Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

Removing unwanted elements and flaws......294

Changing your perspective.......300

Editing Your Images to Draw the Viewer to Your Subject...304

Adjusting contrast in the scene using Curves Layers...304

Enhancing an image's light.......305

Sharpening your photos.........306

Part V: The Part of Tens......309

Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Improve Composition..311

Reveal Contrast with Complementary Colors.....311

Harmonize with Monochromatic Colors......312

Make a Subtle Statement with Analogous Colors....312

Use a Shallow Depth of Field to Tell a Story......313

Shoot Until You've Exhausted the Possibilities.....313

Choose a Background That Says Something......314

Tackle Transparent and Reflective Elements......314

Treat Light as the Subject..........315

Incorporate a Compositional Frame.......315

Create a Composite Image..........316

Chapter 20: Ten Tips for Finding Photographic Inspiration..317

Take a Walk, Take Photos, and Take Notes.....317

Try Something Completely New........318

Emulate Your Favorite Shots by Other Photographers....319

Watch a Good Movie...........320

Visit a Museum...........320

Compile a Wall of Inspiration.........321

Purchase a New Lens..........321

Head Out for a Nighttime Photo Shoot.......321

Reveal the Lapse of Time in a Scene.......323

Join a Photography Forum.........323

Chapter 21: Viewing Ten Compositions of One Scene..325

Choosing a High Angle to Show the Scene.......325

Selecting a Low Angle to Emphasize the Subject....326

Highlighting the Subject and the Scene with a Wide-Angle Lens..327

Showing More Scenery with a Wide-Angle Lens......328

Narrowing In on Your Subject with a Long Lens.....329

Creating an Intimate Portrait by Using a Long Lens.....330

Paying Attention to the Foreground Elements in Your Scene...331

Giving Your Photo a Compositional Frame......332

Finding Negative Space.........333

Backlighting Your Subject to Emphasize Shape......334

Index.........335

If you want to create interesting and aesthetically pleasing photographs, you need to understand great composition. You have rules (which can, of course, be broken) to guide you, decisions to make, and techniques and tools to get the job done. Put all these together, and you give purpose and meaning to your photographs.

After you realize why some photographs look better than others and more successfully tell their stories, you can create amazing images wherever you are and in any conditions. You can approach any scene in many ways, and each photographer will do so differently. You want to be sure that you approach a scene with the confidence of a person who understands how to compose great images — and has fun doing so.

Whether you're an amateur, pro, semi pro, hobbyist, scrap booker, traveler, artist, or someone who just received a camera as a gift, knowing more about composition will make your photographs better. Besides, if you're going to take pictures, they may as well be good ones.

Contentions Used in This Book

In this book, I use the following conventions to make sure the text is consistent and easy to understand:

For each photograph, I include the following information:

• Focal length: This number shows the angle of view provided by the particular lens used. It determines how much of your scene is captured when composing a shot.

• Shutter speed: This number indicates how long it took to complete the exposure (usually measured in fractions of a second). It determines how precise the moment of capture is, and it's particularly important when photographing subjects in motion.

• Aperture: This number shows how much light the lens let in at the time of exposure (measured by an f-stop). It helps to regulate your depth of field, which determines how much of your scene is sharp or blurry.

• ISO: This number displays how sensitive the digital sensor is to light during the time of the exposure. A sensitive ISO rating (determined by a higher number) can produce a properly exposed image more quickly and with less light than a less sensitive rating (determined by a lower number).

You can find this info beneath each photo. To save space, I give you just the numbers — no labels. So when you see '35mm, 1/250 sec, f/11, 320,' you'll know that I'm referring to the focal length, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. The specs are always in this order.

All Web addresses appear in mono font.

New terms appear in italic and are closely followed by an easy-to-under-stand definition.

Bold highlights the action parts of numbered steps and the key words in bulleted lists.

When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that I've added no extra characters, such as hyphens, to indicate the break. So when using one of these Web addresses, simply type in exactly what you see in the book as though the line break doesn't exist.

What you are Not to Read

If you're in a hurry to start taking amazing photographs, you may want to skip around this book to areas that most appeal to you. No problem. If you are in a big hurry, here's a tip: You can skip the sidebars (those gray-shaded boxes) and any text marked with the Technical Stuff icon. The information you find in these places may interest you and add something to your work, but it isn't necessary for understanding how to compose beautiful photographs.