Breaking the RulesProfessional picture

1. This lady’s looking straight out of the frame, which puts you on edge-and that’s the idea. 2. The man’s gaze creates a really strong imaginary line connection the two figures.

3. The lady’s off-center position works really well, and she’s balanced well by the man at the back of the shot.

My Breaking the Rules

I was taking this picture of my daughter, Abigale, but when I viewed the picture on my computer I noticed the other two kids who look like they are dancing, but they are really jumping to pose for

another picture being taken.

Professional Backgrounds• Use a long focal length and

wide lens aperture to throw busy, distracting backdrops out of focus.

• Fill the frame-the less space that’s taken up by an unwanted background the better.

• Choose your camera position carefully, as this will affect what’s in the background.

My Background Photo

I took this picture from a restaurant on the coast using a long lens.

Avoid the MiddleProfessional shot

• Don’t be a slave to the “Rule of Thirds” –just get your subject off center

• Look out for any balancing elements in the scene, such as this bright cave entrance

• In this image you can see how the space on the right (for the climber to look into) has simplified the picture.

Avoiding the middle-I chose not to center this picture so I could get a view of the boat the

water and the kids.

Aspect RatioProfessional shot

• You can crop the shot later if a subject is too tall to shoot.

• Turn the camera and try an upright shot to get different and sometimes improved results.

• Remember that your camera’s aspect ratio might not be the same as the paper you print on.

My Aspect Ratio photo-For this picture I turned the camera vertically and used the sport setting.

Action

• Even though photographs themselves are static, they can still convey a strong sense of movement. When we look at pictures, we see what’s happening and tend to look ahead – this creates a feeling of imbalance or unease if your subject has nowhere to move except out of the frame.

My Action PhotoIn this shot my son is riding on a skim board very quickly. In order to

take this shot I had to focus on what is about to happen by focusing on the skim board.

Depth

• Because photography is a two-dimensional medium, we have to choose our composition carefully to conveys the sense of depth that was present in the actual scene. You can create depth in a photo by including objects in the foreground, middle ground and background. Another useful composition technique is overlapping, where you deliberately partially obscure one object with another. The human eye naturally recognises these layers and mentally separates them out, creating an image with more depth.

My example of depthIn this picture you can see the human subjects, but the clouds show the depth of the

picture

Viewpoint

• Before photographing your subject, take time to think about where you will shoot it from. Our viewpoint has a massive impact on the composition of our photo, and as a result it can greatly affect the message that the shot conveys. Rather than just shooting from eye level, consider photographing from high above, down at ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on.

View Point-My photo using view point was taken from the second floor of a beach house looking down at the

girls.

The Rule of Thirds

• The Rule of Thirds means that the frame can be divided into three horizontal sections and three vertical sections and therefore, where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect makes an ideal location for the more important parts of your picture. By locating your main subject at one of the four intersections you give the subject more emphasis than if it was right smack in the middle of the picture.

My example of Rule of ThirdsIf you cut this picture into thirds you would find my daughter and he friend in the in

the vertical and horizontal intersects.

Balance

• The problem with following the rule of thirds rule is that it can leave you with a strong focus point on one side of your shot and a big empty space on the other so, to improve this, see how you can add a secondary point of interest that's less important to balance your shot. This could mean moving an object (if you can), cropping in by zooming in with your lens or with the crop tool in your editing software or by moving your feet to find a different angle.

My Balance photoIn this picture the subjects (my son and daughter) are in balance

with the scenery

Colors

• Colors are what add heart and emotion to your pictures. Certain color configurations can inspire awe and amazement in onlookers. Colors can be used to add all sorts of accents and effects, but you must be careful to not draw attention away from the main subject.

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• It might not be a bad idea to keep these key terms with you when you practice taking pictures. The best way to learn and improve your composition is just lots of practice and experimenting.

My example of ColorsThis pictures shows the deep rich colors of rocks and stones at a playground

by my house. The playground in covered in these types of rocks.