Building a Composition Without Using Common Composition Rules

One of the most difficult things to accomplish is achieving a great composition. There are many rules and guidelines—enough to make your head spin. Perhaps there’s a better way to create an attractive composition, and that’s by ignoring the rules at first and concentrating on what you want to show.

Back in 2023, I wrote a book about composition in landscapes. It addresses the most common rules and guidelines, and ways to incorporate them into your photography. The more I explain the use of composition rules and guidelines during my courses and masterclasses, the more I realize that there are only a few key steps to take into account for achieving better compositions.

In case you're interested, the book, Compositie in Landschapsfotografie is only available in the Netherlands and Belgium, since it's written in the Dutch language.

A good composition is not about rules and guidelines. It’s not about using or breaking the dreaded Rule of Thirds or fixating on one of the iterations of the Golden Ratio. It’s basically much simpler than that. It’s about understanding what you want to express with your photo and showing that in the final result.

Creating a composition is much more than following a single rule. It’s about the feelings a photograph will trigger. It has to be eye-pleasing, unsettling, or invoke some other emotion when viewed. But most of all, it needs a focal point. There has to be a subject.

The Subject

Imagine a photo or painting with many elements that all have a similar appearance. Nothing stands out; it’s just a collection of elements without a visible connection at first glance. Each of these elements can be interesting on their own, but because there are so many in that particular photo or painting, none get a chance to shine.

This resembles a classic first-time landscape photo, shot with a wide-angle lens without much attention to composition. There’s as much as possible in the frame—an attempt to capture everything in one shot.

The reason why the photo isn’t great is the lack of a clear subject. Take one of those potentially interesting elements and make it a subject that stands out. All of a sudden, there is a point of attention—something that catches your eye and interest.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a landscape, a model shoot, or something entirely different. A photo needs a subject that stands out—something that attracts attention. Once you’ve done that, your first step in achieving a good composition is accomplished.

There can only be one subject. If there’s more than one potential subject, you might want to group multiple elements into one subject consisting of several elements. In that case, you’re making use of the Law of Common Fate, one of the principles of Gestalt theory.

If that’s not possible and you still want to capture all the potential subjects, just take more than one photo. Don’t try to capture everything in a single frame.

The Placement of the Subject

Having a subject is the foundation of a good composition. Now, it’s important to place the subject in the best possible position within the frame. This is where, for many photographers, the well-known composition rules or guidelines, like the Golden Ratio or the Rule of Thirds, come into play.

But instead of focusing solely on these common rules, try to base the placement of the subject on the story you want to tell. Is the subject the most important element, or do the surroundings play a part in the story?

Thinking about it this way will guide you. If the subject needs to stand out, try placing it right in the center of the frame. A symmetrical or central composition might be the best choice.

Are the surroundings also important and part of the story you’re telling with the photo? In that case, you need to find a position that is visually pleasing while ensuring the surroundings have enough space in the frame to support the subject. It’s essential to establish a link between the subject and its surroundings. This can be achieved using lines.

Lines Connect Subject and Surroundings

There must be a connection between the subject and its surroundings to unify the photo. Without that connection, the image may seem divided into multiple parts with no relation to each other.

Lines are the most obvious elements in a composition for achieving this. Lines can be virtual, meaning they appear through a visual flow or the alignment of separate elements in the frame. Or, lines can be real, such as a road, path, river, or even something as simple as a fence.

As long as it’s something that leads from the surroundings toward the subject, your eye will follow that line and arrive at the most important element in the frame—the subject you chose for that particular photo.

Although the objects that form lines in a photo are often physical elements in the background that are fixed, you can change the direction of these lines to some extent. To do this, you need to view the photo as it is—a two-dimensional plane without any depth. It can only show the illusion of depth.

For instance, something that forms a diagonal in a photo, leading toward the subject, can be altered. You just have to move yourself from left to right or right to left, which will change the angle of the diagonal. It can even become a horizontal or vertical line, or be flipped entirely if you’re able to stand on the other side of the element forming the line. Let me show you how this works in the following five examples.

The height from which you photograph can also make a difference. Going low can turn a diagonal into a more horizontal line or transform an S-curve into several horizontal lines, for example.

Don’t Focus Too Much on Composition Rules

Having rules or guidelines for composition is helpful, but following them won’t necessarily result in great compositions. That’s because these are only part of the equation. There’s more to it than just a rule.

I’ve found that it’s much easier to understand the essence of achieving a good composition by focusing on finding a clear subject and telling a story about it. The funny thing is, even without focusing on well-known composition rules, building the composition step by step in the way I described always results in a composition that fits some sort of rule.

Even a subject placed in a symmetrical or central position isn’t breaking any rules. Just look at many famous paintings, which often have a symmetrical or central composition. But they always adhere to something like the Golden Ratio or Fibonacci Spiral.

How do you create compositions in your photography? Please share your approach in the comments below so we can learn from your view and experience. After all, there isn’t just one correct method—there are many.