Composition brings photographic creativity to life

Composition in Photography:

We have decided to publish a series of articles through which we cover important aspects and elements of composition in photography. Think of it as a “back to basics” in order to advance better. Strong foundations, just like in building construction, are key to further your photography and take it to the next level.

To begin with, I always tell people to look at “rules” as guidelines rather than anything too serious. Rules should never stop you experimenting and exploring beyond them. Too many rules kill creativity.

Photography composition can be broadly described as how everything in a photograph is “balanced”, how things flow, how every element fits and interacts with the rest in terms of colour, textures, lines, focus, contrast… Good composition will result in a good photo provided the chosen subject and concept behind the image are good too. This is a fairly wide subject which also has slight variations depending on the genre of photography you shoot. I say variation because in fact there are still many similarities in how a photographer composes a studio portrait and how a landscape photographer will capture a landscape.

There are recurring themes such as the rule of thirds in photography, leading lines, the use of negative space, symmetry. I don’t have the ultimate answer to good photography, what I can do is share my decades long experience hoping it will help you. You then decide to apply as much or as little as you want in your own photography.