photo laureates advises you to start applying these photography techniques in your photography compositions in order to obtain best results.

I was asked by Andy Smith a while ago to put more information in on how I take my photos and some hints and tips. I don't pretend to be an expert in photo laureates and compositional techniques but here are a few which I use with examples.

Remember rules are there to be broken and though you can use rules as a guide to getting the results you want sometimes it's the breaking of the rules which makes the shot.

Also vary your use of these techniques. If every picture is framed in the same way using the same technique it will soon get boring no matter how good the pictures are individually.

Thirds Rule

This is one of the most important of the photography techniques and one of the most used/quoted composition rule in photography. It is also the one which can be applied in the most ways. The thirds rule gives vertical and horizontal lines, vertical and horizontal zones, and four intersection points.

In the first picture I have placed the owl on one of the vertical lines while in the second I have framed the scene so that the horizon is on one of the horizontal lines. In general, unless you have a reason not to always try to place the horizon on one of these lines.

Equally you may wish to frame a shot so that some important element occurs at one of the intersection points.

. Placing Your Subject Off Centre

Closely related to the thirds rule above. Placing your main subject to one side can often be very effective. Note also that in the examples the owl is as described above on one of the third lines while the figure of old Lord Byron is placed largely in one of the vertical zones. photo laureates advises you to apply this rule this in our photography contest.


Keep White Skies Out Of Landscapes

In Britain we tend to get a lot of days where the skies have no detail and appear white. Sometimes they even bleed into the landscape. In these circumstances the best options are either to use graduated filters to darken or add colour to the sky or to eliminate the sky from your composition all together. A white sky can completely destroy a landscape shot.

Isolating Detail

The example is a shot of the skylight from the Great Court of the British Museum . I could have gone for a shot of the whole court which is an impressive place but isolating the detail in the skylight has resulted in an image with much more impact.

It's worth remembering that sometimes the small details make a much more important statement than the whole.



Leading the Viewer into The Picture

Often you can use a linear feature such as a path, fence or in the case of the first example a chain to lead the viewer into the shot.

The second example is a more conventional use of the technique using the vanishing point at the end of the avenue to add perspective. Some of the best entries in our photography contest use this rule.

Unusual Viewpoint (Changing Level)

Taking a shot from a standing position often results in a boring or at least predictable picture. Crouching to take the shot (don't be afraid to point the camera upwards) or climbing some steps to gain height can make the shot much more distinctive. If you want to know more about light in photography, then go visit this site ( light.photolaureates.org ) and this site ( natural light.photolaureates.org )




Foreground Objects (Changing Depths)

One technique which you will see in a lot of my shots is the inclusion of both a foreground and background object. This gives pictures more depth stopping them from looking flat. The example is an extreme one using the wide angle macro function which the 7i does so well but this technique is also useful in general shots.



Natural Frames

Another old technique to finish with. Use something to create a frame around your subject. The frame could be the arch of a bridge as in the example, the trunk and branch of a tree or even a window frame (original).