CREATIVE APPROACHES

Play by your own rules to get the creative composition that you envision

Now that we’ve covered the classic techniques and all of the technical jargon, it’s time to embrace all of this new-found wisdom and decide whether to use a tried and tested technique or something completely different.

You won’t always have a scene in front of you that works with the classic methods, or perhaps your creative vision doesn’t neatly fit into the rule of thirds grid, but that’s okay! Here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing and show you that from time to time it can be worth going off-piste, possibly taking a shot that’s even more incredible because of it.

Here we’re going to explore the moments and opportunities when it’s okay for your horizon to not be perfectly level, to stray away from the rule of thirds, and to embrace the opportunity when there’s a chance to use symmetrical framing to position your focal points. Let’s also look at how you can make the space in your compositions work harder by transforming so-called ‘dead’ space that doesn’t add anything to the shot into ‘active’ space, which as the name suggests helps fill out the empty areas around your subject more effectively. Want to break the rules? Here’s what you need to know…