Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

300mm lens is extremely telephoto while anything from 70mm to 135mm is referred to as a mild telephoto lens.

When shooting with a long or telephoto lens, you magnify the elements in your scene. Often photographers use a long lens to draw attention solely to the subject and eliminate any distracting background details. In Figure 7–8,1 used a 200mm lens (which coincidentally allowed me to stay farther from the fire, smoke, and ash) in order to focus on the fireman himself. Because the background is out of focus, it's easier to see the water drops that are coming from the fire hose in his hand.

28mm, 1/640 S9C.J/6.3, 160

Figure 7–7: Showing the details of the scene with a wide-angle lens.

Focal length has a major impact on depth of field, but it doesn't have to be the deciding factor on the issue. In situations when you have limited control over your camera position, you may choose your focal length based on your distance to a subject. If you have to use a long lens due to being far away, you don't necessarily have to have a shallow depth of field.

When you're forced to use a specific focal length to get the composition you want, you can control your depth of field by changing your aperture. A larger aperture (determined by a lower number, like f/4, as I explain in Chapter 3) produces a more shallow depth of field. On the contrary, a smaller aperture (represented by a higher number, like f/16) produces a greater depth of field.

Here's a list of combinations you have as options for controlling focal length and depth of field:

To show more of the scene and have a more shallow depth of field, use a wide-angle lens opened up all the way. (Increasing the size of the lens's aperture opening is referred to as opening up.) This combination is a good way to tell the story about the subject's environment while still focusing mainly on the subject.

To show less of the scene and have a greater depth of field, use a telephoto lens closed down all the way. (Decreasing the size of the lens's aperture is referred to as stopping down.) This combination is good for showing the most detail in your subject without losing all detail in the background.

To achieve maximum depth of field, use a wide-angle lens and a small aperture opening.

For the shallowest depth of field, use a long lens and a large aperture opening.

200mm, 1/160 sec, f/B, 320

Figure 7–8: Showing the details of the subject with a long lens.

Adding a Secondary Focal Point to your Composition

Think of the elements in any scene you photograph in terms of a chain of command. Your subject or focal point is the General, and the other elements fall in rank based on how much importance you give them. These other elements are secondary focal points, and the amount of attention a viewer pays to them depends on the same variables that cause the viewer to pay attention to the subject.

For example, if your subject is large in the frame and is sharp, and another element is slightly smaller in the frame and is soft in focus, your viewer looks at the subject first and then moves on to the secondary focal point to see how it relates to the subject. If you add a third element that's even smaller and even more out of focus, it becomes the third object your viewer looks at.

Use leading lines (any line that directs the viewer's eye; see Chapter 1) to direct your viewer from one focal point to another and to ultimately lead them back to the subject itself. After all, your goal is to have people look at your photographs for as long as possible.

Figure 7–9 shows a photograph that has many elements that are all relevant to telling the story of the subject (the woman sitting on the bench). Including a light source like the campfire in your composition can cause competition with the subject, so be sure to make your subject stand out (see the earlier section 'Making your focal point stand out' for ways to do this). In this case, the woman is in front of a very dark background that causes her to stand out. She's also positioned in a stronger area of the composition than the fire (you may look at the campfire first, but you'll spend more time looking at the woman). When I view the elements in this photograph, I begin at the fire, which leads me to the tent, which leads me to the woman. I then scan the picnic table, the firewood, the silhouetted trees, and the man approaching. Finally my eyes hover back to the subject.

When including secondary focal points, keep in mind your intended message. If an element seems to compete with the subject in a way that takes away from the message you're trying to convey, you may want to remove it from your composition.

Say, for example, that you're taking a portrait of someone on the beach and another person in the background is wearing a bright red hat. If the hat is the only element in the scene that has such a bold color, you may want to avoid including it in your composition. The distracting element will take away from your subject and won't necessarily add anything to the message.

24mm, 7/5 sec, f/5.6, 320

Figure 7–9: An example of a composition with secondary focal points.

Some techniques to keep in mind for removing a distracting element from your composition include the following:

Crop it out so it isn't included in your frame. You can do so by simply rotating your camera or zooming in until the element goes outside the edge of the frame or by physically moving closer to the subject.

Use a shallow depth of field to allow the distracting element to become blurry.

Block it with the subject or another element by changing your position. Physically remove it if you have the option.

Allow it to be in the shadows so it isn't obviously visible (assuming you have control over the light or have time to wait for the light to change).

Take it out later in postproduction. (Check out Chapter 18 for details.)

Chapter 8. Finding Your Perspective

In This Chapter

Understanding the meaning of perspective

Trying out techniques that help capture a solid photo of a scene

Breaking away from traditional composition

You can take the Ansel Adams tour of Yosemite National Park and set ^your tripod in the same exact spot that the great photographer once did while shooting one of his classic landscapes, and odds are that your perspective will still be slightly different than his was. This variation could be because of a minor difference in the vertical or horizontal placement of the camera or because of the change in elements in the scene through time. The possibility of two photographers accidentally creating images with the same exact perspective is very unlikely.

Each photographer has a unique perspective that he can alter and adjust. Discovering your own perspective and evaluating that of others helps you take photos that look like you want them to and sets you apart from other photographers. In this chapter, I explain techniques you can use to create depth in photos, draw attention to your intended subject, tell a story with a photo, and explore less common perspectives.

Looking at Things from a Aleut Perspective