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Photography Composition 101, part 1

Εικόνα συγγραφέα: George TatakisGeorge Tatakis

Photo composition is an essential element of any photographic image. A photograph has only two essential elements, subject, and composition (not camera settings). By composition, we refer to the way we place all the elements of the photograph inside the four sides of our frame. By subject, we mean the actual matter and emotions that are portrayed in the image. Both of these elements are important and a strong photograph must both have an interesting subject and a good composition. At times one of these elements might outweigh the other, which is also acceptable, but an image is not complete if it is completely stripped of either of these two elements. This is a definitive guide and introduction to photography composition facts.

The examples below are from my photography work. You can click on any photograph to learn more or purchase a print. I am using a Leica camera for all my photography. This information is included in my book “Throw Away Your Camera and Become a Photographer”, found on Amazon.

Directional lines in photography composition. Black and white photography by George Tatakis
Learning composition

In this article, we are discussing composition in photography.

But why is photography composition so important to an image?

First of all, the composition is the language of photography. As with all the Arts, photography is a means to communicate. As such, photography can be seen as a language. Thus, to communicate, we need to speak this language. A photograph therefore can only be partially criticized subjectively. We first need to understand its language and then say what we intend to communicate. If we can't speak the language, we cannot say anything with our photography, be that a portrait or a landscape. Although we should not strive to compose just for the sake of composition, and here is where the subject plays a significant role, we should first master the compositional guidelines and start from that.

Composition helps direct the eyes of the viewer. Experienced photographers are aware of most of these rules. With composition, you can define what is the important subject in your image, what is less important, and what is not important at all. You can help guide your viewer's eyes across the image and read its story, by creating a visual hierarchy and defining the order in which they navigate through the different elements.

Men inside a café in Olympos, on the island of Karpathos, Greece. Black and white photograph by George Tatakis.
Utilizing compositional guidelines in photography

Good composition is pleasing to the eyes. Most of the guidelines follow patterns seen in nature, such as the Fibonacci spirals and they intrinsically look beautiful. With composition, we are trying to create beauty, an element attractive to all human beings. Even images that look rough in the first reading, conceal an element of beauty that can be read by understanding these guidelines.

Composition finally gives us an anchor reference. These keep the viewer's eyes from drifting away from the image. Composition can grab the viewer's attention and guide it through the image. The goal is to keep the viewer busy for as long as possible, exploring our image.

Guidelines vs. Rules

Some people take these compositional guidelines as unbreakable rules. That is not the case. There are no rules per se in any form of art. The following list is a list of guidelines that one should be aware of and have in mind before starting his path in photography. They are there because, throughout the centuries of visual Arts, artists observed that they work as visual aids to guide the viewer's eyes across the image while looking beautiful at the same time. All of these can be bent or broken, but you must know what it is you are breaking before you do it.

Light

I will start by talking a little bit about light, which is the only subject in a photographic image. Photography comes from the Greek words Phos (light) and Graphe (writing), so photography essentially is the writing with light. Whatever we do, we need to consider the lighting configuration of the image. Photographically speaking, there are never any actual subjects in front of us. The world is obscure, and only light makes us able to see it. We should therefore treat our composition as a set of objects (forms) that block the light in different ways. We must master seeing the world as light, shadows, reflections, diffusions, and deflections. We might find a scene interesting in front of us, but no matter what that scene is, there is no photographic interest in it, if it appears within a poor lighting configuration.

Composition in photography. A woman wearing a local folklore dress in Evros, Thrace Greece. Black and white photography by George Tatakis
No scene is worth photographing if in the wrong lighting configuration

The Rules of Composition

Let us dive into the photography composition rules, aka guidelines. This is by no means a complete list, but it is a quite rich one that will help you understand the visual language. These principles of composition apply to all genres, including landscape photography. Welcome to your visual education. Whether you are an urban photographer, or interested in portraits, digital photography, or just textures, this guide is for you.

Open vs. Closed image

One of the essential photography composition techniques is to understand that photos can be categorized as either 'open' or 'closed'. By 'closed', we refer to a photograph that clearly states its purpose. An example would be a product photograph in front of a white background. These are photos that cannot be subject to interpretation and their purpose is clearly stated, so all viewers can draw similar conclusions. When we talk about photography as art, we usually do not take these kinds of images into account. 'Open' images, on the other hand, are the ones that will be our interest in this article. By 'open' we refer to compositions that are open to interpretation. The same image can be interpreted differently by each viewer. Each one can create a different story behind it. These are images that can usually grab the viewer's attention for longer. This is also the reason why in such photographs we avoid explanatory captions, to give the viewer the chance to interpret it individually, thus letting him mentally interact with it.

Composition in photography. Portrait of Kotsamanos in Kozani, Greece. Black and white photography by George Tatakis.
Open images suggest more questions than provide answers

Composition Techniques

Consider the 4 sides of the frame

This is what defines composition in your photograph. Each photograph, no matter its proportions, has some finite boundaries. These are its four sides. One of the elemental photography composition techniques is to be aware of these boundaries and be able to decide upon their contents. What resides close to those borders is equally important to the other elements in the rest of the image. It is a novice's practice to look in the centre of their viewfinder and pay little attention to the four corners. This is something you have to train your brain about doing and requires some effort at the beginning, before be