19 photography composition rules to take your photography from meh to wow! Get up close and personal with these composition techniques to see instant improvement in your photography.
Why 19 photography composition tips, why not 20, I hear you ask? Well, I rather like the Rule of Odds – see composition technique number 19 for details.
But first, here’s why you need to know photography composition…
Beginners need to learn photography composition early on
Learning photography composition techniques as a new photographer gets you used to thinking about creating strong composition as a matter of course. A well composed photo is engaging, which is the purpose of photography, to engage and interest the viewer.
Your photograph can be focused, well exposed and nicely lit, but if it’s poorly composed, it will never be great.
Why photography composition is important
Photography composition applied well when creating an image helps the viewer see, understand and appreciate the photo.
Photography composition rules (I prefer to say composition techniques) exist, because over time creatives have learnt how:
- humans appreciate an image
- the human eye works
- the brain reacts to an image.
It goes way, way, way back to a very long time before cameras were invented. The rules of composition apply to art in general, not just photography.
So, by the end of this tutorial you’ll recognize composition techniques used in the great works of art and you’ll be able to create better photos!
Why are there so many rules of composition in photography?
3 reasons why you should know several of the composition rules…
- Not every rule applies to every scene, so knowing a variety of composition techniques gives you greater expertise. Also, you want variety in your photography, so the more you know about photography composition, the more varied and interesting your photography will be.
- Using several photography composition techniques together in an image strengthens the composition. So most images use more than composition rule.
- Some composition techniques contradict others, but knowing the rules of composition means that you know when to use which technique and which combination of techniques works.
You might already have heard that “rules are meant to be broken”, which is fine. In fact, sometimes breaking composition rules is great and adds to the story of the image. However, if you don’t know the rules of photography composition, you won’t know how to break them.
19 Photography composition rules – let’s go!
There are more, but start with these first 19 photography composition techniques …and start practicing today.
full article at link: 19 photography composition rules you need to know to be awesome