The Ultimate Guide to Composition - Part One: Just Say "No"keh

Note: This is Part One. For Part Two: Beyond the Basics, click here.

Composition – it’s perhaps one of the most important elements of photography. And with today’s technological marvels in lenses, it’s an even easier thing to forget – especially when bokehliciousis is so much more fun to talk about. Your composition is how you see – and that makes it infinitely more important than how out of focus the background is.

Obsession with bokeh is bad for your photography. There. I said it. I know it's not a popular opinion when there are a lot of people out there that drool over this very thing. Bokeh not only lets you obsess about something pretty insignificant, but it oftentimes makes for lazy composition. Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, William Eggleston, Alfred Eisenstaedt. These were not photographers obsessed with the shallowest depths of fields – these were iconic photographers capable of producing iconic photographs built on the foundations of masterful compositions and superb timing. Forget f/1.2. Think about what's around you, and use that to build a better photograph.

Keep in mind that these compositional “rules” are really just “guides” and don’t need to be followed to exacting precision (or sometimes even at all). Not every rule of composition can work well with every scene. Overall, composition helps to bring balance. And remember, as Tony Roslund says, the most important thing is talent. “All the other stuff is great, but it won’t help an otherwise shitty image.”

Center Composition

Let’s begin with the most obvious type of composition – center composition. If one were to hand a camera to an aunt, and ask her to take a picture, she would most likely photograph the subject in the center of the frame. Center composition places the important thing in the middle. When it’s done well, it excels in the use of symmetry. Center composition is like roasting a chicken. It’s easy to do, but it’s hard to do really well.

For truly great examples of center compositions, we refer to Wes Anderson.

Center compositions can be broken down even farther than the overall objects and can use the position of things like facial features to actually indicate the next rule…

Rule of Thirds

Once we learn a thing or two about composition, we start to use this. This is the first of the photographer’s “Golden Rules.” The Rule of Thirds says that an image should be divided into nine equal parts by two evenly spaced vertical and two evenly spaced horizontal lines. Important compositional elements should be along these lines or at intersections. These intersections are called “eyes.” A person’s closest eye to the camera should be placed at one of these intersections.

Using an off-center composition creates more tension and visual interest than a typical center composition would. These compositions can be basic with only one subject….

…or they can be much more complex, using multiple intersections and lines to draw the viewers eyes around the image.

Golden Triangles

This rule works by having strong diagonal lines pass through the image, dividing it into three (or four) triangles. The strongest line (called a major line) divides and dominates the image diagonally. Then, from one corner, an intersecting line connects to the diagonal line perpendicularly (this is called a reciprocal line).

In some cases, a third line extends from the opposite corner creating another reciprocal line.

The resulting triangles all have the same ratios – also know as golden (explained much more in depth below). This works really well on images with perspective or strong architectural elements, but it also works well when wanting the subject to fill the entire frame. Putting elements of composition on a diagonal plane gives them a more dynamic presence.

The Diagonals (Baroque and Sinister Diagonals)

One of the best things a photographer can do is study paintings and art history. Beyond the study of light, color palettes, color theory and the fact that it was the dominant visual medium for tens of thousands of years, studying great painters is the key to expert composition. When everything in a scene must be methodically arranged and obsessed over and placed just so in the frame, we are able to begin to understand why things are placed how they are. One of the more common compositions in art (do in large part to the boom of this style during the Baroque period) is using diagonal lines.

There are two predominant kinds of diagonals – “Baroque” and “Sinister”. Baroque Diagonals are read from left to right and Sinister Diagonals are read from right to left. One can only assume that this is an allusion to the notion that lefties burn in hell. In an amazing read by Adam Marelli, he breaks down the work of Alfred Eisenstaedt by using this “Sinister” composition of ballerinas.

We notice the ballerina on the left (her face is at the eye and the only face visible – therefore she is the subject), looking to the right, drawing our eye in that direction across the image, creating the diagonal, and lining up with other important compositional elements (like the pointed toe). Read a much more comprehensive breakdown of Eisenstaedt’s work on Adam Marelli’s blog.

Golden Ratio / Golden Rectangles / Golden Spiral

Classic thinkers from Plato to Pythagoras to Kepler believed that geometry is a powerful underpinning of the cosmos. Plato supposedly even said, “God geometricizes continually.” Leonardo da Vinci had an obsession with proportions – creating large areas of his work around the exact proportions of the Golden Ratio. So did Salvador Dali. As this particular rule of composition is a little complex, let’s break it down.

-The Golden Ratio describes an aesthetically pleasing proportion where the largest shape is divided by a perfect square, and the resulting rectangle is in exact proportion to the original one – all the way down the drain. This, subsequently, results in a sort of spiral (more on that below).

-The Golden Ratio is best explained using the Fibonacci Sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, …) where each number is the sum of the previous two. The actual formula for the ratio is:

Algebraically, this is shown as:

This results in the number 1.618 (approximately). This is like rounding Pi to 3.14, but this number is called Phi. Using this number helps to illustrate the ratio.

Imagine this rectangle has a width of 1 and length of 1.618. When we divide this up using the Golden Ratio, the result is that every square would have a 1:1 ratio and the leftover rectangle would always be 1:1.618. This method isn’t limited to rectangles and squares though. It also works on circles, triangles, pyramids and various other geometric forms. Theothiuacan (the pyramids of Mexico) as well as the Great Pyramids of Egypt both use the Golden Ratio. Stonehenge, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Temples of Baalbek, the Parthenon, the Great Mosque of Kairouan, Notre Dame and the Mona Lisa, all use the ratio. It’s found in the human body, in seashells, in hurricanes. Obviously, the Golden Ratio is pretty important. That’s because it’s EVERYWHERE.

When we draw a curve along the outer edge of the perfect square’s intersection, we are given the golden spiral. It’s simply an easier way to illustrate the Golden Ratio in a more fluid way.

The second part of the Ultimate Guide to Composition discusses Frame Within a Frame, the Gestalt Principles, Negative Space and more. For Part Two: Beyond the Basics, click here.

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