okay, they're more like guidelines — I pose in this chapter get you started in the right direction; understanding them is the first step toward improving the way you take pictures.
Looking at Foreground, Background, and the Space Between
Atypical scene is made up of these three different areas:
The foreground: This area contains elements that are the closest to the camera.
The background: This area is made up of anything that's the farthest from the camera or that's behind the subject itself.
The midground: This is the space between the foreground and background.
You can compose an image that contains just a foreground and a background, but including a foreground, midground, and background in your compositions can maximize the illusion of depth. The separate areas work together to give the sense of space.
In most cases, your subject can exist in the foreground or the midground. Exceptional situations enable you to photograph your subject in the background (such as mountains or a storm on the horizon as your subject), but these cases are rare.
Because the foreground is the most prevalent to the viewer, placing your subject there is an easy way to make it stand out in your image. This position, which is closest to your camera, maximizes the size of your subject in relation to the other elements in your scene, causing it to seem important to a viewer. In this situation, the subject makes up the foreground and everything else is considered the background. However, to create a composition that's more dynamic and contains more depth, photographers often place the subject in the midground with supporting elements in the foreground and background.
When your subject occupies the midground, you can use foreground elements to lead a viewer into the scene. Supporting foreground elements often are blurry when compared to the subject because they're outside the range of your plane of focus, which determines what's sharp and what's blurred. (For information on focus, check out Chapter 7.)
Figure 5–1 shows an image composed to have a foreground, midground, and background. The tree on the left side of the frame and the brush on the ground make up the foreground in this scene. They give you a sense of what the environment is like and lead your eyes to the subject in the midground, which is the house with the two dummies. The subject is the main focus of the image and is supported by the foreground and the background. The
mountains and the sky make up the background in this image. They work with the foreground to create the illusion of depth, which causes your eyes to wander around the image, exploring the different areas and gathering information about the subject. The combination of the foreground, midground, and background tells a lot about where this shack is located and how sparse the human population is there.
Figure 5–1: The foreground, midground, and background in this image give a sense of depth.
Enlivening your Images with the Rule of Thirds
The most common composition guideline is the
Your subject consists of whatever seems most important to you in any scene. If you're having a difficult time identifying your subject, ask yourself why you're taking the picture in the first place. Are you creating a landscape that highlights the river curving off into the distance? If so, the river is your subject. If you're taking a person's portrait, the person is clearly the subject. You may have multiple subjects in one scene. In that case, you can use the rule of thirds to prioritize each subject.
Dividing your frame to conquer composition
To use the rule of thirds, imagine four lines (two vertical and two horizontal — picture a tic-tac-toe board) dividing your frame into nine equal boxes, as in Figure 5–2. These lines determine the sweet spots for positioning your scene's key elements, such as your subject.
View the image in Figure 5–2 to get an idea of how photographers typically use a frame's thirds. Notice how the woman's eyes are lined up along the top third of the frame and the horizon in the background is lined up along the bottom third. Plus, the woman's eyes are lined up with the left third of the frame rather than being centered.
50mm,
Figure 5–2: The rule of thirds in action.
The areas where the horizontal and vertical lines of thirds intersect — called
Don't get too obsessed with the positioning of your elements on the thirds. Placement doesn't have to be exact to be effective. Cutting your frame into thirds gives you an idea of where the most visually pleasing areas are, but it doesn't create a definite rule of where to place your elements. If your subject is a little to the left or right of one of the thirds, it's still going to get the attention it deserves. Think of the rule of thirds as a guide rather than a rule.
As you gain experience, the rule of thirds becomes so embedded in your brain that you stop noticing it's there. At this point, you automatically place the key elements on the thirds of your frame.
Using the thirds to their fullest
When taking a photo, you'll most likely want to place your subject in the area of most importance. You do so by placing it at a point where two of the thirds intersect in the frame. (See the earlier section 'Dividing your frame to conquer composition' for more information on these golden points.)
For those who speak English, the left side of the frame has more visual impact than the right side because English reads from left to right. So placing your subject on the left third gives it the most compositional importance for English-speaking viewers. In cultures where text reads from right to left, the inverse is true.
Because a frame includes four points of intersection among the thirds, you have options when considering where to place particular elements in your frame.
Certain elements in composition (including your subject) almost always are placed on one of the thirds because of their naturally striking visual impact. Here are some common elements that are positioned on the thirds:
The horizon line: The horizon line usually stands out in an image because it cuts straight through your frame from one side to the other. Placing it along the top third emphasizes what's in the
