THE BASICS
ACHIEVE BALANCE AND FORM BY USING THESE SIMPLE TECHNIQUES IN YOUR SHOTS
Identifying and positioning the main subject, and other focal points, in your image is at the heart of good composition. Get this wrong, and you’ll simply end up with an unbalanced, awkward and unfulfilling image that will never look quite ‘right’.
So here, we’ll start with the building blocks of where to place subjects and focal points to help you get better balance, shape and distribution of form in your photos. No single one of these rules and techniques is the ‘golden bullet’ to getting the right balance every time you take a shot, but if you are struggling to find a framing and composition that works, implementing one of these rules can really help you get a shot that looks great, instead of one that is only destined to be deleted. Remember that, before you start using these techniques, you’ll first need to decide which elements of the subject you want to include — and, often more importantly, which you can leave out of the frame because they distract from, rather than add to, the image.
THE GOLDEN RATIO
While the rule of thirds is the most common way of dividing the frame, it’s certainly not the only one. A popular alternative is the golden ratio, which places the optimal positions for focal points and important elements closer to the centre than the rule of thirds.
This grid divides each side into sections with a ratio of 1:0.618:1, which means that the centre section is smaller than the outer ones. This is also known as the ‘divine proportion’ or the Phi ratio, and is based on the proportions that can often be found in nature.
But that’s not all; this grid also supplies the proportions for the golden spiral. This intersects the lines found in the golden ratio, with the arc of the curve giving you the optimal positions for placing interesting elements of the picture as well as the main focal point.
LOOK FOR OTHER FOCAL POINTS IN THE FRAME THAT CAN GIVE YOUR IMAGE MORE BALANCE AND DEPTH FOCAL POINTS
Although it’s true that you can produce a strong, simple composition with a single focal point, such as a person or dominant subject, you should also look for other focal points in the frame that can give your image more balance and depth. This can be particularly useful when placing subjects off-centre using one of the compositional ‘grids’.
For example, if your main focal point is on the top-right intersection of the rule of thirds, try to look for a complementary focal point in the lower-left one to counterbalance the dominance of the right of the frame.
ODD NUMBERS
When you’re shooting multiple subjects or focal points in a single frame, you should get in the habit of considering how many to include, as well as where you position them. One or two subjects work well, but when it comes to larger amounts, odd numbers produce more balanced and pleasing compositions than even ones. You can position these so that one is near the centre of the frame, then distribute the others evenly on either side, for a balanced feel. Alternatively, you might decide to offset the composition by including different numbers on either side to emphasise one side of the frame from the other.