Composition : The Art of Composition and Photography
Written by: Digital PhotographyThere are a few basic rules of composition that you need to be aware of and practice:
The Rule of Thirds
Simply put, divide the view-finder into thirds, vertically and horizontally. The four intersecting points are where you want to place subject matter of interest.
The “S” Curve
Will help you lead the viewer’s eye toward objects you wish to emphasize; also, a pleasing pattern.
Symmetry
The exact correspondence of form on the opposites sides of a dividing line. Our eye demands symmetry.
SYMMETRY IS IMPORTANT!
Our eyes have been exposed to symmetry or near-symmetry since the day we were born and our MIND now demands it … is conditioned to it. So, it is a factor that cannot be ignored. If you are presented with a scene that has symmetry you should not ignore it. You should do your best to compose that photograph precisely so that you emphasize and balance the scene. If you do ignore the apparent symmetry, you will create an un-balanced picture that is uncomfortable to the human eye.
So rules listed above–”rule of thirds”, “S” curve, and symmetry–are important, but they are not set in stone. Look for ways to use the rules …………. Rule of thirds, for instance….Here, all four points have an element of interest.
Or look for ways to bend the rules a bit …
A variation of that “S” curve … and, breaking away from symmetry to add a touch of dimensionality … drama ….
Once you have practiced and worked with these rules …. learn how to break them successfully!!!!
A few more tidbits about how we see HERE
i may be a simpleton but i’m not sure i am seeing what you want me to see regarding these rules in relation to the photos. Could you draw onto the photos the rules you are suggesting? eg. the ‘s’ curve in the photo.
Point well taken. To hopefully clarify things in the meantime. 1st photo from the top “Rule of Thirds”, 2nd photo from the top, the “S” Curve. Doesn’t the river look like an “S” curve? 3rd photo from the top, Symmetry.
Hi,
Can you elaborate in the ‘house’ picture what you mean about a variation of the ‘S – curve’. I’m unable to see anything that looks ‘S’ like.
Thanks
So far Ive only read a few part and Im sure I,ll get lots of great info from these lessons
thank you Brian
Rob, Skip had written the article so I can’t tell you for sure what he was thinking but he does say that he’s breaking the rules a bit there and you can see the half “s” that we’ve drawn in where he used that cloud formation to his advantage and then went to an asymmetrical house.
hi, im new to all this but if u pay attention to the picture as well as what he has written, the house is also curved too because its at an angle and so are other parts of the house such as the railings. so maybe that is also part of the ‘s’ curve.
kelly
Thank You. This was very interesting. I have read books, but this was really helpful.
I’m trying to develop a career in photography, I’m looking at the pictures and I’m not understanding the “S” curve by looking at these pictures. Can you elaborate more the “S” curve
Yeah the last few images can make the rules seem confusing because they’re not meant to be clear illustrations of the rule, but more of a break from the rules. If you look at the photo of the river it’s pretty clear that the curving back and forth is the s-curve element that makes the photograph interesting.
One thing I’ve picked up in various places about the S-curve is that it helps to draw your viewer “into” the photo, and toward what you want them to see. It can also be used to lead the eye through the photo to see many different subjects, like in the river image above. It gives your viewer a path to follow through the image, so to speak.
I dont get what the “s” curve is?
I think Jim explains it well.
I also agree with Jim, I think the s-curve is ment to move the viewers eye through the photo. If you mentally draw an S over the photo of the house you get the full detail of the entire house, starting at the eaves of the roof down to the double windows, over to the rounded porch, up to the bottom of the stairs and ending at the American flag. Just as the river in the first picture leads you through the entire shot.
I think S curve description is OK, as far as it goes to draw your attention in a S-form. But perhaps, you van also say zig-zag formation. If we apply this to the house, we see that our eyes go left and right. This photo has not been taken from the front, an angle from which it would by symmetrical but from the side, from the bottom right side. This gives a feeling of height as well as the house’s view more on a 3-d effect as compared to a 2-d symmetrical effect, if taken from the front. Maybe S-curve is not the right description.
The S curve on the house photo is inversed and starts at the left part of the roof. From there you follow the roof to the railing, follow the railing to the left side and down to another railing (through the flag) and down to the far right of the balcony.
Voila, an inverted S curve.
This was really interesting reading. It’s a very difficult thing to explain and define, the idea that there are rules about how things look or are ordered. Students on my photographic courses like to learn these rules but I do find sometimes they fixate on “rules” and forget about “telling a story” or the decisive moment.
Good read anyway.
“Luke, use the force.” In the movie,”Star Wars”, it explains there is an unseen force to use. Here there is an unseen rule. The object is to make a more interesting photo. If you use the “S” curve or rule of thirds, these are tools to be used when you are using your imagination to “create” a photography rather than a snapshot.
The final S-curve example seems to be a picture that is not loading called Scurvea.JPG. The final sentence, I believe, is meant to be describing the final two pictures respectively, but the one unfortunately not loading. It could be read thus, “*First*, a variation of that “S†curve … and *finally*, breaking away from symmetry to add a touch of dimensionality … drama ….
My browser is showing the existence of a broken link to the photo, which again should be photographycourse.net/images/Scurvea.JPG.
Thanks Caleb for making us aware of the errors on the page! Hope it all makes more sense now.
While I agree with most of the comments, the illustrations of what the ‘S’ Curve isn’t that clear.
For instance, the photo of the river, the bridges caught my eye and drew my focus to the right/centre side of the photo as if the bridges were pointing to something rather than the curvature of the river.
While not explicit, I found a good site that hopefully illustrates the ‘S’ Curve more accurately and gives plenty of examples that hopefully will help you understand what the ‘S’ Curve is all about.
http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/Challenge.aspx?ID=2694
Also this site
http://www.photographyicon.com/line/index.html
Explains it a bit better.
Danny
Im excited to contine to read & learn from this site and all its followers.. Danny thanx for the references.
The ‘S’ curve rule in the House picture is slightly bent. Imagine your eye moving from the tail end of ‘S’ curving along and arriving at the head end of ‘S’. Now, imaging your eye moving from the steps at the bottom or bottom railing from left to right, and at some point climbing the pillars to the second level, moving along from right to left, and then climbing up along the railing to the top floor of the house (hence the head of ‘S’). The purpose of the photographer is to take you along through the whole picture. Our eyes are naturally trained to follow patterns or seek them out.
I think it’s been made clear that the house picture is an example of breaking the rule of symmetry to create dimension, not of the S curve rule.
Hi, could you tell me if your lessons are printed anywhere? You are an amazing teacher and I would love to have them where I could read them no matter where I am. Thanks, Laura
I think I’m understanding this so now my first step to take some photo’s this week with this in mind..i’ll be visiting again for another lesson thanks, Carol
The ‘house’ picture is an example of Symmetry. instead of taking a frontal picture, the picture was in perspective so the rule was “bent a little”.
The rule of 3rds apply to film and can be used with the digital format. This is one lesson I will not have to teach twice to the film class and the advance digital class.
I am beginner at this, taking pictures is my passsion. Any advice on what kind of digital camera to start with?
If you see all Three photos once. If you close your eyes and try to remembering the first photo, second photo and third photo. Keep doing that Thrice and find the difference in between each of the photo given. You should able to understand yourselves. You don’t need any explanation. I have understood in that way, got what I need.
Thanks,
Sri
Once I entered a photo collage i had made of my son and football pictures. I loved the colors and the subject matter and entered it into an art contest. Later the judge chose to use my work as an example of what we are taught not to do. My face turned red! But he chose my work as I had done what one is taught not to do and then went on to BREAK THE RULES SUCCESSFULLY! I had unknowingly arranged the pictures in an “X” formation for one larger picture to the side as if he were looking at all the other pictures on the page. The judges comments went kind of like this….
“when arranging photos it is wise not to put them in an “X: arrangement because our eyes automatically look to see what marks the spot. But what do we have in the middle? Absolutely nothing!”
My red face went away and I grinned when I was rewarded Honorable Mention for my “artwork.”
It is very important to use the rules of 9. S curves and symmetry are just as important. But the last statement you have made here about leraning to break the rules successfully is just as important as the broken rules oft times create incredible images!
The house isn’t an example of the ‘s’ curve, it’s an example of the rule of symmetry being broken, because instead of photographing the house exactly from the front, he (or she) went off to the side to create dimension, like it says in the article.
I don’t want to sound like that nit picky guy. (too late I guess!) The Eiffel Tower picture shot used for symmetry isn’t really a symmetrical shot, it’s actually off centered to the right. It’s just one of those things I saw, sorry!
I very much like this site and am thankful for the information.
The s-curve in the house is facing us. Notice the porch railing. An S-curve is usually seen as the river winding away from from us, going from front to back, or diagonally leading us down the view.
The usual S-view is like that of a snake wiggling to escape us. The S-curve of the house is like the s-view of a snake that is going from left to right across our line of vision.
Imagine the view if you are down at ground level with the snake. First imagine the snake going away and second picture the snake going sideways across your view.
Using this info in real life practice will cause one to be intuitive with it eventually. Im a landcaper and over the years of doing it,I now natually feel and interprete my surroundings and what it makes me feel where ever i am. Im in the habit of constantly figuring out why Im feeling what Im feeling, negetively and positively. As Ive read your stuff It great to be able to understand and transfer this to my beginings in Photograghy. We speak the same intuitive language. I found your stuff to be very helpfull.
The river has the stronger color on the picture. So when i look at it the first seconds it draws my attention to it and then i look at the details after that. Strange, but I just realised this just now. I wonder if that is a common reaction to some of you. It is a trick to the eye that unconsciously point your attention to it. The subject is very good and i think that is what good photography is all about. Some pictures feels uncomfortable and seems to ring unbalance to your ear. Maybe my brain is telling me that the picture is not symmetric.
I think Dawn has it correct here. The house is NOT an example of the S curve rule being “broken,” it is an example of the symmetry rule being broken. The author I guess accidentally inserted the same river pic as the top photo as an example of braking the s curve rule. Re read the last line carefully.
The House picture is BOTH .
The house IS A variation of that “S” curve … !!!
AND ALSO,
breaking away from symmetry…. to add a touch of dimensionality … drama … the photo is taken from the side . and not square on !!!