5 Tips to Improve Your Composition

Well hello there, thank you for coming to my blog! In this first post I will be discussing 5 ways to improve your composition in photography, and the tips might not be what you think. Composition can be a hard thing to master and it should be something you’re always looking to improve. I am sure you’ve heard a lot of phrases or rules thrown out there; the rule of thirds, leading lines, repeating patterns, tension and direction, visual flow. These are all terms and phrases that come to my mind when people talk or even teach about composition. While all those things are important, my tips are a bit more practical, especially if you’re just starting out in photography.

TIP #1 Study Photos That You Like

I don’t know about you but I look at a lot of photos. Whether they’re on Instagram, Facebook or some other form of social media, or even in other media like books or magazines, I am studying images that catch my eye. What do I like about the photo? What do I not like about a photo, and if there are things I don’t like what would I have done differently? What pulls me through the photo? Where did the photographer place objects within the frame? The answers to those questions all deal with the composition of a photo. The more you do this, the better understanding of composition you will have. You can take those things you like about other peoples photos and put them into practice out in the field, thereby improving your own photography.

TIP # 2 Arrive Early and Take Your Time

This should be pretty clear and obvious but I feel like it can’t be stated enough. Arriving to your desired location early is a bonus when it comes to taking photos. Why? Well, this allows you to view the entire scene. This will allot you time to hunt for an interesting composition and decide what elements of the scene you want to include. It also might allow you to find something beyond the obvious. We all know those locations in photography where hundreds or maybe even thousands of people have gone and taken the same photo, but if you get to a location like that early and take your time, you might be able to find something different that elevates your photo beyond everyone else’s. The other thing that arriving early and taking your time does is gives you an opportunity to find multiple compositions. This is important because it will allow you to react to the light in the area. Yes that mountain might be amazing but if the light is in the complete opposite direction wouldn’t it be nice to have some sort of photo to go with the light?

TIP # 3 Define or Identify Your Subject

We have all seen photos where we look at them and think ok what am I supposed to look at? What is the subject of this photo? Now this tip isn’t to say you have to have 1 clear subject because your subject can be the whole scene; but the tip is to tell you to compose your shot for the subject. For example if your subject is the whole scene, arrange objects in the scene in a way that it leads your viewers throughout the whole image. Like in the photo above, there are a few things that allow you to see the whole image. The foreground arcs away to the right leading you to the tower near where the sun is setting; and then there is an area of darker contrast where the canyon is. Whereas if you do have a clear defined subject, arrange the objects in the scene in a way that it leads your viewers to what you want them to see. Like for the image below, the tree is my main subject and I think that comes across because I have surrounded it with the other objects in the scene. It is surrounded, or framed by the darker foreground, the lakes and the mountains. All those objects are arranged in a way that brings your eye to the tree.

TIP # 4 Change Your Perspective and Be Mobile

When I started really getting into photography I had a terrible tendency of getting to a spot, finding something I liked and only photographing that. I never paid any attention to the finer details of my photos, little things I didn’t like, that distracted me from the subject of the photo. Things that could have been eliminated from my photos if I would have just moved around a little. For example, something I noticed a lot in my photos was there was to much negative space between objects. Like in the photo above, originally when I took this shot I was at a much higher stance and there was way more space between the tree, the lakes and the mountains. But by lowering my perspective a little, I filled that space that served no purpose, and the major subjects of the photo therefore standout better and have a better relationship within the frame. The other point of this tip is to build upon something I mentioned earlier. I mentioned finding multiple compositions in order to react to the changing light conditions, well that also comes with being mobile. Don’t over commit to a composition just because it looks nice, great scenes still only look average in average light.

TIP # 5 Photograph Less

This sounds controversial, but I don’t mean take less photos. What I mean is only capture what is necessary for the scene. There is a tendency for those new to photography to always want to capture very wide scenes and include everything in the scene. Instead what you should do is what I call in field cropping. Essentially zooming in to remove anything that doesn’t help your photo. Just because you have a 12mm lens doesn’t mean every scene should be shot at 12mm. For example, the photo above. The whole scene could include a whole mountain range, but had I done that, the sailboat would be lost in the photo. Instead, I zoomed in to 127mm and I think it makes the photo way more impactful. Photographing less can also help you remove unwanted things from your photos like low hanging branches or bright areas of the sky in forest scenes.

So there they are, my 5 tips to help improve your composition. I plan on doing a more in depth composition guide in the future but if you are new to photography I think these tips can be really helpful. Feel free to let me know what you think about what I have written here or if you have found these helpful at all, I really do appreciate any and all feedback. Also let me know if there are any topics you would like me to cover in future posts. I hope you all have a great rest of the week and stay safe out there. Cheers!