Before pressing the shutter, it is good to see if the composition is more or less matching one of the
Rules of Composition.
There are too many too keep in mind so here are my go-to
- Rule of thirds: using the horizon in landscape or the closest eye in portrait. Use the grid most likely build-in your camera to guide you.
- Shapes, Triangles and S curves: when shooting bodies, shapes convey a message. Triangle for movement, stability, inversed for empowerment, S curve for sensuality, etc
- Fill the frame: sometimes it is OK to crop a few things in order to fully fill the frame and have a stronger impact. However think about the media, for printed or web media, a little bit of white space on 3 sides if often mandatory.
- Negative space: The opposite of the previous rule. I love using negative space to further make the subject stand out. Also we can do fun shapes with negative space.
- Be aware of the background: sometimes we have tunnel vision when it comes to shoot a subject but we should keep the background and depth of field in mind and make sure it works with the frame.
What other composition rules are you considering when you are taking a picture ?