Pixiq

What are the essential components of a winning photograph? For many photographers, it’s all about their own positive feelings: maybe the picture evokes an important memory of a place or person, or a particularly satisfying aha! moment. It may be an exemplary example of the photographer’s capture, processing, and printing skills. It might have been taken with the latest equipment on an expensive photo journey. The photographer is proud of the work, but if it doesn’t elicit the same enthusiastic response from objective reviewers, it’s probably lacking the essential qualities common to strong photographs — those that will appeal to a broad spectrum of viewers, might win a contest, or be published in respected venues.

Three basic elements — alone or in combination — are needed to give a photograph compelling strength: a strong center of interest, color, or design. You need at least one of these in your photograph to elevate it beyond the level of simple documentation. One of the three qualities might be all that’s needed to make a great image; or perhaps two or three combine to create a powerful vision. But a strong image stands on its own and makes its statement with no caption, or explanation, needed.

 A Strong Center of Interest

The center of interest is the subject of the photograph — usually it’s the reason you took it in the first place. Is the subject worthy of the attention you’re calling to it because of its rare character? Are you portraying a common subject in a unique way, or offering an unusual perspective on the mundane? In any case, the placement of this subject tells much of the story. The Rule of Thirds comes to mind, but it’s not always the right answer. The subject’s importance and placement within the image needs to let the viewer know, immediately, that this is the center of interest and the reason for your photograph.

Color

Sometimes brilliant color — a field of red flowers, a sunlit azure sea, the piercing color of a tiger’s eye in close-up — can make an image sing. The color alone attracts and either shocks or satisfies the viewer. A lack of color can work here too if a sharp range of tonal values is involved, as in a dark monochromatic image that has a single brightly lit area. If the color, or the light, corresponds to the photograph’s center of interest, you have a winning combination.

Design

A rhythmic repetition of shapes or subjects, powerfully placed within or even entirely composing an image, conveys emotion, movement, whimsy, serendipity, or infinity. Many centers of interest, if they are harmonious, can create a powerful design element. Imagine a line of trumpets raised to the sky, a patch of ice crystals on a leaf, concentric ripples on a pond, or a high-magnification image of a butterfly’s wing scales. Usually, randomly scattered subjects don’t make strong images; design elements must be organized in precise and recognizable patterns to work well.

Looking for Strong Photographs

Take some time to look through a magazine featuring lots of professional work, such as Nature’s Best, National Geographic, or Outdoor Photographer, and try to identify the elements that attract you to particular images or what’s missing from the images that seem weak. Then you can immediately upgrade the artistic and emotional strength of your own images by incorporating the three elements of center of interest, color, and design. If you’re about to take a picture that doesn’t feature one of these elements, you’re about to capture simple documentation, which may suit you just fine if you’re putting together a portfolio of your possessions for your insurance company. But if you want to dramatically increase the power and “ooh” factor in your images, keep looking for, recognizing, and emphasizing these elements until the process becomes an instinctive part of your photography.