Hocus Pocus Academy


RULES OF COMPOSITION

29th June, 2017

RULES OF COMPOSITION

  • Rule of thirds or Grid Lines
  • Leading Lines
  • Breathing Space/Lead room /nose room
  • Composition

    A photographic composition is the pleasing arrangement of the subject matter elements of a scene within a picture catches a viewer’s attention. When we look at a scene, we selectively see only the important elements and more or less ignore the rest. A camera on the other hand, sees all the details within the field of view. This is the reason some of our picture are often disappointing. Backgrounds may be cluttered with objects we did not notice, our subject are smaller in the frame or less striking than we recall or the entire scene may significance and life.

    Rule of thirds

    The rule of thirds is a guideline which applies of composing visual images such as photographs. This guideline proposes that images should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and the important composition elements should be placed along these lines or intersections. The proponents of this technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would. By making your subject off- center, you are essentially forcing people to scan the whole photograph- letting them take in the entire scene

    Leading Lines

    When someone looks at a photograph, their eyes follow a certain path throughout the image moving between the elements in the composition. By using lines, you can dictate the path they take, whether they are actual lines in the image, or implied by the placement of the subject, real lines can be thing like mountain ridges, tracks in the terrain, shadows, the direction in which your subject is looking or traveling, or anything else you can think of to direct the eye. By leading them both in and out of the frame, diagonal lines are usually more dynamic than vertical or horizontal lines. You have to “see through” an image is of (e.g., a cut curled on a sunny step) in order to find the shapes and lines that compose it (e.g., black circle, a series of parallel lines)

    Breathing space

    You need space in your picture to allow the subject to breathe. This is an important part of the context when a close up won’t give you the whole story.
    A well- composed shot leaves space in the direction in which in the direction in which the subject is facing or is moving. For example, moving object such as ca cars require lead room. If extra space is left in front of a moving cars, the viewer Can see that it has some place to go. And without this visual padding, the car’s forward progress will seem impeded. When taken together the shapes, lines, angles, tones, patterns, and depth of the image create the composition. The “negative space “is the part of the image between the actual forms and the frame i.e, the white sky or the grey floor.