One of the great challenges in photography is getting those banger photos, the great compositions we all aim for, and in the post below are 10 tips to help you take the best photos possible on the day.
This isn’t a list of the composition ‘rules’ - the rule of thirds etc., nor a list of does and don’ts. Instead it’s ways of taking your personal vision from your head and onto a screen/print that conveys your images message as clearly and effectively as possible.
1: What’s your Vision?
The first step in creating great work is to have a plan, an idea or ‘vision’ in your mind's eye of the images you want to capture.
This is about going into the field or the session with purpose, whether that is to capture a certain type or style of photo, or a certain mood or story/narrative.
While it’s a challenging skill to learn, knowing your gear and your post processing abilities and the final destination/audience for the image can help frame your vision, as can cheating a vision board of similar images or design concepts to inspire you.
Then when you get into the field you’re thinking about the best possible version of a photo, and working to make it a reality.
2: Keep It Simple
When getting your message (the story you want your image to convey) to the world through your photography, simplicity is key. Your message won’t land if people can’t understand what your images are trying to convey.
Simplify your idea down and exclude anything from your photo that takes away from what you’re trying to say. Before you take a photo look for any distractions in the frame that harm your message. Get rid or minimise them as much as possible to help people focus on what is important in the image.
Unless you’re doing studio photography where you have total control over your compositions, there will almost always be flaws or distractions in your images. But the sooner you recognize and manage them in your compositions, the less of a problem they’ll be in the final photo.
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3: Make Conscious Decisions
The difference between grabbing a snap and making a photo is consciousness.
Don’t take photos on autopilot. The photos you make are the sum of a large number of (often subconscious) decisions. Whether it’s the time of day, weather, location, your viewpoint or the perspective (angle of view), what you choose to include in the frame (or more importantly exclude), every choice you make is an opportunity to get the photo closer to your vision.
And this isn’t just about creativity and composition, technical decisions such as which camera, lens or settings also have a huge impact on your photos and the story you tell.
4: Balance the Composition
One of the compositional decisions you need to make is whether to create balance in your composition, i.e. will the photo have equal weight on both sides, appearing more static and harmonious, or lean left or right to create a sense of tension?
This is one of the first elements of composition to think about with each photo you create - whether you choose to go for balance or imbalance in a given image.
Often you would want landscapes to be as balanced as possible, while in street, documentary or nature photography photographers often look to create imbalances to make the photo feel more energetic.
5: Pay Attention to the Edges
Your image isn’t just the subject of your photo, what else is happening in the scene?
The edges of a photo are just as, if not more important than the centre of your image. Even a tiny distraction near the edge of your frame can ‘ruin’ your photo and pull the viewer away from the story you’re trying to tell. That’s not to say that your photo should always be empty in the corners, but instead that you should at least think about the edges of your photo while you’re composing.
Keep your subjects away from the far edges unless your goal is to create an unbalanced or ‘unnerving’ energy to your image. Try to cut off the boundaries of a photo in a thoughtful, careful manner. And, in post-processing, crop, darken, desaturate, or clone out distractions along the edges of the composition if they harm your image significantly.
Light and colour are two of the most important qualities for determining the mood of a photo.
6: Watch the Light
Light and colour are two of the most important qualities for determining the mood of a photo.
That’s why it’s so important to watch the changing light in a scene, or to seek particular light, such as the warm glow of golden hour at sunset. By being intentional with the lighting of your scene and watching how the mood and light change over time, revisiting locations at different times of day, or different times of year, you can get multiple photos from a scene or composition rather than just one.
7: Use Contrast and Colour
Another element of light is contrast - light vs. dark or contrasting colours.
Photos with high levels of contrast attract the eye and seem to ‘pop’, with a sense of intensity and energy. On the other hand, low-contrast images are more subtle and subdued - more calm. A similar approach applies to colour by placing opposing colours within the image to create a sense of contrast and energy. The contrast level of the photo will therefore convey a message about your composition and your vision for the image.
Contrast can also apply in the elements of your image - a man made object in a natural scene for example, or something natural or beautiful amongst chaos or destruction. These contrasting elements can help tell the story of your image and convey a message or an emotion to the viewer.
8: Give the Composition a Structure
Every photo needs structure, a sense of organisation that directs the viewer through the image as part of the images narrative. This is the path you seek to create to guide the viewer through the scene - to draw their eye to get them to focus on the subject of the image in the context of what is happening around that subject.
Giving your composition structure also helps balance the image where components of the image carry similar levels of visual weight.
Elements like shape, leading lines and colour/contrast and framing can all be employed to help create structure and draw the viewer's eye to where we want it to be. As people we’re attracted to anything that catches our attention, be that vivid colours, people’s faces, interesting shapes, or unusual objects, and so on.
9: Give Your Subjects Breathing Space
While one of the precepts of photography is to ‘fill the frame’, when you’re composing a photo, it often helps to give your subject some space, not placing the subject too close, and not crossing the main subject with content that isn’t as important.
When composing your photos give your subjects the space they deserve, or your message could get lost and muddled.
10: Refine Your Composition
Finally, one of the most important concepts is to refine your composition. Don’t just take one photo and move on - work with the scene.
Take multiple photos and see how they look. Look at them critically to see what works and what doesn’t, and compare them to the vision in your head. How do they differ and what do you need to do to have your image match your vision?
While that’s not everyone’s style of photography, or may not be possible (such in some street photography), the real takeaway is that there’s always room to improve. No one has created the perfect rules for composition, and personal style and vision are key, so perfecting your compositions isn’t really a thing.
Instead the key is to embrace the journey of improving your photography and to just keep taking photos.
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