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Composition in Photography Nancy Rosenbaum June 2019 6/20/19 1 Goddard Photo Club

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Page 1: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Composition in Photography

Nancy RosenbaumJune 2019

6/20/19 1Goddard Photo Club

Page 2: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Composition• Components

– Rule of Thirds– Leading the Eye; Lines– Rhythm and Patterns– Framing and Orientation– Focus– Depth of Field– Focal Length– Point of View– Distractions, Mergers, and Intrusions

• Nature Photography• Portrait Photography• Gallery

6/20/19 2Goddard Photo Club

Page 3: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

The Rule of Thirds

6/20/19 3

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Goddard Photo Club

Page 4: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Find Lines• Lines lead the eye from one point to another• Horizontals can convey stability, calm• Verticals can convey strength, solidity, and power• Diagonals can convey motion and energy • Arcs and semi-circles can isolate, emphasize, and frame an area• Patterns create rhythm and movement

6/20/19 4Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 5: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Lines, Continued

6/20/19 5Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 6: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Lead the Eye into the Picture

6/20/19 6Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 7: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Rhythm and Patterns• We are attuned to finding patterns and find them interesting• Rhythm and patterns use elements that are repeated:

– Lines– Shapes– Colors– Tones

• Types of rhythm:– Repetition– Alternation– Progression– Undulation

• Emphasize the pattern:– Fill the frame end-to-end to suggest that the pattern goes on

• Break the pattern:– Capture the disruption in the flow and give the image a focal point

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 7

Page 8: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Rhythm and Patterns

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 8

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 9: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Rhythm and Patterns

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 9

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 10: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Rhythm and Patterns

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 10

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 11: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Framing• Filling the frame

– How near or far will be the subject appear to the viewer?– Do you want the subject to fill the frame?– What other objects are in the frame (e.g., foreground and background

objects)?– Do they support the visual story you are telling?– How do they contribute to or detract from the composition?

• Natural frames - use to your advantage– Look for natural elements to draw the eye to the subject– In landscapes, foreground objects can provide a sense of scale

• Arrangement of objects in the frame– Zoom in or out– Move closer or farther away

6/20/19 11Goddard Photo Club

Page 12: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Filling the Frame

6/20/19 12Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 13: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Natural Frames

6/20/19 13Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 14: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Orientation• Does the subject lend itself

to either a vertical or horizontal orientation?

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 14

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 15: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Orientation

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 15

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 16: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Focus

6/20/19 16Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Out-of-focus objects in the foreground can be distracting

Page 17: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Depth of FieldDistance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene

that appear acceptably sharp in an image• Small f/ number = large aperture = shallow depth of field• Large f/ number = small aperture = long depth of field• Longer focus distance = longer depth of field• Longer focal length lens (e.g., telephoto = shorter depth of field)

6/20/19 17Goddard Photo Club

Page 18: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Depth of Field

Focal length: 135 mmAperture: f/5.0Subj. distance: 6.9 ft

Focal length: 18 mmAperture: f/3.5Subj. distance: infinity

6/20/19 18Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 19: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Depth of Field

Focal length: 82 mmAperture: f/8.0Subj. distance: 4.6 ft

Focal length: 200 mmAperture: f/5.6Subj. distance: 41 ft

6/20/19 19Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 20: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Point of View

• Changing your position relative to the subject can make a scene more exciting– Get high; get low– Find a unique angle– Try going eye level with your subject

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 20

Page 21: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Point of View

6/20/19 21Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 22: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Point of View

6/20/19 22Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 23: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Point of View

6/20/19 23Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 24: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Point of View

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 24

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 25: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Pay Attention to the Light

6/20/19 25Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 26: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

The Golden Hours

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 26

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Period of daytime shortly after sunrise or before sunset, during which daylight is redder and softer than when the Sun is higher in the sky

St. Marks Cathedral, mid-day St. Marks Cathedral, just before sunset

Page 27: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Focal Length• “Normal”

– Field of view reproduces what the human eye would see– Relationships between distances appears “normal” to us– Focal length = diagonal size of the film or sensor– FL = 50 mm in a 35 mm camera; 28 mm in DX sensor camera; 22 mm in a four-

thirds sensor camera)• Wide angle

– Field of view is wider than the eye would normally see– Objects appear farther away– Relationships between distances appear greater– FL numbers are less than the normal FL

• Telephoto– Field of view is narrower than the eye would normally see– Objects appear closer– Relationships between distances appear smaller– FL numbers are greater than the normal FL

6/20/19 27Goddard Photo Club

Page 28: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Telephoto

6/20/19 28Goddard Photo Club

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 29: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Wide Angle

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 29

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 30: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Focal Length

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 30

Focal length: 55 mm Focal length: 98 mm

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 31: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Focal Length

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 31

Wide AngleFocal length: 18 mm

NormalFocal length: 35 mm

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 32: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Distractions

• Distractions • Train yourself to look at every element and object

in the frame: • Are there unwanted objects in the foreground or

background? • Are there places where colors or values

(light/dark) are so similar that the subject seems to disappear into the background?

• Is there an extremely bright or dark spot that draws the eye away from the subject?

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 32

Page 33: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

IntrusionsUnwanted objects that detract from the composition

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 33

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 34: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Intrusions

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 34

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 35: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Intrusions

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 35

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 36: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

MergersTwo or more overlapping objects that appear to be joined

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 36

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 37: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Mergers

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 37

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 38: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

MergersBorder merger: object(s) cut off in an awkward place

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 38

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 39: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Bright Spots or “Black Holes”• The brightest values pull our attention• Large areas of low value can also be a distraction

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 39

©Nancy Rosenbaum ©Nancy Rosenbaum

Page 40: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Seven Principles of Nature Photography Composition

• Clarify your message• Keep it simple• Be patient• Fill the frame• Consider verticals• Find lines• Place subjects off-center

from the Beginner's Guide To Nature Photography by Cub Kahn

6/20/19 40Goddard Photo Club

Dawn in the Dunes - Karen Smalehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17237914874/in/photostream/

Low OBX Sound, Ed Campionhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17634635099/in/photostream/

Page 41: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Portrait Composition

• Fill the frame with your subject• Keep eyes in the upper third• Use framing to concentrate all attention on

your subject• Create texture• Use lines• Change your angles

6 Tips for Perfect Composition in Portrait Photography by Christina N DicksonRead more: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/6-tips-for-perfect-composition-in-portrait-photography#ixzz1mB7Y82zC

6/20/19 41Goddard Photo Club

Page 42: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

©Nancy Rosenbaum

©Nancy Rosenbaum

Portraits

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 42

Page 43: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

GALLERY

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 43

Page 44: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Photo Club Member SelectionsOn the Other Side of the Fence, Bob Haines: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17690996118/

Brittney - Child's Play, Bonnie Bradley: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17240888853/in/photostream/

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful, Scott Hull:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17659197010/in/photostream/

Ocean City Boardwalk at Sunset, Ed Campion:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17818083992/in/photostream/

Untitled, Bob Peters: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17176673254/in/photostream/

Los Morrillos Lighthouse, Adán Rodríguez-Arroyo:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17565712510/in/photostream/

Cascade, Buttermilk Falls, NY, Melissa Meyers:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17454899399/in/photostream/

Tree Hugger, Karen Johnson: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17020599483/in/photostream/

Peruvian Boat Ride, Kimberly Engle: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfcphoto/17584982156/in/photostream/

6/20/19 Goddard Photo Club 44

Page 45: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Dorothea Lange

Migrant Mother, 1936

6/20/19 45Goddard Photo Club

Courtesy Library of Congress

Page 46: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Walker Evans

Laura Minnie Lee Tengle , 1935

6/20/19 46Goddard Photo Club

Courtesy Library of Congress

Page 47: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Thomas Askew

Atlanta University, Georgia, 18996/20/19 47Goddard Photo Club

Courtesy Library of Congress

Page 48: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

American Colony (Jerusalem), Photo Dept.

Egyptian camel transport passing over Olivet, 19186/20/19 48Goddard Photo Club

Page 49: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Alice S. Kandell

Mount Kānchenjunga, Third Highest Mountain in the World, btw. 1965-19796/20/19 49Goddard Photo Club

Courtesy Library of Congress

Page 50: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Alice S. Kandell

Sikkim, Oversized Melonsand Fruit Grow, 1969

6/20/19 50Goddard Photo Club

Courtesy Library of Congress

Page 51: Composition in Photography - NASA...Photography Composition • Clarify your message • Keep it simple • Be patient • Fill the frame • Consider verticals • Find lines •

Abdullah FréresTuberculosis Ward of the Hasköy Hospital for Women, btw. 1880 - 1893

6/20/19 51Goddard Photo ClubCourtesy Library of Congress