Understanding Composition in Photography (Part-1)

When I started out photography around four years back, I didn't really think much about it. I bought a DSLR (Nikon D3100) and started out quite enthusiastically. Fortunately I was in Kolkata at that time and I found many friends just like me. I joined some Photography groups and began to go out in groups to take photos. I remember vividly those fun days. We would go out in hoards in and around Kolkata and click photos. In the end, we would come back, process them and post them in our common group for comments and critique. The first few outings were real fun as I didn't know a thing about photography and randomly shot and posted snapshots. The others, being the good friends they are, never said anything to me. I was blissfully ignorant that my images are literally crap.

One day, one of such friends asked me to show him my work and I gleefully showed him my flickr collection. I expected the usual "Good work, nice work" type of comments but what he said really surprised me. His exact words were- "These are nothing but ordinary snapshots. There are no thought or design to them. You need to improve a lot". He forced me to think and take a re-look at my own images. The same images which looked nice and interesting appeared downright horrible. That was the day, I came to know about something called Composition in photography and its importance.

Photography is a form of art, and there are no rules in art. But at the same time, there are some unwritten guidelines that good images allover the world across time follow. Of course there are exceptions and there are great pieces of art that do not conform to the so called guideline, but before breaking the guideline, we should learn about them first. Also, each and every of these "rules" do not apply universally to all the images. It is up to the photographer how he wants his photos to look like. What I personally do , is I keep the rules in my mind and when I see a scenario where a particular rule may apply, I try to compose accordingly. The rules and tips that I am going to discuss here is by no way exhaustive. These are some of the most basic rules that we photographers should know and apply to our images. As discussing all of them in a single post will be too cumbersome and lengthy, I am dividing this post in multiple parts. In this part, I am just laying down the very basic ideas about composition, and in later parts, I shall post some commonly used tools and techniques which even beginners can apply while shooting and improve their photographs. So lets go ahead and jump in it-

The concept of composition and key elements

Lets first understand what is composition. Wikipedia defines it as- 

"In the visual arts—in particular painting, graphic design, photography, and sculpture—composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art, as distinct from the subject of a work."

Thats a pretty simple definition and self explaining. Arranging the key elements in a frame so that the image looks better is composition. Do not misunderstand the word "element". It does not mean only the subjects in a frame, but also includes factors like vibrancy of colors, contrast, lighting, the aperture and POV of the lens used etc. We can also say that composition  is a way of guiding the viewer's eye towards the most important elements of your work, sometimes – in a very specific order. A good composition can make an image stand out despite having the dullest of objects and subjects in the plainest of environments. On the other hand, a bad composition can ruin a photograph completely, despite how interesting the subject may be. A badly composed image is also not something that can be easily fixed in post-processing. In a few cases, cropping can save an image, but only when tighter framing and exclusion of certain elements of the image make an uninteresting frame somehwhat interesting. That is why thinking about composition before capturing an image is absolutely important. Lets take a look at a badly composed image first-

In the image, there is nothing that attracts the eyes of the viewer. From a street photographers POV, the barber shaving on the street could have been a good frame, or the fruit sellers with their colorful umbrellas could have been a decent frame, but in its present form, this picture doesn't give anything interesting to the viewer. Moreover, the lighting is pretty flat and boring. All in all , a pretty forgettable shot which had some promise had it been composed differently.

Elements of composition

Though there are no fixed guidelines, but we may include the following under the elements of coposition-

a. Placement of subjects- Basically the process of composition starts here. Before clicking the shutter, we have to decide which subjects to include in our frame and in what order. Generally, it is better  to have a strong subject in a frame towards which the viewers eye gets attracted automatically. Then we should decide upon the other factors to complement the main subject.

b. Lighting and contrast- After placement, the next important element in a composition would be the lighting and contrast. If the lighting is such that it distracts the viewer's attention from the main subject, then it won't be a strong composition.

c. Focal Length, Aperture and Angle of shot- This is a critical area where starters often err. Shooting in larger apertures will result in blurred background which will draw the viewers attention to the subject (portrait photographers use this technique very often to produce those beautiful portraits with blurry, dreamy background) while shooting with a smaller aperture will bring more and more objects in focus. Angle of shooting is also very important as unusual angles often lend an interesting perspective to even the most mundane object. 

Goal of composition

We should also understand what is the ultimate goal of composition. We may think that composition is only needed to make our images more presentable, but composition is a far more powerful tool. An artist can choose to deliberately compose his image in such a way that the viewers get a sense of disturbance or discomfort. For example, war photographers use this technique very often. Also, in some cases like shooting abstract images or some fine art images, the photographer wants to convey some message or thought through the image. The seemingly random nature conceals a message by the artist which is expressed only by way of composition.

How do I compose my images as a beginner

After going through the entire post, as a beginner, it is quite natural to get intimidated. Truth be told, when I first came to know about composition and how many different ways one can compose an image to portray different emotion, I was afraid. I thought that I could never master the required knowledge for composing my images correctly and my images will always be mediocre. I don't know whether the quality of my images have improved or not, but after lots and lots of practice, now I feel confident while composing a picture. There is no short-cut. The only way to learn and use the different techniques of composition correctly is LOTS AND LOTS of practice. We should click as much as possible and should try to analyze our pictures. Getting honest feedback from friends and seniors also help a lot in developing the eye for composition. At first, your images will be crappy. But do not lose heart and shoot more. Remember what the legendary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson once said- “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst".   So keep shooting.

P.S- In Part 2, I shall discuss some of the basic techniques of composition that can be applied universally. Stay tuned...