there are three elements that go into making a great picture good composition
proper exposure and sometimes post-processing the most fundamental one
is composition which is how you position objects and your background in your
field of view it's the most fundamental one because that's the first thing you
do when you take a picture you set the composition by understanding how to
properly compose an image you can immediately improve the quality look and
interest of your picture
regardless of what camera equipment you have and anyone can do it with a little
practice and creativity
so whether you're using a cell phone or a fancy DSLR if you nail your
composition your images will stand out among your family members and friends
every picture should have a focal point or something of interest and
photographers use different elements of composition to direct the viewers eyes
towards that focal point the first compositional elements i'm sure you have
heard of before it's called rule of thirds and that's where we take our
field of view and we divide it into three sections both vertically and
horizontally in rule of thirds we use these lines and intersection points as
guidelines to position our objects traditionally when we take a picture
we place our subject right down the middle but with rule of thirds we can get a
little bit more creative than that if you are shooting a person or a single
object try throwing them off to one side of the frame this especially works
really well if a person is looking off into the distance because it gives them
some space within the frame to look out
whereas if you have them in the center of the frame and they were looking off
in this direction it may feel a little cramped and it doesn't give them much
space to look if you are taking a portrait in landscape orientation try
placing one of their eyes on one of the top intersection points of the grid
doing this will move your subject to one side of the frame and this allows for the
rule of thirds on the other hand if you are taking a portrait in portrait
orientation try lighting their eyes with the top horizontal line of the grid
this will give your subject some Headroom in the picture now let's talk
about landscapes if you are shooting a landscape you will want to align the horizon
of a
landscape with one of the two horizontal lines on the grid to decide which
horizontal line you're going to use you first have to decide if the sky or the
land is more important to you if the sky is more important to you align the
horizon with the bottom horizontal line
doing this will give you more sky in your image but if the land is more
important to you that align the horizon with the top horizontal line of the grid
and this will give you more land and less guy in your image the next
compositional elements i want to talk about our leading lines these lines are
created by natural objects that draw the viewers eyes to the focal point of the
image these lines can be roads streets shorelines AWOL anything can pick up
that has like a straightedge the trick when using leading lines is you will
want to compose your image where you have your subject and you have your line
convergent to your subject the next compositional element is framing again
we will use natural objects but this time we will frame it around our subject
and this will tell the viewer exactly where to look
some natural frames include door frames and windows to frame your model you can
have her stand in the door frame or sit on the window ledge where you can get
really creative and use plants and other things to frame around your subject and
everything you can experiment with our ankles if you shoot your subject from a
high angle it will give your subject a sense of vulnerability and if you shoot
your subject from a low angle it will give your subject is set of power and
strength you can also take your camera and give it a slight twist and this is
called a Dutch angle it's a different picture style but I also gives your
picture kind of cool feel to it
the last major compositional elements i want to touch on is symmetry anything
that is symmetrical has a mirror image many things in our world are symmetrical
such as a group of dancers buildings a curacao a river or a hot air balloon
so if you see something symmetrical is just screaming at you take me
symmetrically
eventually when you get comfortable with these different compositional elements
you can combine a few of these into one picture to make one powerful picture the
best way to learn how to take great photos with great composition is to
start with the camera you have whether it's a cellphone a point-and-shoot or a
DSLR just leave everything in automatic and don't worry about if the exposure is
a little bit off or if your pictures are a little bit noisy right now we're just
building the foundation and later on you can learn about how to take pictures
with the proper exposure and the second best way to learn is to practice make
mistakes and learn from your mistakes
for example a good baseball player doesn't become good at hitting a
baseball just by watching videos he practices he makes mistakes and he had
justice for his mistakes and that's how he becomes a good hitter and that's a
similar mentality you need to pick up in learning composition go out there with
your camera practice make mistakes
take your pictures back to your computer see what works see what didn't and then
correct for those mistakes in your next photo shoot
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video in the next episode i will be talking about the mentality you should
have as a photographer
yeah