Designs and Composition in Photography

Last time I talked about the types of shot in photography (if you haven't read that yet, please see it first - http://chamedits-chamaltatis.blogspot.com/2011/06/types-of-shot-in-photography.html), and now I wanted to continue by discussing the designs and compositions in photography.

Before going further it's better first to take a look at the parts of a photograph. These are the:
1. Foreground - any element in front of the subject.
2. Subject - the main element shown in a photograph.
3. Background -any element at the back of the subject.

Parts of a photograph

Of course it does not necessarily mean that every photograph must have these three parts (but subject must always be there). Some photos have subject and background only without a foreground. Some macro shots (extreme close up shots) has even no foreground and background because the subject itself fills the whole frame.

macro photos does not have foreground and background

Having those parts of a photograph in mind we can now think of good compositions. However, unlike other kinds of art like drawing, we cannot control the scene that we can capture in our photograph. Though there are photographers who let the subject act and arrange the whole environment, this is not the case in general. In most cases, we only capture what is already there. So we might ask, "How then can we make compositions and designs in photography if we only capture what is already there?" Well, that's exactly what we are going to learn here. And the challenge in filling your camera's frame with subject, foreground and background, is different from that of painting or drawing a canvass in a piece of paper. Of course you cannot control those elements but there is something you can do as a photographer like placing yourself in a right angle, zooming only to the particular part of a scene, and others (well talk about them in detail as we go). As an old photography book says, "See how the camera sees." In making a composition, we must bear in mind that the subject is the main thing that we wanted to show. Therefore, the foreground and background must not be more "attention-getting" compared to the subject.

Okay, I don't want to hold you any longer so let's just jump in and talk about those designs and compositions I'm talking about. They are as follows:

1. Lines and patterns
- you might be walking in the street and as you can see, trees are lined in a horizon in the side in the same pattern. Those trees are good subjects to show the beauty of lines. Other good examples are electric posts, window bars, pile of sacks, etc. We can also see rhythmic patterns of objects in a certain scene. I usually capture objects in a rhythmic pattern from the grocery stores and markets. For me, this is a good place to capture patterns because many similar objects for sale are placed together.

2. Framing
-this technique is the use of foreground (or even background) elements to frame the subject.

In framing, you don't have to use straight objects to create a frame. Like here, I used the plant to frame the subject

3. Textures
-examples are rough surfaces of structures such as monument, building posts, etc.

4. Simplicity
-as I said earlier, we must see to it that the subject must be the main thing to be seen in a photograph. If we place foregrounds and backgrounds or so many elements, the one who is looking at your photo might not know what you really wanted to show. Well, just make it simple. That's it! Instead of photographing many elements, why not focus on a single subject with a plain background? In placing foregrounds and backgrounds, be sure that they are just supporting details (like supporting actor/actress in a movie) in a photograph and they must not distract the attention of the subject (or your main character).

5. Rule of thirds
-this rule might be the most crucial among others so I placed it at the last part because I wanted to discuss more about it.
-Rule of thirds is a rule that is being followed not just in photography but also in painting, landscape, and other artworks (even in song writing). "The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections" (Wikipedia). 
-In application, artists give 1/3 or 2/3 of an element in a certain scene. In landscape for example, the space for a swimming pool of a mansion house is 1/3 of the whole area. If we also see the paintings of a certain scene, the sun is not placed in the middle, rather, it is in the 1/3 on the whole painting. In song writing, most songs are composed of three stanzas with one chorus. This chorus is placed after the first stanza or basically the 1/3 part of a song. If my explanation is still not enough, you can of course do more googling to be more enlightened.

in rule of thirds, divide the whole frame into 9 and place your subject in those intersections of the imaginary lines

This is a photo of a flower that I placed in the rule of thirds area with those guidelines

The photo without the guidelines

Here are some particular examples under this rule however, to show more what I mean:
a. Symmetry vs. Asymmetry
-Oops! For those who hates math, don't worry, we'll not talk about complicated geometry here. This comparison is just referring to balanced versus imbalanced scene. There is no such thing as better thing to do here. It just depends on what you wanted to emphasize. If you wanted to show perfect balance, use symmetry to capture the scene with the same things in both left and right side. The downside here however is that it makes your subject look flat or 2-dimensional. If you wanted to make your subject look more 3-dimensional, it is better to make it asymmetrical or imbalanced using the rule of thirds. In shooting a building for example, don't place yourself in a perfect front of that building. Go to either the right or left side of the building to show the "3D-ness" of it.

symmetry shows balance

A building photographed in front looks flat

Photographing buildings from the side makes it more dynamic and interesting

b. 1/3 sky; 2/3 earth or 2/3 sky; 1/3 earth
-In photographing landscapes with mountain ranges and sky as a background, it is better to divide or place the horizon in the 1/3 or 2/3 of a scene. Dividing the scene perfectly does not look more dynamic (it may look boring actually). We must then place either the sky or the earth a bigger (2/3) part in photograph.

1/3 sky; 2/3 earth

1/3 earth; 2/3 sky

c. Line of sight or line of action
-This works in capturing side-views of a subject. Here, the place where the eye is looking (for example) must have a wider space than the back of a subject. If your subject is a person running, the area he or she is facing must have more space than the area he or she is leaving.

Line of action

Line of sight

That's it for now guys. It's good to start with the basics. As beginners, I suggest that we must first apply this rules. But after a while of doing such, we must not also be bound by these rules. Try breaking the rules at times to get something "out of the box".

Just keep on following this blog. I'll be showing some more advanced and tricky compositions soon. See you around!