth of field: the trick here is to include something very close (foreground) something in the middle, and something far away (background) Focus on just one of the 3 or only two of the 3 but not all 3 depths. (Or you can adjust your aperture if your camera allows for this.)

Framing: Use foreground elements to frame your subject. Architectural objects work well (windows, doorways, arches...), just don’t be limited to these structures.  Many things can be used to frame your subject. Just don’t forget the subject. The frame should not be in competition with your subject or overshadow it in any way.

Simplicity: Don’t forget to keep your photos clear of clutter (watch backgrounds). Don’t try to include too much in your composition. Take several shots to capture everything.

Make sure you keep your horizons horizontal; slightly tilted horizons can ruin a nice photo.

One of the most powerful compositional priciples: simply moving closer!

"You have the option to simply accept the world as you first see it OR you can move around and experiment with a variety of views." - anonymous