When I was a kid, my family would travel to Yosemite National Park to take photography workshops from Ansel Adams. So a lot of conversation around the dinner table had to do with photography and composition and how
Ansel would look at it. That was great training for me, because these days as a photographer, I am constantly plagued by compositions everywhere I look. It's as if I am holding up a camera to my eye as I walk through my world.
I always have to remember that when teaching one of my photography workshops with Jansen Photo Expeditions. I always assume my students will see the compositions that I do, but they don't. The whole point of a photographic workshop is to be consumed with photography for the time that you are with us, and be looking for compositions, keeping in mind the best creative exposure. But most of my students can't see it, and wait for me to point out the best shot. I'm happy about that actually, otherwise they wouldn't be taking my workshop, right? It's my job to show them the way.
So, I always start at square one to teach basic composition. These are tools that most artists and photographers use. My favorite is the rule of thirds. There's a couple of ways to look at it. Objects in 3's look better than objects in 2's in a photography.
This rule also applies to composing an image within a frame. The rule of thirds proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. The intersection of these points has the strongest impact on the image.
Here's an example to show you... You see how the Road end in one of the most powerful points in the picture? and the location of the horizon line, again at one of the strongest points.
So now you are ready to practice. Try this with a few of your pictures and you'll see what I mean. It works every time!
Holly Higbee-Jansen has been exploring her fascination with light through photography since she was a young child. Holly teaches landscape photography, is a personal guide for Jansen Photo Expeditions , and runs a successful glamour photography business, Natural Light Photography . Sign up to receive our free newsletter at [email protected] .
