Pixiq

What are you left with when you cannot control every element of the technical aspects of exposure in photography?

You know, like what if you couldn't control your aperture? Or ISO? Or shutter speed?

All you'd be left with is using your eye, your sense of vision, and creativity to control your composition.

All you NEED to make a great photograph is great composition!

Don't believe me?

Think about this: How do all of those wonderful photographers using toy cameras or iPhones get great photographs? They're not doing it by controlling every little aspect of the exposure triangle. You don't need an expensive camera to make great photographs!

Don't get me wrong. Knowing how your aperture affects depth of field and how experimentation with shutter speed can create dynamic photographs is important stuff to know. But when you get really bare bones about it, you can make photographs that turn heads using only composition.

Here are 5 simple things you can do to get better photographs using only composition

1. Know when to use the Rule of Thirds.

Knowing why the rule of thirds can help you create dynamic photographs puts you one step further to creating photographs that are compelling and help keep your viewers attention. 

2. You're in control, lead your viewer.

You can use the elements on your scene to create images that draw your viewer in. This is done by leading your viewer with visual queues that naturally appear in the image or by composing the subject matter to do the leading for you. An example would be to have a human subject facing towards negative space as opposed to facing the outside of the image. We tend to follow the gaze of people who are in the photographs.

3. Clean up that noise.

No, I'm not talking about ISO noise. I'm refering to background noise. Distractions. Often, the easiest way to do this is to fill the frame so that there's less background to cause distraction but sometimes this can be done by simply looking for a better angle or re-framing your photograph.

4. Use unique angles.

We see the world the way we see it. This is mostly from a standing position. So when you work your photographs from angles that are not from our normal visual frame of reference people tend to stop and pay attention more. It's almost like we're forced to put ourselves at the level and that's engagement.

5. Break the rules.

I learned early on in my art studies that learning the rules was absolutely essential to becoming a consitanlty better artist. Why? So I would know when to use them and when to break them. You can create visually compelling images by purposefully, and sometimes forcefully, breaking the rules. This can create tension in the photograph that can carry the mood in such dramatic fashion when done correctly.

These really are just a few ideas to get you thinking beyond aperture, shuttespeed, ISO, and all that jazz.

Photograph Rain, Rain Go Away by {Andrea}