How to improve the ability of photographic structure?

Composition is one of the most important skills a photographer can master. The most interesting thing about composition is the ability to observe and observe. Maybe it's worth buying a book or two to help you understand the basics. This is a more cost-effective way to become a better photographer than buying a new camera or lens!

Now you can try the following five ways to improve your writing ability.

1. Learn how to use the camera correctly.

Familiarity with cameras requires a lot of practice, so that you can take photos without thinking.

Try this exercise, close your eyes and pick up the camera. What buttons do I need to adjust the aperture, shutter speed and autofocus? How to select the active autofocus point (AF)? How to apply exposure compensation? If you don't know the answer, please read the instructions. You must know these settings very well so that you can set them automatically just by looking at the camera.

Learn this simple composition method

There are many menu options for digital cameras, and it is easy to fall into the dilemma of parameter setting. It is suggested to ignore most of them and adopt a simple method. How is this done:

Always shoot in RAW, and set the white balance to daylight or auto. Choose a camera profile and stick to it. All these settings can be adjusted later in Lightroom.

Do not touch settings such as lens compensation, contrast, dynamic range, noise reduction, sharpness or highlight priority. None of this matters if you shoot the original.

Do not switch between metering modes. Stick to one and learn how it works.

Understand the camera's focus mode and when to use each focus mode.

Learn how to activate the autofocus point so that you can set the focus where you need it.

Make sure you know how and when to switch to manual capture mode.

Knowing how to use exposure compensation, it is best not to take the camera out of your eyes.

For most types of photography, there is no need to know any other information. The main exception is anything that suggests that you need to take quick steps, because you may need to adjust the autofocus settings to meet your own needs. The idea is that you should know enough about the camera so that you can focus on the subject and find the best composition.

The more time you spend setting, the less time you spend shooting setting.

2. Choose the shooting method of the theme.

The first advantage found when taking pictures may not be the best or the most interesting.

When you find a suitable partner, take some time to understand what attracts you.

What if I shoot from another angle?

With different lenses?

Or, are you near or far?

What's interesting about the property that may be missed?

For example, if you want to take a picture of someone, it may be because you find your face beautiful and charming. However, what else is interesting about a person? His clothes? Jewelry? Tattoos Look through your face and see what else you can find.

3. Train your eyesight

By studying photographers' works, we can learn a lot about composition. Now it's time to choose some photographers who like them and start analyzing them. How did they do it? When studying the works of other photographers, ask yourself a few questions:

Is the image black and white or color? How will the transition from one to another affect the composition?

What's the point? Is it placed according to the law of three points of works or other principles?

What shapes and patterns do you see?

Is there any negative space for photography? How big is it?

Is the photo balanced? What is the visual relationship between the elements in the scene? Which ones are primary and which ones are secondary?

Can you tell me the focal length of the photo? How do different focal lengths affect composition?

How did the depth in photography come from?

Such questions deepen the understanding of other photographers' works.

After the sun disappeared from the horizon, the light reflected from clouds and the sky lit up the landscape.

4. Dealing with geometry and symmetry

Learn to look for shapes in photos. We can start with man-made objects because we try to create objects with recognizable shapes, such as triangles, squares and circles.

The repetition of shapes will produce patterns and symmetry, which can also be used as the basis for interesting composition.

For example, what will you see when you look at this photo?

At first glance, this is a street movie in rural China. But if you look closely, you will see the shape, and the screen rectangle is obvious. Have you noticed the diamond pattern on the floor? Or the natural Chinese characters on the wall?

Use punctuation and gestures

Punctuation marks indicate that something interesting, usually people, has been added to complement the scene. A photo needs something that makes it irrelevant. Punctuation marks are an important part of street photography and travel images.

For example, this shot was completed when a woman appeared at the door and became stronger.

Imagine shooting a mountain. What do you see? Maybe it's the shape of the mountain against the sky, maybe it's the texture of the rock, the steepness or the way clouds surround the peak. These are all part of the mountain.

When it comes to people, it is body language and posture. If you want to take a street shot, you can use body language or someone's posture in the photo to express it. If you want to make a more formal portrait, you should express a model or body language that helps to create emotions or characters.

In this photo, the dancer's posture and expression are gestures.

Photography composition is an important skill. It takes time to master it, but the effort is worthwhile, because the quality of the photos will be greatly improved.