Composition 101: Q&A

Composition 101 sparked some really good questions. I'll try to answer some of them in this post.

Daphne said...

question...would the same rules apply when you do group pictures, with many points of interests?

Short answer: yes.

Many formal group shots feature a bunch of people in a stiff execution line. Personally, I find those shots boring. Sometimes I do take shots like that, but they're more for documenting facts than for making art. However, you can make interesting group shots, and those shots often take advantage of the techniques covered in Composition 101.

Group shots (posed or unposed) should have shape and points of interest, just like any other object you photograph. If it's a posed shot, you mold the shape and emphasize/de-emphasize certain people or objects by moving them around. If you're taking photojournalistic group shots, you do it by repositioning yourself. You can place the resulting points of interest on one of the four "1/3" intersection spots or along the "1/3" division lines.

The negative space and "looking direction" tips are equally applicable in group shots. Take this picture for instance. There are a bunch of people around a table, and all of them look toward the center of the frame. The viewer follows their gaze and is led back into the picture instead of out of the picture. Also, there isn't a lot of empty space wasted above their heads.

Alex said...

it seems strange to have the band director's leg still in the pic. Would you recommend keeping this ratio over cutting the band director out entirely?

Good catch! We could crop one more time to cut out Mr. Kondrat's leg. Just be careful to keep Mr. Turner's head at the top-left "1/3" intersection spot. I'm too lazy to I'll leave this as an exercise for the reader.

At this rate, we're going to crop until it's just a really blurry picture of Mr. Turner's face! At times like this, it's better to let the picture die in peace and resolve to do better next time. =)

There's still a lot wrong with this picture. For example, the mess of audio equipment behind Mr. Turner is really distracting. I composed the original picture horribly, which brings us to...

tropicalfish said...

Any tips on taking good pictures without editing it? Such as location of "centerpiece", etc.

Actually, all of the tips I gave in Composition 101 are better applied in-camera. It pays to do things the right way in the camera instead of depending on Photoshop (or Gimp, which is free!) to change the composition after the fact. Each time you crop, you reduce the picture's resolution, and what's left will be blurrier and less detailed than if you'd shot it that way to begin with.

In practice, I rarely crop, and "dreamers" (the last picture I posted on Composition 101) is pretty much how it was composed in-camera.