COMPOSITION

Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is likeconsulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk.”

--Edward Weston

I just walk around, observing the subject from various angles until thepicture elements arrange themselves into a composition that pleases myeye. -Andre Kertesz, Margaret R. Weiss, Saturday Review – World, January

1974

There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there werewe would be able to put all the information into a computer and wouldcome out with a masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have tocompose by the seat of your pants. -Arnold Newman, "Interviews With

Master Photographers :

COMPOSITION

Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting thelaws of gravity before going for a walk.”

--Edward Weston

I just walk around, observing the subject from various angles until the pictureelements arrange themselves into a composition that pleases my eye. -Andre Kertesz,

Margaret R. Weiss, Saturday Review – World, January 1974

There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would beable to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a

masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have to compose by the seat of yourpants. -Arnold Newman, "Interviews With Master Photographers :

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you

create more purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Center or Point of Interest

Center or Point of Interest

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

“Putting four edges around a collection of information or factstransforms it. A photograph is not what was photographed, it’s

something else…a new world is created” Gary Winogrand

Elliot Erwitt

Lee Friedlander

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Avoid mergers

• Photographs collapse 3d space into 2d space• Photographs create compositional relationships

we might not recognize while in the act ofphotographing

• Mergers-awkward combinations oflines/shapes/subjects as a result of collapsing 3dspace to a 2d image

• Strategies to avoid mergers:– Photographer moves– Subject moves– Background moves

Examples of Mergers

Examples of Mergers

Playing with Mergers

Elliot Erwitt

Playing with Mergers

Playing with Mergers

"Probably one of the worst things that happened to photography is that cameras have viewfinders."- John Baldessari

Mergers: things to watch for• Background objects can merge with the

primary foreground subject. (For example, apower pole can "grow" out of your uncle'shead.)

• Strong colors or similar colors of objectsbehind or near the main subject can mergewith the subject. A white hat might mergewith a light background and all butdisappear.

• Remember, mergers are often removed bysimply moving the camera or subject

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Balance

• Symmetrical balance– Two matching subjects in size or shape– Symmetrical balance distributes visual

elements evenly in an image.• Asymmetrical balance

– A heavier presence balanced against a lighterpresence

Symmetrical Balance

Diane Arbus

Roy DeCarava

Asymmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical Balance

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Keep it simple: an empty frame

Keep it simple: an empty frame (inthis case ‘empty’ is complicated)

Keep it simple: an empty frame

Keep it simple: an empty frame

Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

Keep it Simple - Shallow Depth of Field

Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

Elliot Erwitt, NYC 1950

Elliot Erwitt, Ernst Hass 1955

Matthew Tischler

DEEP DEPTH OF FIELD - Walker Evans

Martin Parr

Martin Parr

Martin Parr

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Frame within a frame

Frame within a frame

Robert Frank, Butte, Montana

Robert Frank, New Orleans, 1955

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

SUBJECT PLACEMENT

Rule of Thirds

Use the rule of thirds to help with

Horizon line placement

Strong lines placement

Single subject placement

Main subject/secondary subject placement

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

The Golden Ratio / Fibonocci Spiral

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Use Strong Lines

“This recognition, in real life, of a rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values is for me theessence of photography; composition should be a constant of preoccupation, being asimultaneous coalition – an organic coordination of visual elements. “- Henri Cartier-Bresson

Use strong lines

Use strong lines

Use strong lines

Use strong lines

Always beconscious of wherelines are enteringyour frame: fromwhich side? Fromwhich corner?Which of theseimages is mostsuccessful?

Strong Lines / Patterns (repeated)

Strong Lines / Patterns (repeated)

Patterns and Repetition

Use strong lines

Use strong lines

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

LIGHT AND SHADOW

LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham

LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham

LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham

LIGHT AND SHADOW

SHAPES

Texture

Texture

Texture -- Aaron Siskind

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Use the edge of the frame

Use the edge of the frame

Use the edge of the frame

Use the edge of the frame

Compositional Guidelines• These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more

purposeful compositions.– Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement– Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph– Avoid mergers– Balance

• Symmetrical-even• Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background

– Keep it simple• Empty frame• Shallow depth of field

– Use a frame within a frame– Rule of thirds– Use strong lines– Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture– Frame tension– Vantage point

• Birds eye• Worms eye

Vantage point: your angle of view

Vantage point: your angle of view

Vantage point: birds eye

Vantage point: birds eye

“In order to accustom people to seeing from new viewpoints it is essential to takephotographs of everyday, familiar subjects from completely unexpected vantagepoints and in completely unexpected positions….one should shoot the subject fromseveral positions, as if encompassing it--not peer through one keyhole”- Rodchenko

Vantage point: close up/abstraction

Vantage point: close up/abstraction

Vantage point: close up/abstraction

Vantage point: worms eye

Vantage point: worms eye

And one last thing…Consider placing a moving subject so

they move into the image

Experimentationis key, trydifferent

approachesconstantly

Andy Goldsworthy

Experimentation is key, trydifferent approaches constantly

Experimentation is key, trydifferent approaches constantly

Todd Hido Roaming

Martin Parr from Bad Weather

Martin Parr from Bad Weather

Walead Beshty

James Welling from Torsos

Strategies: Composition and ShootingHow do I balance these ideas?

• Shooting with a preplanned idea when photographingThings you may be able to plan ahead:– location– Props– time of day– vantage point– artificial lighting– Make a list of things to shoot

• Improvising in a rapid situation– Keeping subject at center of frame– Moving frame around with subject somewhere in picture

• Editing a group of images down to ones that have compositional strength– Shoot in quantity, edit for quality– Constant experimentation to ensure a variety of images, more chances for success

Make a list….

What composition elements are these photographers using?

Elliot Erwitt

Roy DeCarava

Robert Frank

William Eggleston

Candida Höfer

Roy DeCarava

Elliot Erwitt

Andreas Gursky

Lee Friedlander

Elliot Erwitt

Lee Friedlander

Elliot Erwitt