Some thoughts on composition rules
Have you every chuckled at the theme illustration over at my Composition Rules blog?
There are so many “rules” about where to place your subject it makes your head spin. Which should you use, the rule of thirds, on a diagonal, the golden rule, or one of the other myriads of rules?
Most cropping tools remind you of these rules. My PaintShop Pro gives me six aids when cropping.
There is the Rule of Thirds, the Golden Spiral, the Golden Ratio, the Diagonal, the Triangle, and the Grid. Which is the “one”?
The photo in that screen capture is from a trip a long time ago. We had just come into the Smoky Mountains National Park when we saw a bunch of cars stopped. There, in a large meadow, just in front of the tree line, was an elk grazing its lunch (it was 1:58 pm in the afternoon). There was not time to change to a telephoto lens, so I just cranked my zoom out to its max of 120 mm and took a couple of shots. I don’t recall doing anything with the elk photo, it just slept in my archives. Until just recently when the photos of that day became the topic of a number of posts (for more on that see Along a Scenic Route). It seems fitting to do the elk justice by working up that image.
The triangle rule gives two points one way, and two the other. The golden ratio presents four locations, and the golden spiral four others. Crossing diagonals can come up with four more, and then there are the four locations from the rule of thirds. If that isn’t enough there is the question of how much “breathing room” does the elk deserve. How much of environment is appropriate? Should the meadow be emphasized or the woods?
Is there a composition rule that tells which rule to use?
My little book on composition from an eon ago started like this:
“Oh, great Master, how do I attain mastery of my craft?” — “Follow the rules!”
But it just listed even more rules. Maybe the answer lies on the last page of that booklet:
“Oh, great Master, how do I attain supremacy in my craft?” “Break the rules!“
Do not approach your photos, or anyone else’s, with a ruler! Even if you are told which of the rules you should apply. That there are so many rules tells you that there is more to composition than artisanship. You had a reason for talking a picture. You want to communicate not just what you saw, but what you felt. So let your feelings guide you. Work with your image until it feels right to you. That is the solution!
.:. © 2024 Ludwig Keck
Some useful stuff here … but then there’s also the adage ‘rules were made to be broken’.