Photography Composition for Beginners

Photography is a unique art form that requires a different kind of thought than other forms of art. With every other form of art, you start with nothing. A blank canvas, an empty piece of paper, or a big blob of clay, whatever you are doing it starts clean. With photography, you start with the entirety of the world and cut away pieces to make your image.

In many ways, this makes photography easier. You take photographs of cool things and you will end up with some images of cool things. However, it also makes it hard to get images that don’t have distracting and unwanted features. As a photographer that works in ballrooms and other semi-public gathering places, one of my least favorite things is exit signs. I am quite often trying to compose my photographs to avoid them. 

I sometimes get asked for quick tips and ways to improve photography. Having been a photographer for over 25 years, I have a lot of knowledge and thoughts on the subject, but getting that out into one simple sentence or even a paragraph is really hard. Do I start with equipment, technical camera settings, lighting, or composition? Over the years, I have found that the thing everyone can quickly and easily do is change how they think about composition. 

Before I get into that, there is one other thing that makes way more difference in how much people will enjoy your photographs than anything else. The subject. If you photograph a cool car, people that like cool cars will be interested in your photograph no matter how bad the image is. If you photograph a puppy, half the world will find it cute no matter how bad the photography. So the absolute first step to better photography is what you choose to take photographs of. 

The next step, if you want to take photographs that are more compelling and pleasing to the eye of the viewer, is to learn how to compose a photograph. For this, I am not going to go too deep, because this is supposed to be quick and easy. 

Start thinking about your photographs in layers. You should always have a subject and a background. These are separate layers.

If you are taking a photograph of your spouse in front of a sunset, you are working in layers. The key is to take control of your layers. Actually look at your background. For example, it looks great, except for the chain link fence right behind your spouse. Can you move your spouse and still have the great background without the chain-link fence? Okay. But now you have a parking sign in the background. Could you position your spouse so they cover up the sign? Okay, now we’re cooking. The background looks great. However, your spouse is now standing in a dark spot. Can you move them so that they are in better light while holding your background quality? Now we are working in layers. You can also add a foreground layer by shooting through a doorway or having another layer in front of the subject. 

For a more advanced move, try the rule of thirds in addition to the layers. It goes like this: Compose your photograph so the subject falls on the rule of thirds. That sounds easy enough, and it is a simple thing to follow. It basically means, stop centering your photographs ALL of the time. You can center your images sometimes, but not every image. You can see how the rule of thirds works with the sample images I have included. A very important reminder about any rules of composition is that the “rules” are just starting point. Try things and see what feels right when you look at your images.

And that’s it. The quickest way to make more appealing images. For those of you that would like more information, I would suggest a kid’s book on design or Picture Perfect Practice by Roberto Valenzuela.