Lesson 5: Photography


Image Composition

In addition to having a good exposure, it is also important for images to have a good composition. This can mean different things in different situations. For certain photographs, such as images you create for instructional purposes, you may want to take pictures from a certain angle, zoom into certain parts that you want to highlight, or show an object as a whole, depending on your purpose. Overall, however, there are several rules or principles that photographers use to create interesting compositions. Use these rules as guides, rather than laws. Some of these rules you can break if you have a good reason to do so.


Rule of Thirds

One of the most familiar rules or guidelines regarding image composition is the rule of thirds. According to this guideline, the screen would be divided into nine imaginary parts by placing two horizontal and two vertical lines across the screen.


Responsive image

This rule proposes that important parts of your composition should be placed on the intersections of these lines or on the lines themselves. For example, this rule can help you determine where to place your horizon in an image or where to place your subject(s).


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Fill the Frame

One common mistake that people often make when taking photographs is that they do not fully take advantage of the space within the frame. Often a lot of space is left blank. It happens a lot when taking photographs of people. People often leave a lot of space above a person’s head (headroom) empty or unused. When thinking back about the rule of thirds, it is often recommended to place people’s eyes approximately one third down from the top of the frame.



Guide your Viewers

Another common mistake people make when taking pictures is that they have much extraneous information in their photograph. When you take an image with too many details, it is often difficult for the viewer to know where to look. It is sometimes much more interesting to zoom in on a particular object in the scene rather than taking a picture of the whole view. In the two images below on the left, there are no leading lines.



Leading lines can guide viewers where to look.


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Avoid the Middle

Another way to make your photographs more interesting is by avoiding the middle. When you are just starting out taking photos, it may be tempting to capture your main subject in the middle of the photograph. Often, however, it makes the photograph much more interesting if you place your main subject away from the center. You can apply the rule of thirds here, by placing your subject at a third from the edge of the frame, but you can also find other creative ways to capture your subject.

When you capture people or images, you may want to give them lead room. This means that when you place people off-center in the frame, you want to keep open space toward the direction that they are looking.


The same principle applies when you take photographs of moving people or objects. It is recommended to leave extra space in the direction where people or objects are moving towards. Like any of these guiding principles, do not take these principles as laws. In some cases you can break these rules to create an interesting composition as well.

Assignment 5.2: Composition

Description

For each of the four composition rules or principles described in this lesson, create one good example and one bad example. For each photograph, describe in about 1-2 sentences why it is a good or bad example of the principle. Each photo should be created by you. You can use any camera you like, ranging from something as advanced as a DSLR camera to a camera as basic as the one on your phone. To summarize, please provide the following:

  1. Rule of Thirds
    One good example, one bad example, and a short explanation (1-2 sentences per photograph) describing why it is a good or bad example.
  2. Fill the Frame
    One good example, one bad example, and a short explanation (1-2 sentences per photograph) describing why it is a good or bad example.
  3. Guide your Viewers
    One good example, one bad example, and a short explanation (1-2 sentences per photograph) describing why it is a good or bad example.
  4. Avoid the Middle
    One good example, one bad example, and a short explanation (1-2 sentences per photograph) describing why it is a good or bad example.

Submit Your Assignment

Under your last assignment (5.1) in your Word file, write “Assignment 5.2” and type out your responses to the five parts of this assignment. When you have completed all assignments of this lesson, save the document as a file on your computer and make sure the file is named “Assignment5”. After you have saved your file, go to the student interface and submit your assignment for grading. Click here if you need additional information regarding submission of your assignment.

Grading Criteria

  • (Non)-examples and the short explanations display a correct understanding of the rule of thirds (2.5)
  • (Non)-examples and the short explanations display a correct understanding of filling the frame (2.5)
  • (Non)-examples and the short explanations display a correct understanding of guiding your viewers (2.5)
  • (Non)-examples and the short explanations display a correct understanding of avoiding the middle (2.5)

Points: 10