Advanced Composition: Using Geometry

by Christina N Dickson

When you think of composition in photography, what are the first things that comes to mind? Rule of thirds. Fill the Frame. Leading lines. Depth. Repetition. If you are really educated, you may also think of perspective, angles, and color.

The world of artistic composition actually includes quite a bit more than you may think. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Just like with the basic rules of composition, you can train your eye to identify the other principles of composition, making your photos more dynamic than you thought possible.

Learning advanced composition is simpler than you may think. You only need to focus on one word: Geometry.

Yes. That course that you took in High School actually can have great influence in your photographic composition. In fact, many artists can subconsciously identify the shapes through a viewfinder, but they wouldn’t necessarily realize it unless pointed out by someone else. I’ll prove it to you:

Rectangles:

Using rectangles is a close likeness to Rule of Thirds. However, rather than keeping each section of your frame equal, you can use rectangles of varying sizes to place your subject. In this image the rectangles make up the bottom half of the frame, and the left side of the frame, isolating the light pol as the subject.

Circles:

I love using circles in photographs. You can capture a certain energy with the motion of a circular line, and also lead your eye through the frame. You can use full circles, or half circles to compose with those curves. The use of circles in this shot draws you into the depth of the scene, allowing you to take in the water and reflection, and the backdrop of the mountains.

Triangles:

Triangles are perhaps the easiest shape to find when composing your images. Go back and look through your photos, and see if you can consistently find triangles. These angles naturally create a depth of composition and interest to your photographs. The separate areas along the fence create a natural flow for your eye to come to the mountain – and even that is in the shape of a triangle.

Polygons:

While you may not look through your viewfinder and say to yourself “I should use a polygon for this image”, you may be surprised by how the use of those shapes help your photographs make sense visually. In this image the Polygon is created by flowers in the foreground – and also a contrast between the light and dark areas.

Squares:

Squares make excellent frames, and also provide incredible interest with repetition. With this image, the square is in the very middle of the frame, created by the chairs and my subject. Squares are also a part of the background with the books and bookshelves.

Arches:

Arches have the similar natural motion of circles, but these may be more a part of the background than a complete shape in itself. The heart shape of the hands in the background create 3 arches – which also frame the flower itself.

Parallel Lines & Converging Lines:

It can be very difficult to use lines well. But not only is it possible, when used, these parallel and converging lines can be quite effective for composing background elements. In this shot there are both. The lines pews mirroring one another, and the direction of the pews leading you in toward the subject.

Space: Relationship and Balance

Having a solid understanding of space will add additional strength and storytelling to your photos. As you see with this image – which is compositionally quite simple – there is more established by how close the viewer is to bench, and then how much space and emptiness there is behind. These elements can lead the viewer to create a story from their own experience or emotions.

Spend a bit of time taking one element at a time, and practicing your compositional techniques. You may not master the advanced principles right away, but you certainly will enjoy the challenge!

How to Create Backlight or Hairlight outdoors with Natural Light

A Guest Post by Marc from Crooze Photography

A good portrait is all about contrast. Contrast is the difference between lights and darks or sharps and blurry’s in a single photo. Contrast makes a subject stand out. And isn’t that what we want in a beautiful portrait?

Backlight or Hairlight is a great way to make your portrait subject (a human model) stand out. The light comes from the back (hence the name Backlight) and creates a rim of light around the edges of the subjects hair (hence the name Hairlight). This rim of light creates a perfect border of contrast between the model’s head and the background. So what ingredients do we need to create backlight in a natural outdoor environment?

1. A source of light, mostly the Sun.
2. A darkish background.
3. A good placement of the subject.


Light Source

When using the sun as a light source, the light must be coming in from a low angle. This means that we are either in the early or mid morning or in the mid or late afternoon. Because long loose hair will be subject to movement by the wind, it’s best to have the wind going into the direction of the Sun. This means that if the wind is coming from the East, it’s better to shoot in the afternoon, when the Sun is in the West. If the wind is coming from the West, it’s better to shoot in the morning.

Background

So we need a darkish background for the rim of light to stand out. It’s not necessary for the background to be very dark, just a little darker than the subject or the surroundings is enough to create the necessary contrast. A dark background could be formed by some trees with dark leaves and shadows, a dark wall or the shadow side of a building, etc. The key is to take some time and look around. If you just give yourself a minute, you will find the best spot.


Placement of the Subject

Now onto the last part of the job: placing your model in the right place. It’s important to get an even distribution of light around the hair. This means that the Sun must be right behind your subject, or just a little off-center. So now we know that the Sun must be in the same direction as your dark background.
That is the direction that you should be looking at to find your best spot. Now that you found your spot, be sure not to shoot directly into the Sun in order to avoid lens flare (the light that hits your lens directly and causes a blurry haze in your image). A lens hood comes in very handy when trying to avoid lens flare. You may also choose to purposely get lens flare it you want to have that effect in your photo.
Remember that when shooting a portrait, the most important thing is make your subject look good. So whatever you do to get a nice backlight, don’t forget to pay attention to the other details that you normally take care of. Good luck!
Check out more from Marc at his website – A Guest Post by Marc from Crooze Photography

Posing Guide: 21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Weddings

I would like to state from the very beginning, that weddings in general are a major commercial industry to many professional photographers. Shooting wedding photography professionally is a much, much bigger topic than just 21 sample poses. The aim of this article is only to provide you with some initial guidance and ideas to take some nice bride and groom pictures.

1. The wedding veil is a superb accessory for a bride’s close-up portrait. You may want to use manual zoom to focus on the eyes, otherwise the auto mode will focus on the veil’s texture.

2. A very good opportunity for a great picture is photographing the bride or both newlyweds in the wedding car.

3. The romantic and passionate kiss is another must-have shot from the event. Definitely try to capture both faces including the eyes. Without that you will probably produce a dull shot.

4. Very easy and kind pose. The newlyweds simply and naturally embrace while bringing their cheeks together. Take care that the bridal bouquet is nicely placed and turned towards the camera.

5. Another beautiful pose with the groom embracing the bride from the back. The newlyweds may look romantically at each other or straight to the camera. Or they might kiss for an even more affectionate pose.

6. Just a slight variation of the previous ones, keep the newlyweds close together, but find a way to get a shot from an elevated angle.

7. In weddings you can’t really go wrong by asking the newly weds to kiss for a shot whenever there is an appropriate moment. They won’t complain anyway!

8. If possible, arrange an outdoor shot, take some pictures of the couple from a distance and use some open space in a background.

9. Absolutely easy and a bit more formal pose, creates a calm and intimate mood.

10. The groom holding the bride in arms, easy to pose, however be careful choosing the right shooting angle – both faces should be visible.

11. A pose with the groom holding the bride works not only from a distance, but makes a very nice pose for a close-up as well.

12. Certainly a staged pose – the bride falling into the groom’s hands. But if the newly weds are responsive, poses like that could work out extremely well.

13. Weddings don’t need to be and sometimes really aren’t at all that serious. Don’t be afraid to make some fun, ask the newly weds to loose their shoes and just run around a bit and snap some frames.

14. Never forget that there often are good opportunities shooting from the back.

15. A fun pose with the newlyweds kissing passionately. Pay attention to the wedding dress: It shall look free-falling and natural, as opposed to stuck and creased under the groom’s leg.

16. A gorgeous pose for a bride’s portrait. The bride should sit on the ground (or a very low stool) with the wedding dress nicely arranged around her. Shoot from above with the bride looking slightly upwards.

17. Fun and simple pose, the newlyweds clinking champagne glasses. For a more creative shot you could get real close and focus on the glasses, leaving the portraits blurred.

18. Another creative way to play with a shallow depth of field. Use the widest possible aperture and keep the groom in a distance from the bride. Focus on the bride, leaving him slightly out of focus.

19. The newlyweds dancing is just another must-have shot. Take pictures with the bride and groom facing towards the camera, making both faces clearly visible. They may look to the camera or at each other.

20. For some creative results, don’t concentrate only on bride and groom. There are many interesting corresponding objects to shoot, and these photos especially will make the event’s photo album far more engaging. Thus, take separate shots with single objects. Examples are the wedding bouquet, jewelery, clothing details, champagne glasses, wedding rings, wedding car elements etc.

21. The final point isn’t about posing proper, rather just an idea for a post production. Most probably you will have a bunch of photos from the event, so use them to make a small collage (or several ones). Pick only some objects or crops from other pictures and combine them into a balanced composition. Use some unified filter effects or simply convert them to black-and-white in order to achieve outstanding results. Such collages indeed are pure pleasure to an eye!