If you look at great images, your eye seems to go to certain items. Usually, they are placed in so called ‘power points’. Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid, dividing the image both horizontally and vertically into thirds. he ‘power points’ are the four places where the lines intersect. You do not want to place the horizon…
Light
If you go back to the Greek roots of the word, Photography means “drawing with light” (phos = light, graphe = drawing). Therefore, the kind of light you have when taking a picture is very important. There is the so called ‘Golden Light’ which is about 30min to 1 hour after sunrise or before sunset….
Foreground – Middle – Background
If you look closely, the typical snapshot lacks a foreground. It is amazing, how long it took me to get over that mode of shooting. (Any time there was a foreground, it was more accident than intention) Yet it makes such a difference. Besides the S-Curve, you can lead the eye through the image using…
Lines, S-Curves
Lines can play an important part in taking images. They are also an easy aspect. Some examples of a line: a road, a row of trees or shrubs, a fence, a course of water. The ‘line’ is placed so it leads the viewer into the image. Don’t forget that shadows can also serve as lines….