07 G11 Basic Concepts in Photography

Photography
Basic Concepts of Photography

What is Photography?
• The word photography comes from two ancient
Greek words: photo, for "light," and graph, for
"drawing." "Drawing with light" is a way of describing
photography.
• Photography is a powerful means
of communication and a mode of visual
expression that touches human life in many ways.
• Photography is widely recognized as a fine art.
10 Composition Rules in
Photography
Note: There are no fixed rules in photography, but
there are guidelines which can often help you to
enhance the impact of your photos.
1. Rule of Thirds
- Imagine that your image is divided into 9 equal
segments by 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines. The rule
of thirds says that you should position the most
important elements in your scene along these lines, or
at the points where they intersect.
2. Balancing Elements
Placing your main subject off-centre, as with the rule
of thirds, creates a more interesting photo, but it can
leave a void in the scene which can make it feel
empty. You should balance the "weight" of your
subject by including another object of lesser
importance to fill the space.
3. Leading Lines
When we look at a photo
our eye is naturally drawn
along lines. By thinking
about how you place
lines in your composition,
you can affect the way
we view the image,
pulling us into the picture,
towards the subject, or on
a journey "through" the
scene. There are many
different types of line -
straight, diagonal, curvy,
zigzag, radial etc - and
each can be used to
enhance our photo's
composition.
4. Symmetry and Patterns
We are surrounded by
symmetry and patterns,
both natural and man-
made., They can make
for very eye-catching
compositions,
particularly in situations
where they are not
expected. Another
great way to use them
is to break the
symmetry or pattern in
some way, introducing
tension and a focal
point to the scene.
5. 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.
6. Background
The human eye is excellent
at distinguishing between
different elements in a
scene, whereas a camera
has a tendency to flatten
the foreground and
background, and this can
often ruin an otherwise
great photo. Thankfully this
problem is usually easy to
overcome at the time of
shooting - look around for a
plain and typical
background and compose
your shot so that it doesn't
distract or detract from the
subject.
7. Depth
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 recognizes these layers and mentally separates them
out, creating an image with more depth.
8. Framing
The world is full of objects which make perfect natural frames,
such as trees, archways and holes. By placing these around the
edge of the composition you help to isolate the main subject
from the outside world. The result is a more focused image
which draws your eye naturally to the main point of interest.
9. Cropping
Often a photo will lack impact because the main subject is so
small it becomes lost among the clutter of its surroundings. By
cropping tight around the subject you eliminate the
background "noise", ensuring the subject gets the viewer's
undivided attention.
10. Experimentation
With the dawn of the digital age in photography we no longer have
to worry about film processing costs or running out of shots. As a result,
experimenting with our photos' composition has become a real
possibility; we can fire off tons of shots and delete the unwanted ones
later at absolutely no extra cost. Take advantage of this fact and
experiment with your composition - you never know whether an idea
will work until you try it.

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Photography

Basic Concepts of Photography

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