![]() The dock cleat in this scene was only a few meters in front of me when I took this shot. I think it adds a real sense of depth to the composition. The dock cleats along the quay provided the foreground interest in this shot. ![]() I took this photograph in the Dublin Docklands. In this photograph of a waterfall in The Netherlands, the rocks in the river provided a perfect source of foreground interest.Īdding foreground interest works particularly well with wide-angle lenses. Including foreground interest in the frame is one of a number of techniques to give the scene a more 3D feel. Including some foreground interest in a scene is a great way of adding a sense of depth to the scene. Early morning and evening times often present good opportunities for reflections like this as the air cools and the wind drops. Reflections can create the perfect opportunity to capture some horizontal symmetry. Symmetry doesn’t always have to be vertical in nature. I had very little time for photography though as I was just so busy drinking beer discussing eighteenth-century French poetry and the merits of enlightened absolutism in Prussia with my fellow scholars. I actually studied French and history at this university over twenty years ago. A square is completely symmetrical after all. Square cropped frames can be a suitable option for centered compositions. You can often combine several composition guidelines in a single photograph. The tree is positioned off-center to the right of the frame but the perfectly still water of the lake provides the symmetry. In this photo, I’ve actually used a mix of the rule of thirds and symmetry to compose the scene. Scenes containing reflections are also a great opportunity to use symmetry in your composition. Architecture and roads often make great subjects for centered compositions. This photo of the Ha’penny Bridge in my home city of Dublin was the perfect candidate for a centered composition. They look really well in square frames too. Symmetrical scenes are perfect for a centered composition. Now that I’ve told you not to place the main subject in the center of the frame, I’m going to tell you to do the exact opposite! There are times when placing a subject in the center of the frame works really well. Having the rule of thirds grid activated in live view on my camera really helped me with composition when I took this photograph. The cobbled street roughly occupies the bottom third of the frame the building ground floors frontages occupy the middle third and the upper floors of the buildings occupy the top third. In this street photograph taken in my home city of Dublin, I’ve placed the woman in red walking along the street on the point where two of the grid lines intersect. The spires of the church are placed near the horizontal line to the right of the frame. Most of the buildings sit in the middle third and the square itself occupies the bottom third of the frame. ![]() In this photo of the Old Town Square in Prague, I’ve placed the horizon along the top third of the frame. The photo wouldn’t have the same impact if the larger trees had been placed in the center of the frame. ![]() In this photo, I’ve placed the horizon roughly along the bottom third of the frame and the biggest and closest trees along the line to the right. Placing it off-center using the rule of thirds will more often than not lead to a more attractive composition. We have a natural tendency to want to place the main subject in the middle. The idea is to place the important element(s) of the scene along one or more of the lines or where the lines intersect. Check your camera’s manual to see how to turn on this feature. Many camera manufacturers have actually included the capability to display this grid in live view mode. You divide the frame into 9 equal rectangles, 3 across and 3 down as illustrated below. In my defense, I didn’t come up with the name. So I’ve just told you that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to composition and then the first thing I write about is the ‘rule’ of thirds. We’ll start with probably the most well-known composition technique: The Rule of Thirds.
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