The Power of Composition

I have only touched a droplet in the vastness of photography, but I write in humility as I do not claim to know it all. I write for the following individuals. To my eldest sister, who is new into photography, so that at least, it may be obvious that she has a brother who knows how to shoot. So that she can be credible when saying that to all and let her shooting do the talking. She just started photography when I got my Nikon D90, she now has Nikky, my former camera Nikon D60. To my youngest sister, who perhaps know a few if not all of these already. To my friend Lucille, who has been my make-up artist, creative art director, hair stylist and more, I wish you goodluck in photography. To Ms. Nini, who constantly appreciates my type of work and for her enthusiasm in this art and to all those who want to learn with me.

Composition, this is what makes the photograph other than lighting which is also important. Composition makes or breaks the photo as this is our tool of showing what is our subject, what do we want our viewer to feel, to see, to reflect on, this is the very meaning of our photo. So, there have been a lot of rules written about this but I would only take on a photo of mine and discussm what are the rules of composition that I have applied to it.

Take a look at this photo.



By inspection, the rule of thirds is there and what else? If I have been a newbie, it is all that I can mention. Well, there are four that I can name I have applied in my composition.

1. The rule of thirds.



The rule of thirds, this is dividing your frame three times vertically and horizontally then placing your subject in any of the four intersections. In this case, I placed my subjects at the upper left intersection.

2. Use multiple layers. I used 3 layers here, one is the grass, 2nd are the plants with orange flowers in them and 3rd are the trees at the background. Notice how I edited this picture using selective coloring, I intentionally retained the colors of the orange flowers for the viewer to distinguish at first sight, the 2nd layer.



3. Framing. Framing your subjects creates an added impact. It makes them easily identified and leads the eyes of the viewer right thru it. Again, this is another reason why I decided to retain the colors of the orange flowers, to highlight my frame, thus framing my subjects very well.



4. Recognize and include the S-curves. I never knew such rule existed, but I'm happy I had the enate ability to add them to my shot. Thanks to my friend and mentor IJ Molina (yejya.multiply.com) for teaching me this. I hope you are now very well from your dog bite.



Those s-curves can take any form. They are pleasing to the eyes and they can make the photo catchy. S-curves can be in forms of curving roads/pathways, body contours, and land contours.


The four are the only ones I know. I have anticipated a few questions that maybe asked in this blog like why did I chose to do selective coloring instead of showing those greens? The answer would be simple, I wanted all attention and focus on my subjects. I wanted my layers to be very obvious and I wanted my viewers to feel that the people included in this frame are happy people and are happier than their surroundings.

Rules in photography are not exactly rules because they are not absolutely. The can be broken but breaking them means you have mastered them already. So when do you break them? I won't answer that because it is too much spoon feeding. Practice and master the rules of composition then you'll eventually know when to break them.

Keep on shooting!

Cheers,
Jay