Children photography composition skills and methods

When photographing children, we can use various props that can be used for newborn photography, such as various basins, baskets, boxes, simulation shapes, etc. Below are the composition techniques and methods for children’s photography that I share. Everyone is welcome to read!

Composition 1. Subject position

The centered and symmetrical picture has a strong sense of stability and produces an extremely quiet effect. Therefore, the content of the picture must be interesting enough, and the details must be eye-catching.

Photos with people in the center present a strong static beauty, but the differences in details will break the stagnation caused by high symmetry and become the focus of attention.

The character is slightly away from the center, and the picture looks relatively stable.

Having the characters on one side of the picture will increase the vividness of the picture. Whether you use the golden section or the third line for composition, you must take into account the balanced proportion of the picture.

The positions of the characters and the foreground echo left and right, up and down, to achieve a calm and balanced feeling.

The characters are close to the edge and left blank on the other side. The picture feels harmonious and has a certain sense of tension. The closer the character is to the edge, the greater the sense of instability.

Composition 2. Points, lines and planes

Newborn photos rarely use relatively large scenes, with people occupying the absolute subject (position, area), but we should also pay attention to the auxiliary, "non-focus" presence in the picture. The point that guides the line of sight.

On a highly unified (color, brightness) background (including props and costumes), the baby's face becomes the absolute visual focus.

The two buttons on the clothes have become effective visual guidance points, helping our eyes to jump repeatedly on the baby's facial features, buttons, hats and other parts, increasing the time of attention.

Brightly colored dots will be particularly eye-catching. Coupled with the visual habit from left to right, a yellow flower on the left side of the picture will appear particularly prominent. In this photo, it seems slightly intrusive.

The role of lines in the picture depends first on their length, and then on their direction. The horizontal horizontal lines completely divide the picture, creating a sense of distance. The closer the horizontal line is to the edge, the more prominent the contrast between the two sides, and the sense of tension will increase accordingly.

When shooting a slightly larger scene, be sure to consider the position of the horizon and the resulting proportional division of the picture. Generally speaking, horizontal lines at positions such as 1/3 and 3/5 will bring a sense of stability and harmony to people.

When horizontal and vertical lines intersect, each line itself and the comprehensive effect after superposition must be considered separately, and the location of the intersection must also be handled well. Compared with the above picture, after adding a vertical line, the picture feels more positive and uplifting.

Slashes will give the photo a dynamic, vivid and unsettling effect.

The tilted square props break the stability of the character in the center, and the entire picture shows an upward movement trend.

A diagonal line descending from left to right is intuitively calmer than a diagonal line ascending from left to right.

Compared with natural shapes, geometric shapes are more attractive to the eye. The clearer the shape, the easier it is to attract attention.

The circle is the most conspicuous shape. A closed circle can firmly fix our sight and create a complete and stable feeling.

When the rounded edges are cropped, the strong visual dominance will be weakened. From this photo we can feel that the background (including the incomplete circular props) tends to have a unified feel.

The triangle is a very advantageous form. When it is located at the bottom of the picture and "leans" steadily against one edge of the picture, it looks very safe. Otherwise, it will increase the sense of tension.

The vertices of the triangle (equilateral) have the function of indicating the direction and have an impact on the potential movement trend of the picture. As you can also see from this photo, the tilted triangle adds momentum and instability to the picture.

Rectangles can form a frame to further emphasize the characters. The pattern details are even more eye-catching in this photo.

As a deformation of the rectangle, the rhombus increases the instability of the picture, showing a stronger sense of space and three-dimensionality, effectively attracting attention.

Composition 3. Viewing angle

Changing the shooting height will have a direct impact on the perspective effect of the picture.

Babies spend most of their time lying on the bed after they are born, and people usually observe them from a bird's eye view. Therefore, it is very necessary to use a horizontal angle when shooting, which can provide a sense of freshness that is unfamiliar to daily life.

It can be seen that the horizontal angle is completely centered on the face of the baby, while the overhead angle needs to incorporate more background factors.

Typical overhead photography, shooting downwards from a certain angle and height, can more completely explain the details of characters, props, and environment.

By comparison, you can see the correlation between subtle height changes and the presentation of the picture.

Shooting vertically from above will flatten the plants, props and characters on the ground, and the graphic elements and details will be highlighted.

Shoot from the head to the feet, using the shallow depth of field to create changes in reality and reality. The head near the end of the lens looks big and very cute.

Composition 4. Layer

The foreground can effectively increase the layering and three-dimensionality of the picture.

Emphasis on the shape of the foreground.

Emphasize the color of the foreground.

Use the foreground to create some occlusion.

Forming a wrap-around surround, the foreground and background are unified.

When shooting outdoors, the background can often reflect more details, increasing the richness and durability of the picture.

Larger blur, less background details, and more of a color tone.

Moderate blurring, retaining clearer background details or local shapes.

Moderate blurring, retaining clearer background details or local shapes.

Emphasize the ambient atmosphere of the scene.

Composition 5. Personalized processing method: rotate the picture

Sometimes photographers will also rotate some photos to change the normal perspective effect, which looks interesting.

That’s it for the composition article.