Teach you how to break through the tic-tac-toe composition method

Abandon the traditional tic-tac-toe composition rules, let the blue sky and white clouds fill the picture more fully, while the ground takes up less space, giving people a sense of tranquility.

Digital photography tends to make breakthroughs

Since the beginning of the art of painting, people’s aesthetic appreciation of pictures cannot be separated from the basic rules of composition, and many traditional photography teaching books will mention the composition of photography. The rules come mainly from the art of painting. Regardless of whether a photographer has received training in visual arts, he or she will unconsciously follow these rules when composing a photograph.

In traditional photography, the composition of an image is inevitably limited by the camera's frame and the size of the photo paper. With the advent of digital photography, with the help of digital imaging software, photographers can crop images to varying degrees to present the ideal picture in their minds, which really helps photographers break through the traditional composition framework.

Use the foreground skillfully as a frame

When composing a picture, photographers can be more macroscopic and observe what scenery is in the foreground as composition elements. The border or frame composition method uses a real scene as a frame to frame the subject, preventing the audience's eyes from slipping away from the edge, and it can also give people visual interest. In the habit of frame composition, the "frame" does not need to appear completely in the picture. For example, the foreground scenery on the left and right sides and at the top of the picture can also serve as a frame. In this example, the silhouette of a round arch is used as the "picture frame" of the image. ?

Break through the tic-tac-toe frame

When it comes to photography composition rules, the tic-tac-toe composition method (Rule of Thirds) is a cliché. Most digital cameras provide a tic-tac-toe composition grid, making it easier for photographers to use the Live View real-time display function to compose pictures. In addition, the optical viewfinder of some digital SLRs also has a tic-tac-toe composition grid. When composing a picture using the tic-tac-toe composition method, the subject can be placed at the four intersection points of the horizontal lines of the grid. While the tic-tac-toe method can produce a good composition, it doesn't always work. In addition, if photographers can break through this frame, their works will definitely surprise people.

One way to break through the tic-tac-toe composition is to place the subject in the center of the picture. In recent years, many contemporary photography works have a central composition. In addition, the photographer can also place the subject directly above, directly below, or even at the edge of the frame, and use the scenery as a guide to bring the audience's focus to the subject. ?

Symmetrical composition with the subject in the center

Boldly take advantage of the situation

If you use the tic-tac-toe composition method to shoot landscapes, the photographer may find that there are , the ratio of sky to land is always 1/3, 2/3 (or vice versa). In fact, photographers can try to break the rules and divide the picture into "half the sky and half the ground", or form an extreme ratio between the sky and the land. For example, when encountering a sky full of colorful clouds, there is no need to stingyly fill most of the picture with the sky. , it doesn’t hurt to just let a small amount of land serve as a backdrop. ?

Adopt different image ratios

Most digital cameras can set image aspect ratios other than the size of the camera's sensor. For example, some use a 4:3 ratio sensor. The camera can crop the upper and lower parts of the image to output an image with a 3:2 or 16:9 ratio. In recent years, some digital cameras have also provided a 1:1 image ratio for photographers to choose, so that photographers can adjust it according to their own composition preferences.

When different aspect ratios are selected, the camera can adjust the display range of the LCD monitor according to the settings to facilitate the photographer's framing and composition. If the photographer's camera does not support this function, the photographer can also cover the camera's LCD display to the desired proportion, and then use the real-time display function to compose and shoot.

Using software, images can be cropped to varying degrees to create different atmospheres. Photographers can be bold and try. However, large-scale cropping will cause the image to lose a lot of pixels. Is it better to crop before or after? Photographers have to make choices. ?

Original image (3:2 ratio)?

16:9 ratio?

1:1 ratio

Panorama panoramic image

When shooting with a wide-angle lens, the photographer may include unnecessary foreground or sky parts in the frame, causing the audience to lose focus. Therefore, in addition to the normal 3:2 or 4:3 ratio, photographers can shoot long panoramic images (Panorama) to make the subject more concentrated.

There are many ways to shoot panoramic images. The most direct method is to use the panoramic shooting mode of the camera. For example, many Sony digital cameras and digital SLRs can also directly shoot and output panoramic images. Photographers can also shoot multiple frames of images and then use software to merge them. The merging function of current digital imaging software is very advanced. Even if the photographer shoots hand-held, the merging effect is quite good. However, the photographer must pay attention to the lens edge deformation. The situation and the level of the picture need to be corrected. In addition, photographers can also crop the upper and lower parts of the image to form a wider image. However, greatly cropping the image will cause the image to lose a large number of pixels. Generally, the length-to-width ratio of panoramic images is 16:9 or 2.31:1, but photographers do not need to follow this deliberately when making panoramic images, as long as they achieve the ideal effect in their minds.

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