Composition is a key aspect of any photo, shaping how a viewer experiences the scene. Here are five tricks to improve your photos.
Coming to you from Ian Worth, this insightful video explores five compositional tricks that can help improve your landscape photography. Worth emphasizes the importance of working the scene, explaining how you should take your time and explore various angles and perspectives. This idea is simple, yet effective—don’t settle on the first shot. Instead, approach the scene with curiosity, testing different compositions until you’ve fully explored its possibilities. Worth also touches on the importance of light, showing how even small shifts in lighting can dramatically change the mood and feel of an image.
Worth’s approach to composition is grounded in experimentation. He encourages you to step outside your comfort zone and try new things—whether it’s shooting different subjects or changing your technique. Trying new things doesn’t always work, but it’s through experimentation that you can find new approaches that may suit your style better than you expected. Worth’s nod to influential photographers like William Egleston and Steven Shaw shows that learning from others can help spark new ideas and expand your creative horizons.
In another point, Worth highlights the significance of incorporating a story into your composition. He acknowledges that finding a narrative in landscape photography can be challenging, but it’s worth the effort. A photo that raises questions and has layers of meaning can hold a viewer’s attention longer than a visually appealing but shallow image. Worth shares an example from one of his own shoots, where he noticed details in the scene, such as branches trimmed to open space. The image left him with more questions than answers, a quality he finds compelling and worth aiming for in future work.
Spontaneity also plays a role in Worth’s compositional philosophy. Whether capturing fleeting moments like the movement of waves or the unexpected lighting in a landscape, Worth demonstrates that reacting quickly to the environment can result in dynamic and unique images. He relates this idea to the work of Egleston, whose spontaneous style often leads to intriguing compositions, even when they appear unplanned. This spontaneity brings a sense of immediacy to photography, making the images feel fresh and alive. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Worth.
And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out our latest tutorial, "Photographing the World: Japan II - Discovering Hidden Gems with Elia Locardi!”
