Project Educate: Composition Basics

The action of putting things together; formation or construction.

The term composition simply means 'putting together' and is applied to all forms of art. In this respect, composition is all about the placement, arrangement or organisation of the individual elements within a photo. The composition of a photograph is what catches the viewer's attention and is what makes the image pleasing to the eye. By practicing and developing basic composition techniques, you can produce pieces of work which can recreate the impact of the original scene.

Some tips for developing composition skills are;

Compositional Techniques

There are three basic rules or techniques to creating a pleasing composition...

Rule of Thirds

This is a common guideline when it comes to composition. The idea is to divide the image up into sections using four lines, like so -



The lines and the points they cross are then where you would try to place the subject and/or areas of interest (such as the horizon). This creates an image that is pleasing to the eye.

Rule of Odds

This technique states that by framing the subject with an even number of objects, the image will be more comforting to the eye and creates a feeling of ease or pleasure. So, if you're going to place more than one person in a photo, don't use two, use 3 or 5 or 7, etc.

For example, an image of a person surrounded by two other people will then be deemed more pleasing than an image of the single person with no surroundings.

Rule of Space

This rule creates fluidity or movement within a photo. The viewer's eye is drawn to a particular place with the use of negative space.



These are basic and simple rules to help you along the way when it comes to composition. But as always, rules are meant to be broken, and sometimes the best pieces of work come from doing just that.