Chapter Five

Basic Composition
By now you have probably taken a few pictures and have decided that you might need a little guidance on how to make some improvements. You should ask yourself a few questions first. How are you planning on using your pictures; for a scrapbook, the living room wall, a science project, or maybe a report for work? Can you easily go back to the same location and capture the same scene again just in case your pictures did not turn out exactly the way you expected? Do you NEED to go back and try again; maybe turning on your flashgun this time? Are you hoping to have your picture enlarged and used as a framed shelf portrait, or maybe a dartboard self-portrait? Can your photofinisher crop out all that distracting foreground you did not notice when you were looking through your viewfinder (remember 50mm versus 85mm)? Can they crop out Aunt Sally and the cane she used to use in getting your attention? Did you use the correct speed of film? Did you use film? Lots of questions are going to come to mind as you look back at some of your cherished photographic memories. And most of the time you will be able to rationalize the conditions under which you exposed that piece of film. More often than not, this is the case: You did not have time; The bear was getting too close; The football almost hit you; Your girlfriend almost saw you; many reasons to be satisfied 'under the circumstances'. And there is nothing wrong with any of these excuses, as we mention them all from personal practice and experience.
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As we mentioned before, Always capture the moment. Then, if you have time to improve the shot by using some of the techniques we will discuss in this chapter, take that time to experiment and learn. Making two different exposures of the same scene only costs a few extra cents and the additional exposures and choices can be very rewarding; you will know you have provided yourself with some photographic safeguards. Here we go Most of the time your photogenic scene will have some type of horizon as a reference line in your viewfinder. The horizon can be one of many things, maybe the base of that mountain range off in the distance, the table top on which Uncle Joe is acting a bit silly for his age, the place on the countertop where the vase of flowers rests, maybe the familiar line where the sky meets the ocean, and even where the wheels of the plane touch the runway. The horizon in your photograph is where YOU feel the scene rests comfortably and seems to balance naturally. If you have difficulty establishing where your horizon lays it is okay, at least try to keep your scene complete, squared, and level in the viewfinder.

Most artists will tell you to begin learning composition by using what is known as The Rule of Thirds. This rule is really just an artistic suggestion to help you balance the contents of your scene while you are looking through your camera's viewfinder; we use it to make objects in your scene appear to compliment each other. In the viewfinder example on the left, imagine the lines of a Tic-Tac-Toe game superimposed in your camera's viewfinder; that would be two vertical lines and two horizontal lines forming three vertical columns and three horizontal rows. You have just divided your viewfinder into nine little sections, both horizontally, three rows, each divided into thirds, and vertically, three columns, each of which is divided into thirds; hence the rule of thirds. Get the picture?
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However, only the imaginary lines and where the lines intersect with each other will be used to aid in designing your compositional arrangement. So, to refresh, you should be able to imagine two horizontal lines and two vertical lines when looking at your scene through your viewfinder. We mentioned earlier about using a horizon in composing your scene; now is the time to try and organize the scene you see through your viewfinder by artistically positioning that horizon. Start by placing what you feel is the scene's horizon on or near either of the two horizontal lines. Try them both by aiming your camera up and down a bit and you will immediately see the impact that one horizon's placement makes over the other; your natural artistic talent will let you know which placement looks the best. Sometimes both of them will look good or you might have a hard time choosing, in which case photograph the scene both ways and decide after seeing the finished results. To help guide you as to which horizontal line to use for placing your scene's horizon, try to remember these few things: If the foreground is more important and holds more of the story you want your picture to tell, place your horizon on or near the upper imaginary horizontal line. If the opposite is true then use the lower imaginary horizontal line. With this first little bit of compositional knowledge you will see a dramatic improvement in your personal and vacation photos. So, you ask, why are we also supposed to imagine the two vertical lines? We will tell you in a minute, but first Imagine looking through your viewfinder at a long, low, range of mountains in the distance, their tops lightly frosted by a recent snowfall with an obvious near-onset of the next storm approaching from behind the range. The storm's clouds are billowing up from dark gray to a brilliant white as they approach their tops at near 40,000 feet. In the foreground is a prairie containing only spots of scrub and nothing else any more interesting.
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First you must decide where the horizon is in the scene. We would suggest the base of the mountains where they meet the prairie. If you agree, read on. If you disagree then you need to take up archery. Because there is nothing very interesting in the foreground our thought would be to try and eliminate as much of the uninteresting foreground as possible by placing our horizon on the lower of the two rule of thirds lines. Doing so will also enable us to include more of the dramatic cloud formations in the upper portion of our scene that directly relate to our scenic mountain range. And what if placing the horizon on the lower line still does not include all of the clouds? Two things: Switch to a wider angle lens, which might change the entire feeling and perspective of the scene, or move your horizon a bit below the lower rule of thirds line. This is YOUR picture so you must try to judge its composition as you want it to appear in the finished photo. Remember, these lines are suggestions and not necessarily steadfast rules. Your scene needs a visible horizon; as long as you include one your image will be easy to view by others and will maintain its own artistic strength. Chopping off or eliminating the obvious horizon will be distracting to the person viewing your picture and will make us send you nasty emails for not having paid attention to our eloquent writings. A-hem So, you have taken the picture of the impending storm approaching the far side of the mountain range, retreated safely back into your car, and continued on down the road toward the mountains. As you approach you see where the mountains begin to separate into long valleys, and that the frosting of snow has begun to melt and flow into several large streams running toward the roadway. You stop at one of the small bridges you must cross and see several huge boulders that must have cascaded down this stream as the result of some long forgotten storm. Even now the melted snow is rushing down the streambed, over the rocks, swirling in small crevices, and splashing as it falls over small clefts. Go get your camera! As you look through the viewfinder you notice that it is hard to get the entire stream into view. Maybe you should turn the camera vertically? It is a bit awkward to hold this way, but the change in position manages to include more of the streams details in the picture. And, this vertical view eliminates some of the distractions to the left and right of the stream
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which lets you concentrate on the majestic line of the flowing melted snow. Try using your tripod to hold the camera steady as you experiment with your different lenses. Oh, yeah, you want to know about the imaginary vertical lines. Now that you have turned your camera vertically, the previously referenced vertical lines are now horizontal lines; only shorter. You are now going to use these new, short, horizontal lines with the same rules concerning horizon placement as you did when you took the picture of the long, low horizontal range of snow-capped mountains. Because this beautiful stream is coming directly toward you and appears to occupy more height in your viewfinder than width you will probably want to place your scenes horizon scene near the top, short horizontal line; this will allow you to capture the full length of the stream as it passes beneath your feet. Placing the horizon near the lower line will probably result in chopping off the upper portion of the streams headwaters or maybe where the stream makes a turn in its approach toward you. Plus, it will probably be hard to find a good horizon placement towards the bottom of your viewfinder. Again, looking through your viewfinder will help in deciding which line rules the scene. So, why do we not just tell you to divide your viewfinder into three equal parts, either vertically or horizontally? The answer is art, plus it is an easy way to please the person viewing your photograph. Earlier we said to imagine two vertical lines intersecting two horizontal lines forming the Tic-Tac-Toe. We are going to use the points where the lines intersect to assist us in placing the objects and subjects in our selected scene. Again we imagine the two horizontal lines intersecting the two vertical lines, and as we do so we should imagine four points where these four lines intersect. The space inside these four points is usually where most beginning photographers place their main subjects; we call them bulls-eye snapshots. Archery anyone? It is easy to get into the habit of shooting bulls-eyes because the center of your viewfinder is usually where the focusing part of our camera's viewfinder is located. If you do not aim
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your camera's focusing system at your subject you will get pictures that appear out of focus. So, you aim with the center of your viewfinder and always get bulls-eye pictures; nasty ole camera makers. Reading your owner's manual should enlighten you on how to focus off-center subjects by locking your focus and exposure settings before recomposing the scene in your viewfinder. Anyway, we were talking about the four intersecting points of our four imaginary lines. Working with your predetermined horizon placement, try to position what you feel is your main subject so that it is on one of the four intersecting points. You might find yourself needing to move around a bit (no dancing), squatting, using a small (or large) stepladder (careful, please) to get your stationary main subject to cooperate with the rest of your scene; this is called working your subject. In the previous example of the stream you might find that one particular boulder keeps catching your eye; this boulder would be the subject to place on or near one of the intersecting points. Or maybe you have a friend along and the scene would make a nice setting for a candid outdoor portrait. If you find that you have more than one important subject in your scene you can use the other intersecting points for their placements, but never use all four points; your scene will balance better if you use a maximum of only three. Again, these points are referenced just like the lines; they are suggestions for placement, not 'set in stone' rules. Again, for balance, you might change the aiming of your lens (your camera angle) to see what else might be in the scene that could compliment your subject. If you have another lens, and the time to use it, you should see if it can provide you with a better view. And, remember to try framing your scene both horizontally and vertically in the viewfinder before making your exposure; or shoot both!
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Now, let's compose another scene. Place the imaginary Tic-TacToe over the scene in your viewfinder to properly alignment your subjects. Our horizon rests just at the base of the mountain range while our second subject is the roadside sign describing where we were at the time. By placing the scenes horizon near one of the horizontal lines and the sign near one of the intersecting lines we were able to compose a pleasing image; hopefully we will make the viewer comfortable as they examine our scenic image.

When you think you have composed your scene to the best of your ability, trip the cameras shutter release! If you think another view of the same subject might be better or different, make an

exposure of it, too, especially if you are not going to be back this way again soon. Part of our family is from Wyoming so we had an excuse for being there to take these shots. The Grand Tetons are a long way from our home in Florida and would be a long trip back just to correct any errors in exposure or compositional judgement.
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And finally, where is the horizon in this Asheboro Zoo, NC picture? Not exactly where we have been teaching, but the effect is still quite evident in this unretouched picture. Remember, the Rule of Thirds is a guide to help you arrange your scene. Use it to suit yourself in an artistic sort of way. There are many aspects to composition, most of which you will learn from developing your own style of photography. There have been many times when I have placed my horizon almost at the very top or bottom of my viewfinder, far above or below the guide lines of the Rule of Thirds, just because I felt the impact of doing so made my picture that much stronger or that much more dramatic. I have also bulls-eyed a few subjects because there was simply no other way to get what I wanted. And, have I ever cut my scene in half by running my horizon straight across the middle of the scene? Sure I have, but probably because I was capturing a scene's reflection in an extremely smooth body of water. After all, it is MY picture! And I was shooting from a friend's boat! Gee, how did I accomplish THAT?!? Remember, it is YOUR picture you are dealing with, so do not be so technically overloaded and nervous that you miss capturing the moment. And one other thing: Take a good look at your scene before you start looking through the viewfinder so your mind can remember the scene in 3D; your camera only remembers in 2D. And BTW, did anyone notice the giraffe image in the rock formation? You must have known I was waiting for the giraffe to pose. Patience...
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