Forget the rule of thirds and top. This is not an article that gives formulas or magic bullets for composing photos. Instead, we’ll talk about the broad methods and approaches I’ve used to go beyond the cliché techniques and create unique images.
I’ll be the first to admit that I compose by eye, not by rule. This is exactly why I don’t believe in rules when it comes to composition. There is simply no rule that you can apply 100% of the time and expect it to work.
Shapes and patches of color
Photography, in its most basic form, is the art of filling a blank canvas. In a very basic way, all we have to do as photographers is create a shape inside an empty rectangle. The camera sensor is a rectangle, and so is your image. What you put in that rectangle will determine how successful your image will be.
For me, the shape and color of my subjects are very important, which is why I often like strong shapes and extreme colors in my photos. It may not even necessarily be about color photography. It can be black and white, but as long as the colors and shapes are extreme, I’m happy. Maybe this is because my eyesight isn’t the best and I see the world a bit blurry, obscured. It’s not almost so much about details but about the big picture. For this reason, the image below is one of my favorites.
My compositional approach draws a lot of inspiration from graphic design. If anyone knows how to fill a frame with content, it’s the graphic designers. Posters from the Bauhaus era are particularly good at this, as they can combine fonts, colors, and shapes. The combination of strong lines, circles, and contrasting colors all play an important role in creating compelling artwork. It doesn’t make much sense when viewed up close, but from a distance, you can see shapes that remind you of familiar objects or people.
An analogy with the work of Van Gogh must be drawn here. His technique, called impasto, is difficult to discern up close, but take a step back and you’ll see a statue or a portrait.
The same can be applied to photography. Using blur in your image composition will inevitably lead to loss of detail, but it will create a shape that you can use to fill your frame. Without going into the lighting techniques, let me explain how I do it in the studio with flash.
How to achieve in-camera blur
Dimming can be easily achieved by combining continuous light and flash. It’s as easy as ambient exposure (constant) and flash at the same time. The constant light will be responsible for the blur, while the flash will freeze the motion. The settings you use will be important here. ISO is responsible for the overall exposure of the image: the higher the ISO, the more ambient light you’ll see, but you’ll also see more flash. I tend to set the ISO for flash exposure and keep it between 100-200, depending on conditions. This can change if the device I’m using doesn’t allow high wattage (e.g. flash). The second biggest player is shutter speed. In a pitch-black room, the flash will work the same way, regardless of your shutter speed. Introduce continuous light and the longer your exposure, the more blur and “ambient exposure” you will get. The third factor is aperture. I kept my lens at f/8-f/11 to maximize the sharpness and depth of field of the lens. I placed the lights in such a way that the flash and the fixture illuminate different parts of the image. Flags, grids, and other lighting controls are all useful. I usually light the background with constant light and the model with a flash, and also use a few flags to reduce light spill on the background. Finally, asking the model to move and not stay in one place works great in creating the desired effect.
Combine Combine Combine
Another composition technique that I started experimenting with is combining multiple images in sequence. As photographers, we are often told that we need to create a story in a single frame. Somehow, however, I find that there is rarely a story behind my work. It’s an image I like, it’s my view of the world, but I can’t tell you the big story behind it.
This is where the world of cinema is easier than we are, as they can use moving images to tell a story. Take the best of both worlds and create artwork that is classified as a photo but actually consists of several photos — a strip of photos.
There’s something very appealing about the strip format. You might have done this well with your friend or partner by going into a photo booth and taking a series of three or four photos. I love looking at these from a storytelling perspective. They express the movement, emotion and mood of the painting. Perhaps the individual photos did not work out, but together they form a plot. This is exactly why I like to create a combination of several images when just one won’t work. This can be done with any number of images you want, and you can even experiment with adding text to the images. For example, I’ve added the German word for “photo booth” to the following photo in the font Futura, reminiscent of the work of Barbara Krueger. The subject of the best known photos is a glamor model, who often takes photos in a very sexy style. I wanted to present her from the perspective of a photo booth: a girl who doesn’t want to be seen all the time, a girl who is sexy and wild, but also wants privacy.
Quit thinking.
As you can see, composition is more than just lines and the rule of thirds. Advanced composition techniques are based on something personal — in my case, poor eyesight and love for graphic design. At the same time, these techniques aren’t just for people like me. Experimenting with just creating shapes and colors can be a new direction you can take when creating your own photos. Creating stories with a series of images instead of a single photo can become a solution to storytelling in your photography.
