Simple 7 composition rules

Introduction: There are various ways of composition. Good composition will enable the photo to clearly express the artistic conception and the atmosphere of the scene. However, the quality of composition is actually a very subjective matter. If you want to learn how to compose, you must read and learn more about other people's photography, and convert it into your own composition method. This can strengthen your thinking and creation through the training of photographic eyes; these learnings will subtly become your inner image database, which can be automatically integrated into your shooting skills when facing various photographic themes in the future.

To put it bluntly, if the picture in the viewfinder makes you feel great, then it is a good composition; if the picture in the viewfinder only makes you feel average, you can try other focal lengths. , angle or position to shoot. Listed below are several commonly used simple composition methods to help readers understand the images presented by different composition methods.

Avoid placing the subject in the center

The child is the main subject in this photo. When composing the photo, I placed him on the right side so that the viewer is next to the center of the photo. When a more attractive subject is found, the subject will be extended to other more interesting pictures, that is, the group of sheep grazing in the background, which can also indicate that the child is a shepherd boy.

There are shepherds, flocks of sheep and two shepherd dogs at the shooting scene. In order to balance the picture, I placed the people and dogs on the left and right sides, and the sheep in the middle to highlight the photo. narrative power.

When taking photos, try not to place the subject in the center, because such photos will look stiff, abrupt, and lacking in movement.

Frame composition method

In this photo, the monk who is cleaning is the subject. The rows of rectangular windows not only have a frame effect, but also can also frame the viewer’s eyes. Lead onto the subject.

In other words, it is to use the scenery in the environment as the foreground to frame the theme.

Use characters to embellish the scenery

Use low angles to bring in the volcanic rocks and clouds along the road, and then use point-of-view to present the hikers in the distance to add to the story of the picture. sex.

When I visited Tongariro National Park in New Zealand, the weather was a little weird. Clouds and mist drifted in from time to time, and the sun was busy finding gaps in the clouds, echoing with the earth as if playing a game.

The Rule of Thirds

As the name suggests, it is a composition method that divides the picture into three equal parts. It can easily take images with a smooth composition and appropriate proportions. It is simple but very practical. way of composition.

After dividing the picture into three areas, as shown in the picture on the right, the top is the blue sky with white clouds, the middle is the mountain village, and the bottom is the autumn harvest fields.

Illustration 1

Illustration 2

The rule of thirds focuses on the theme you want to highlight. The picture on the left emphasizes the village under the vast blue sky and white clouds, which can make The sky takes up two-thirds of the area, making the picture wider. If you want to show the relationship between the large autumn harvest fields and the village, as shown in the picture on the right, move the camera downwards so that the fields and villages occupy two-thirds of the area, creating a sense of desolation in the fields after the autumn harvest.

Nine-square grid segmentation method

This composition method can make the overall balance of the picture better, and can also emphasize the contrast between the main subject and the secondary subject.

This is the so-called golden ratio composition method. Walking in the Annapurna Mountains of Nepal, the scenery is beautiful along the way, and we often see hard-working porters on the road. How to combine this beautiful mountain scenery with the porters? At this time, you can use the nine-square grid method to divide the picture into two After dividing the vertical line and the two horizontal lines into three equal parts, place the character at the intersection of the four dividing lines. These four points are the focus of the picture.

Composition of foreground, mid-range and depth of field

This shot was taken while squatting down, with large yellow flowers swaying in the foreground, adding to the layering of the picture.

When shooting while standing, the effect of the foreground of the flower field is weak.

The Tajiks on the Pamir Plateau are using water channels to irrigate the rapeseed flowers. I first took a picture at the height of the woman in the photo, but the effect of the flower field in the foreground was weak; I tried to squat down Come, I took another photo using the yellow flower as the foreground, the woman as the middle ground, and the brown mountains as the background. The large yellow flowers in the foreground fully depict the environmental scenery at that time and also increase the layering of the picture.

Subtractive composition

Don’t be greedy for too much when using subtractive composition. This photo focuses on shooting the landmark buildings of Leh under the blue sky and white clouds, showing the beautiful scenery of mountain buildings.

The scenery of Leh, the capital of Ladakh in North India, although it completely presents the city scenery, seems messy.

Using a longer focal length to remove the cluttered streets and combine the sky with the buildings, but the half-and-half composition ratio is not good.

Composition is actually the art of subtraction. How to grasp the key points that you want to express in the picture and remove the unimportant parts to retain the essentials is the key to composition. Don’t be greedy for too much when composing pictures by subtraction. This photo focuses on shooting the landmark buildings of Leh under the blue sky and white clouds, showing the beautiful scenery of mountain buildings.