Composition
"They're not so much rules, they're more like
guidelines."
"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
- Ansel Adams
Or, as my Dad would say, "If it looks right, it is right."
Any student, and I mean 'student' in the loosest possible way, of landscape
photography will be able to recite the 'Rule of thirds' in the same way
a Marine can disassemble and reassemble his personal weapon while blindfolded.
We all know the mantra. 'Don't put the subject in the middle. Don't put
the horizon in the centre.' At the risk of sounding like a petulant 7 year
old, "But whhyyyy?"
"Because." As my Dad would say.
And off we would go into the wild blue yonder. Secure in the knowledge that
we could tame nature in all her glory and she would surely tremble at our
expert use of the 'Golden Mean', gasp at our application, without the aid
of a safety net, of the 'Rule of thirds' and swoon at our cavalier use of
'lead in lines'. We would then return from the field with our guaranteed
masterpieces and scratch our collective heads when they turned out to be
rubbish.
Now I know what you're thinking…did he fire six shots or was it only five?
Sorry! Couldn't help myself. I suspect what you're really thinking is 'Any
minute now he's going to trot out the tired old 'Rules are meant to be broken'
line.' And you'd be right. And wrong. Allow me to explain.
I'm a big 'Pirates of the Caribbean' fan, as you may have picked up from
some of my other articles, and Geoffrey Rush, as the gloriously clichéd
Capt Barbosa, makes my point superlatively when explaining the 'Pirates
Code' to the sulky Ms Knightley. "They're not so much rules," he informs
her "they're more like guidelines." Genius.
To my mind photography is art. Just because a photograph isn't a painting
or a sculpture or a creation of some other accepted artistic medium, doesn't
make it any less worthy. A photograph is an individual interpretation of
a scene or idea. Now if you think of it that way then surely all bets are
off and no rules apply? Slavishly following a set of externally imposed
'rules' removes all notion of individual creativeness so yes, rules should
be broken.
But, and it's a big but, there is no denying that certain compositional
structures, when applied to certain subject matters, do result in images
that sit more comfortably on the eye. There is no denying that if I want
to highlight a dramatic sky or suggest an expansive view then putting the
horizon in the lower half of the frame creates a more effective image. The
human brain has a tendency to scan images from left to right so placing
a key element of a scene in the right half of the frame allows the brain
to take in an image and stops you from just flying out the right hand side.
Oh look, I have effectively just put a tree two thirds of the way across
an image on a horizon about a third of the way up the frame. Now how did
that happen?
What we have, I would suggest, is a classic case of chicken and egg. Before
someone created the 'Rule of thirds' did we not produce pleasing pictures?
Or is it the case that after examining a number of images some bright spark
realised that there were common compositional factors and just wrote them
down? I am inclined to believe it is the latter.
Some things are just common sense. Try not to take a portrait where the
subject has a tree or a lamppost sprouting from the top of their head. Try
and make sure your horizon is level, especially with seascapes. The brain
knows it should be flat and it will jar if it isn't. These are not rules
by the way, they are suggestions. Most importantly be clear in your own
mind what are you actually photographing and why. This, I suspect is why
we, ok, 'I', used to fail so often even though I was following 'the rules'.
Partly because I didn't understand why they were important, and partly because
I was too busy trying to make the image fit the rules rather than capture
what had made me stop and look at the scene in the first place.
And this is my point. If we understand what makes a good picture 'good',
then we can reproduce that in other images and create more good pictures.
So in that respect I would recommend anybody new to the hobby takes an afternoon
to read up on the basics. But then I implore you to spend the rest of your
life just enjoying your photography. Experiment. Find out what works for
you and what doesn't. Develop your own style. But above all try and capture
the essence of the scene. Try to share with others what it was that stopped
you in your tracks. For me a good landscape photograph generates two responses.
'I wish I was there.' and 'I wish I had taken that!' It doesn't matter if
it conforms to any particular school of compositional thought. A good photograph
just works. Remember, "If it looks right, it is right."
About the author: David Stanley is a freelance photographer concentrating
on landscape
and travel images. He has growing portfolios of royalty free images
with Alamy
and istockphoto.
For more articles and reviews, along with a selection of his work available
as open and limited edition prints, please visit his website at www.davidstanleyphotography.com.
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