They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. That means that your photographs should be a great way for you to communicate. The question is, do your photographs communicate the right thousand words to tell your story?
Have you ever had the experience of photographing in a wonderful place, feeling eager to rush home and look at your pictures, only to be disappointed in the results? It's quite a challenge to convert a three-dimensional, full sensory experience into a two-dimensional photograph.
I would like to share a few tips on composition that I think can boost your success rate in capturing your experience while photographing. Instead of just raising your camera for a quick snapshot, take the time to make a careful composition that will guide your viewer to understand what you think is important in the scene, and even how you feel about it.
Tip #1: Choose colors and tones that reinforce your story.
Light is the fundamental building block of any image. Light produces two kinds of contrast: color contrast and tonal contrast. Color is the hue that you see, like red, or green, or purple. Tone is another word for brightness, or how light or dark something is. Our brains are good at forming associations, and we associate colors and tones with particular feelings. These same associations appear in our spoken language. You've heard the expressions, "He was in a dark mood," and "She was feeling blue." Blue connotes melancholy, or tranquility. It is also a color associated with stability and reliability. (What color are the logos of IBM, Microsoft and Ford?) Red is the color of passion. Photographing an orange beach umbrella will give a stronger impression of a hot day that would photographing a purple one. Using dark tones will create a sense of gloom and foreboding. Light-toned images make us feel light-hearted and uplifted. Consider carefully whether the tones and colors in your image strengthen the story you want to tell, or contradict it.
Tip #2: Use lines to guide your viewer's eye
Color and tone also reveal lines in your image. Lines are the boundaries created where two contrasting colors or tones meet. A thin shape, like a road, the stem of a plant, or a tree branch, may also be perceived as a line in your photograph. The brain's visual cortex is programmed at a fundamental level to follow lines. This is a powerful tool for you as a photographer. You can guide your viewer's eye toward what you consider important in the image by using something in the environment to point to it. Conversely, be careful not to inadvertently place lines so that they lead your viewer out of the image.
Tip #3: Orient the lines in your image so that they convey the right emotion.
Just as with colors, our brains also make emotional associations with line orientation. Vertical lines in an image give an impression of power, strength and pride. Horizontal lines are stable and calm. Diagonal lines, on the other hand, are dynamic, and signify motion or change. Curved lines may convey a sense or melancholy, or of hope, depending on the direction in which they curve.
Think carefully when composing your image so that you include colors, tones and lines that reinforce the story you are trying to tell. You will be much more likely to create a photograph that captures and communicates how you felt when you were observing the original scene.
For a thorough discussion of how you can use color, tone, lines and shapes in your photography to better tell your story, check out my eBook on picture composition: "Story Telling Through Visual Design." It's illustrated with loads of beautiful, full color photographs that provide examples of all the concepts, and inspire you to tell your own photographic stories. Start taking "wow" pictures today!
Article Source: Julie_Waterhouse
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