Peter Bargh's beginners' guide to composition

From those basic shots of people with heads cut off to more complex attention grabbing arrangements, we could improve our results, with a little thought before the shutter button is pressed.
Words & pictures Peter Bargh ePHOTOzine

The first thing to realise is that your camera's viewfinder may not show you exactly what appears on the film or CCD. This is because there's a certain amount of space around the frame that isn't captured by the lens. In most cases this is useful because processing labs that develop & print your films require a small amount of masking space around the negative to hold it in their machinery. Even so, when you fill the frame with a subject you're often likely to end up with more in the picture than you expected.

Once you become familiar with the camera and your processing lab you can adjust to allow for this by moving a little closer to the subject. Another problem arises when you use a camera with a viewfinder that's separate to the lens that takes the photograph. Compact cameras and digital cameras have these and although the view that you see is similar to the one that is being captured by the film or CCD it's slightly offset and the closer you go to the subject the greater this becomes. This is known as parallax error and can be corrected by tilting the camera up slightly the closer you move to the subject. Many cameras have parallax markings within the viewfinder to help. SLR camera don't suffer from parallax problems because you look through the lens that actually takes the picture so what you see is, more or less, what you capture on film or CCD.

Use the viewfinder
Once we have straightened out the camera's flaws we move into areas that we can control directly. The first is to use the viewfinder more effectively. Get into the habit of looking around the viewfinder when you are about to take a photograph. Look at the subject and then at its surrounds. If you're taking photograph of a person, check to make sure nothing is growing out of their head. Trees, drainpipes and telegraph poles are classic sprouting objects. Also look to make sure there's no clutter in the shot to distract, move around a little to avoid a litter bin in the corner of a street scene or a glaring highlight in a landscape. Consider waiting until a car or person moves out of view to avoid making the photo look dated in the future.

The opposite of this is to purposely include an extra element, or a focal point, into a scene to enhance a photograph. A rock in the foreground will add depth to a landscape. Use an object to frame a photograph. An arch or door way will naturally frame the subject, also a tree branch can be positioned across the top of the frame providing a skyline frame to hold the viewer in the image. Use flowers to lead into a portrait, a window to frame a garden, hole in a fence for a picture of a cat, etc.

A workman always blames his tools
One way you can improve composition is to use a different lens to change the composition, a wide-angle lens will allow more to be included in the frame for creating sweeping vistas and a telephoto narrows down the angle to help you hone in on a subject and remove all the nearby clutter. But you don't have to blame the lens - standard zoom that comes with most cameras is fine for 90% of your needs just use your feet to make the most of what you already own. Move closer, step back, shoot from a higher viewpoint crouch down

Now we go to the classic composition theories, rule of thirds, golden mean etc. Here you place elements of a photograph into naturally pleasing places that balance the overall image. Most of these techniques are easy to follow and although we don't really think about it improve the visual appearance of a photograph subliminally.

Rule of thirds The rule of thirds is a technique where you visualise lines that split the photograph into thirds, horizontally and vertically, creating a nine section grid. You then ensure the main point of focus is positioned on one or more of the four intersecting lines. A landscape for example would have the horizon on either one or two thirds of the way up the photograph, while a tree would be placed on the left or right third. Creating an L shape composition.

Golden mean
The Golden mean is an old principle that was first used by painters and is quite difficult to apply when taking a photo. Painters have the benefit of starting with a blank canvas and penciling in an outlining pattern that they can paint over to ensure elements are in the relevant areas. Look at the diagram below that shows how the Golden Mean is derived. Placing elements within this frame creates an interesting balance in a photograph. It's made up of a series of squares that become increasingly smaller attached by a curve that spirals inwards like a snail's shell. Place the point of focus at the end of the spiral and other elements along the path your eye takes inwards following the spiral.

Other elements Similarly, but far less complicated, imagine an S curve in the photo which would lead your eye through the image. And the triangle where key features appear along the sides and points of the triangle.

And easier still look for elements in your subject that have lines and use these to draw the eye to a particular part of the scene. A fence, low wall or road positioned in the frame so it's moving away from you, can lead you in to the photograph. All these are compositional rules that have been used for years, but you don't have to use them. Sometimes breaking the rules can help you create an image that's far more striking, but it helps if you understand why you're doing this first. Find out how to use Photoshop's Grids to recreate the rule of thirds composition here.