14th March 2023
There is a fine line between a photo which looks nice and one that is breath-taking. A photo can cross the boundary anytime and become a piece of lovely art, forever.
There are many tips to take great photos but here are some unusual rules which can be learned from advanced photography classes:
Left to Right
You must put the focus on your subject more to the right side than the left. The fact is, our eyes are trained to read text left to right. This is not the usual Rule of Thirds; instead, it draws eye of viewer into the photo.
A simple exercise will demonstrate this. Take a photo with focus on the left and use some photo-editing software to flip it over. With the photo with left focus, you may look at the subject and quit looking. But in the photo with right focus, you simply look across the complete photo.
There is no need to follow this rule blindly but, in some situations, the composition will look slightly more interesting.
Reveal a Story
Everyone agrees that a picture speaks a thousand words. Consider this every time you take a shot. Does the shot of a sunset look just beautiful or does it convey a sense of peace and calm? What is the story you are trying to express with your photographs? Don’t shirk from telling a story, when you click the pictures.
There is nothing new about telling a story with your composition. One tip is that you must focus equally on what is excluded from the photo as what is included. The trick with composition is to analyse every detail in the photo and place in such a position which adds to the subject itself.
Simplify Composition
Maintain focus on the subject and not all details in a scene. Too many details take the focus away from the story your photo is trying to tell and makes it tough for your audience to figure out what you are attempting to convey. For instance, the building in the backdrop of your family picture is not part of the family and so don’t put it in the photo.
Focus can be put also by the element of light. The eye is drawn naturally to the brightest spot on the photo. By using depth of field, positioning, and light to make the viewer to pay close attention to the subject, you can capture much more effective photos.
Odd vs. Even
An odd number of items tends to be more visually exciting than even amounts. For instance, triangles are more dynamic than squares. 3 is more magical than 2 or 4; 9 than 10 and so on.
This technique of composition works well while posing for groups. Group photos frequently include rows of people: all persons in the back row and others in front and middle row. This serves as a very dull composition. In case you group persons into a triangle, you can include any number of persons and design a much more dynamic composition.
Break the Rules
Do not hesitate to break the rules and attempt something new. There are occasions when breaking rules is exactly what sets a photo apart from the rest!
