How to compose photography

One of the confusions about composition: centering the subject

This is the most common confusion about composition. Many photos with the subject in the center cannot make people feel. Why is this? Photographers can’t help but wonder. I have to ask, this is not the feeling when shooting. When I see a very attractive scene, I really have an impulse to create. I try my best to stare at it through the viewfinder with my eyes, for fear of not being able to capture the scene. , in the end, the photo still cannot attract the attention of others. Although the photos are very clear and the colors are bright, why are they not attractive? Confusion dampens our creative enthusiasm. What is the cause of this confusion?

The generation of this confusion is a physiological and natural problem. Solving this confusion starts with understanding ourselves. Pictures are viewed with our eyes, and pictures are taken in through our eyes. It’s all through our eyes, why are seeing and seeing so different? Analyzing the phenomenon, we can understand that when looking at pictures, we use both eyes to see the big picture, while when taking pictures, we use one eye (even both eyes) to see the small picture, and also There are camera focusing and metering functions designed in the center of the viewfinder. How come there are two viewing experiences when viewing pictures with two eyes and framing with one eye, large pictures and small pictures? Considering that pictures are for the purpose of viewing, looking at pictures with both eyes is the key to determining the success or failure of the picture composition. What exactly are the eyes doing? Such effect.

Our eyes are the only organs that can sense the light and dark colors of the outside world. When looking, we can also distinguish the distance of objects. The distinction between distance and distance relies on our eyes. The two eyes see different fields of view. When they overlap, we feel When it comes to a three-dimensional scene, since the two eyes have different fields of view, there will be a place where the two scenes cannot overlap. This position is generally called the blind spot. The blind spot of both eyes is in the center. No wonder the two eyes appear at the center position. Objects are invisible. It turns out that the eyes cannot see the objects in the middle. This may be an exaggeration. Who says it is invisible! You can see even a small dot in the middle of the photo. Seeing is seeing. However, the important point is that we rarely feel it. Interest, if you truly understand your own physiological needs, will you arrange the picture based on taking care of your own needs?

Why does this phenomenon not attract our attention when framing? We also use our eyes to feel the scenery when framing. How come the feeling of framing is different from the feeling of the picture! We all ignore that we use one eye to view when shooting. In reality, there is no blind spot with one eye, but the scene is not three-dimensional. Even with both eyes, what you see is the viewfinder thumbnail. The thumbnail is only a part of the range that the eyes can see. At this time, the thumbnail is in the eyes. It can only be regarded as a point. Our macro eyes cannot fully integrate into the small picture to experience the look and feel of the eyes. All we can do is try our best to capture and rarely arrange the layout.

In addition, camera manufacturers are also inducing us to center the subject. Focus (autofocus) and metering are all designed in the center of the viewfinder, so that our subject cannot escape from the middle part, resulting in are all uninteresting pictures.

Having said all that, isn’t it just that the subject is not allowed to be placed in the center of the picture? Where should it be placed? Have you seen the position of the stage announcer? At 1/3 or 2/3 of the stage, The picture is a square plane. If you treat the picture like this and place the subject 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up, down, left and right, I think it should be able to attract the attention of most viewers.

It is not completely impossible to center the subject. It depends on what kind of subject it is. If it is a symmetrical figure or a pyramid structure, it is time to break through this framework.

Composition Confusion No. 2: Messy Lines

Lines are the basic method of expression in painting, and they also play a decisive role in photography. Why can’t many of our photos be registered as art? There are many reasons for the lack of proper handling of the relationship between the main body and other lines. The lines cannot be well-proportioned and set off the main body, so that the lines overlap and intersect with the main body in an orderly manner. Finally, ruthlessly The "chopped" image we carefully created.

Lines play such a big role. How can we ignore the existence of various lines? How can we let lines fill the picture disorderly? What do our eyes usually pay attention to? Why do pictures Will there be so many lines on the screen? This has to be said about the way we see. When the eyes see the real scene, they see a three-dimensional scene. The viewpoint is always the same. No matter how you use your eyes, you can only focus on one point. Someone Having said that, if we can’t clearly see the entire sector in the direction facing us, how can we say we only see one point? The reason why we can see a large area clearly depends on the constant movement of the eyeballs and the continuous movement of the eyes. By changing the focal length, the scene has a temporary impression in the mind.

The picture is a flat scene, reflecting the front and back of the real scene on a flat surface. The scene has been solidified, and the reality and reality can no longer be adjusted at will by the eyes. The front and back of the scene overlap on one picture, so these vertical and horizontal Aren’t the interlacing lines exerting a strong visual influence?

Due to the operation of our eyes, we ignore the existence of irrelevant lines before and after the subject, so that our pictures often have branches and tangles. Long branches, diagonally cut corners, etc., have a destructive effect on the composition of our pictures.

How to avoid the influence of chaotic lines requires continuous training of the observation ability of our eyes, training so that the eyes can also pay attention to the light, shadow, color, and objects that have nothing to do with the scene being photographed, and avoid or use techniques to deal with them. The affected lines make the picture neat and consistent.

The third confusion about composition: dividing the world equally

If we regard each landscape picture as a small world, and then think about this world as a bigger one, it will be We have the world one by one, so how do we distribute this world well? Look at how most of us divide it. The sky and the earth are equally divided, and the sky and the sea are equally divided. They come and go equally, but they always feel that the distribution is uneven and the picture cannot be Stability, why is this? We have dealt with the world fairly, but this world seems to be so unpeaceful. If we think about it, history can leave a deep impression on us. Apart from the era of great unification, the Three Kingdoms are the richest in the stories of the times. History has passed, and it is also the era that has the deepest impression on us. In order for Liu Bei, who did not have the ability to compete, to exist on one side, Kong Ming proposed to promote a three-legged confrontation, allowing Liu Bei to develop in a relatively stable stage in the world.

What does the tripartite confrontation have to do with our photography? Two points are lines and three points are surfaces. The line between two points is indistinct, but three points can stand firmly on the surface. Why can’t we apply a stable pattern!

In the actual shooting, we only saw the sky and the earth, the sea and the sky. Is it possible to add something between the two? To achieve the so-called three-part world and achieve the balance we want, where exactly is this thing that can balance our pictures?

Don’t worry! It’s between heaven and earth, sky and sea. This balance should be controlled by the photographer himself. How to do it? In your own mind, always regard the world of pictures as three. How to apply these three parts of the world between the two parts of heaven and earth? Isn’t there a strategy of distant friendship and close attack? The middle part is either occupied by the sky or annexed by the earth. In this way, the world will be in peace, and a good-feeling picture will be will appear in front of you.

Remember, you want the scenery to feel deeper, more ground or ocean. If you want to feel vast, let there be more sky.

Composition Confusion No. 4: The Secret of Trend

What is a trend? A trend is a direction that things may develop but have not yet reached. If you discover a certain trend, you can lead many people to follow it. to pursue the same purpose. Is there room for deep exploration of trends in a photograph? Where are these trends hidden in the picture? What role do these hidden trends play? What are the specific trends in the picture?

The trend has no specific direction in the picture. The performance of the trend is basically hidden in the lines or the indications of things. What kind of lines have the function of trend? Are there parallel lines? It can be said that there are not. , parallel lines cannot intersect even if they go around the earth several times, that is to say, there is no direction to reach. Are there criss-crossing lines in the picture? No, because the intersecting lines have already reached their destination.

Under what circumstances will lines show the trend we want? Lines that are not parallel and do not intersect in the picture (line segments may intersect in the picture, but there is no need to actually intersect) should be in They intersect not far away from the screen, and there are also implicit lines that are hidden in the indications of things and fall outside the screen. These are lines with a trend effect.

What can discovering trending lines bring to us? Pictures with these trends can bring broad imagination to viewers, give full play to their thinking space, and generate endless fun, allowing viewers to Looking for answers outside of the picture expands the role of the picture. For example, if a person or a group of people in the picture are looking at a certain point outside the picture, the viewer will be attracted by these gazes and imagine that there is something outside the picture. Also, if you make good use of trendy lines in landscape pictures, this landscape picture will have endless imaginative charm. After discovering this secret, can we still let go of these trendy lines and indicating implicit lines!

The fifth confusion of composition: the charm of curves

Curves are easy to attract People's sight, and we have an inexplicable love for curves, and the perfect curves in nature are animals or plants with vitality, and some objects with motion phenomena. In addition to these potential expressions of life movements, curves In addition to the living symbolic meaning, are there other mysteries that make the charm of curves make us obsessed with it?

When we usually look at pictures, when we see some simple curves, we will use arcs and S-lines to express our wonderful feelings about the curves. When the curves become more twisted and the combinations become more complex, our emotions will Being more and more stimulated, how does the power of this emotional source form? How can there be an endless feeling.

It is not easy to simply find the charm of curves. If we cut the curve into line segments, we will see that these line segments are the edges of circles of different sizes. This way we understand Since there are many circles hidden in these curves, what is the significance of seeing these circles? What answers can these give us about the charm of curves?

Circles, we know that ever since humans have been obsessed with this thing Since then, we have never stopped exploring it. When Zu Chongzhi first put pi in front of us 1,500 years ago, the answer has been endlessly calculated. There are circles hidden in the curves in our pictures. The more complex the curve, the more circles it contains, and the more endless charm it has. Is this charm related to this endless arithmetic? If not, what is it used for? Can we give a more perfect explanation!?

No matter what the explanation is, circles and curves are what we strive to capture when composing pictures, so that the charm of curves appears in our pictures, especially in human body photography. It should be grasped well. It only expresses the surface light and texture of the human body, while ignoring the curves existing in the human body. I think this picture is just a record of the human body. There is no art at all, and the human body is fundamentally lost. The charm of art.

Composition confusion No. 6: The meaning of association

Association is an internal bond formed by some similarity or contrast between things. When two things (or more) need appear in the picture at the same time. If there is no correlation, it will only cause the viewpoints to be scattered. When we usually take pictures, sometimes we always want to take pictures of everything we see. When we look at the pictures, we realize that we don’t know what we should look at. This Only then did I think of subtraction. Once I used it, if it failed, the meaning of the picture would be cut off. Under what circumstances can multiple subjects be combined into one picture? What method should be used to do it?

After learning the method of processing the point of interest center, the position of a single subject in the picture can be processed The method has been understood and mastered, but when there are two, three or more subjects, the composition becomes confusing again. When there are more than two so-called concrete subjects, the subject is no longer the specific objects. This subject is already a certain connection contained in the concrete subject, which is called a connection here. When this connection exists Even if there are multiple objects in the picture, the viewpoints will not be dispersed. For example: in the most common travel commemorative photos, no one would think that there is no direct connection between the scenery and the people, so they take the two separately. There is an inherent connection here, which is the connection between the trip. Also, when we want to show the gap between rich and poor, we always want to have an image that represents the rich and a poor background. Even if they are doing their own things, it will not distract the viewer. This is their inner Connections are at work, connections make the picture appear coherent.

What’s the point of mastering the correlation method to process images? A large number of photography using the correlation method is in documentary photography. Hot news photography often uses this method. This shooting method can reveal the social development process through superficial phenomena. It helps to quickly understand the changes in social contradictions from a realistic image and promote the development of society in the right direction.

It is easy to compare things on the picture to achieve the purpose of irony and humor. Try to discover the inner correlation between multiple things and take some responsibility for social development.

The Seventh Confusion of Composition: The Role of Parallel

Pictures reflect the three-dimensional scene of the photographed range through a plane. The scenery, no matter how far or near, is compressed on a plane, so that Many scenes with a depth effect cannot be well expressed through photography. Sometimes a scene that looks good is shot, but the resulting picture lacks a lot of the sense of depth that was seen at the time, which invisibly eliminates the impact of the picture, and the flat surface We lost a lot.

Can a flat surface express a three-dimensional effect, can it convey a sense of depth, and give the picture considerable visual impact? What method should be used to achieve this?

Flat surface The method of expressing distance in a picture is to use the different sizes of objects near and far. However, not all objects of different sizes in a flat picture can show this characteristic. We often use objects of varying sizes to photograph a hand holding the sun or another person in the distance, creating the illusion that the hand is really magical. This is the result of plane compression, which makes the sense of far and near perspective disappear. These sizes Objects that are unequal will not show the effect of far and near impact.

How to do it well? Observe more objects that are arranged and combined, and shoot from an angle with a certain perspective relationship. The relationship between the distance and nearness of the object can be easily discovered, and the plane can be effectively used. The scene will also make the vision come alive.

Parallelism can allow us to obtain visual effects beyond the plane. Especially when using this method in landscape photography, the scene in the picture will be particularly eye-catching.

Composition confusion No. 8: Looking for momentum

When seeing some pictures, the viewer will be driven by some kind of power in the picture and can’t help but exclaim: "The picture is good." Momentum."

What is the specific form of momentum? How does momentum exist in pictures?

Before understanding the specific appearance of momentum, we first feel our own intuition about the state of things. When the object's displayed state is not very large, we do not feel heaviness about the object. When something moves away from us from near to far, we have no sense of urgency about it. When we are in a dark environment, even though there is some light, we still feel a sense of fear. If we put these feelings together, what kind of feeling will we have in our hearts? We will be pressed by a sense of heaviness, forced by a sense of urgency, driven by a sense of fear, and finally, shocked by these feelings until we give in. . The outcome of this comprehensive feeling is the embodiment of the momentum of things.

Now that we understand the several states needed to feel momentum, how can we make good use of these aspects in pictures? The sense of heaviness is caused by the subject occupying a considerable space in the picture, and the sense of urgency is the key to the picture. Objects have directionality of movement, and the sense of fear is created by deep colors.

Then the main body occupies the entire picture, the objects move in fast lines, and the depth of the picture is completely dark. Will these be imposing? I don’t think so. The main body occupies the entire picture, which is lacking. In comparison, it doesn't feel big enough. The direction of movement of an object is a possible trend, not a tendency toward distance, let alone the actual state of movement. Black is so complete that it cannot be counted as a color. On the contrary, black will make you feel peaceful, suggesting that you can have a stable rest. A large area of ??solemn color still needs to be compared with a small part of the light to feel the inner effect.

Can we try to find momentum in this way, and let things with deep colors and a sense of movement towards the photographer occupy most of the space in the picture to achieve the feeling of momentum. Sometimes the color is not absolute, such as rolling white clouds and turbulent waves, which can also create momentum.