Sometimes the simplest photography composition tricks, such as framing the subject, can turn your photos into memorable images. Thank you to Adobe for helping me share this post with you.
Becoming a great photographer can take years and year of practice, and many more “throw away” photos than good ones. However, there are a few composition tips and tricks that will help you to turn mediocre photos into something really special and even frame-worthy.
Many of the tricks can be used when looking through the viewfinder of your camera, while others can also be utilized in post-process, with a powerful tool such as Adobe Photoshop Elements 13.
Rule of Thirds
One of the most well-known composition tricks involves dividing the photo frame into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. Our eyes are naturally drawn to the right, left top and bottom thirds of photos, so it makes sense to place the focal point of the subject at one of these points.
When I’m photographing food, I keep this trick in mind when styling the ingredients or the main dish. Where do I want my readers’ eyes to be drawn?
When photographing people, try to frame your subject so that his or her eyes are at one of the thirds intersections.
Photo credit: David Whitelaw (my dad!)
Also, I typically try to frame the person so that he or she is looking into the empty space of the frame, rather than at the nearest edge. It gives an illusion of the subject looking at something just outside of the picture or the subject going somewhere.
When cropping your photos in Photoshop Elements 13, the grid overlay can be used to crop the photo so that the focal part of the subject lands in the top, bottom, left or right of the frame.
Leading Lines
This composition trick is something that I’m still teaching myself to use more often. The idea is to use natural lines in the photo to lead someone’s eye to the focal point of the subject.
For example, a staircase, a set of railroad tracks, a road, the cracks of a rocky hillside or even the lines on a table runner could lead your eye to the subject, naturally highlighting the focal point.
Using Natural Frames
When we think of framing a subject, we usually visualize the outside lines of the photograph. Instead, we could use something within the photo, such as a window frame, a doorway or two trees to naturally frame the subject.
Using a window to frame:
Using other elements to frame:
Getting Up Close
While there are times that the context of the scene impacts the photograph, moving close to your subject, and filling the frame with it, can bring a more intimate, personal feeling to the photograph. Play around with zoom in and out, or moving your body or the subject until you find the right angle.
Farther away:
Up Close:
Negative Space
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the use of negative space can also have a great impact. Negative space is the blank space, whether dark or light, around the subject. While it’s easiest to find the negative space while taking the photograph, it’s also possible to achieve this effect with proper cropping in Photoshop Elements 13.
Keeping these tips and tricks in mind while shooting your photos and while working on them in post-process can help you achieve some very satisfying results.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by the awesome people at Adobe. All opinions are my own.
Kim Taylor says
There are so many great tips here! I had no idea that I should be doing some of these things, and now I want to whip out my camera to try them. I love this series!
Dara says
I’m so glad that you’re finding the series helpful, Kim! And have fun putting some of these tools to use!
Carolyn says
All great tips, Dara. I am a good food photographer but I tend not to know how to photograph people that well.
Dara says
Thanks, Carolyn! You take such wonderful food photographers, but I know what you mean about photographing people. If only they stayed as still as food, right? 🙂
GiGi Eats says
I used to not care about photos on my blog, but when I started taking them more seriously, the traffic exploded!!
Dara says
It definitely makes a difference!
Diana M. says
This is so, so helpful! I had heard about the rule of thirds before, but never knew about the leading lines and had never really put much thought into using natural frames. That grid overlay feature in Photoshop Elements is such a handy one. I use it all the time.
Dara says
The grid overlay really does make life easy. I’m so glad that there is some new information here that will help you with your photos!
The Food Hunter says
This is a wonderful posts with lots of helpful information. sharing!
Rob Long says
Hey Dara, these are great tips – and it’s really beneficial to see examples! I’m also working on improving my photography skills and think I’ve managed to move up from taking boring photos to taking mediocre photos 🙂
You mention Elements but I’ve also read posts from bloggers about a package called Lightroom. Have you ever tried Lightroom? I’m still trying to weigh out the pros and cons of each.
Thanks for all the awesome pointers…and great recipes too!
Rob
Joanie @ ZagLeft says
This is so helpful, thank you. I’m working on using Photoshop now so these tips will certanily help me along.
Amanda @ The Kitcheneer says
Thanks for these tips Dara! I am still learning! Although I feel I have progressed A LOT this past year as a food photographer, I still NEED tons of help! Great post!
Ashley @ Wishes & Dishes says
Oh my – all such great tips! I need all the help I can get with photography!
Julie | This Gal Cooks says
So many great tips, Dara! Your photos are beautiful, too!
Lora @cakeduchess says
What a great and informative photography post, Dara. The rule of 1/3rds is something I need to constantly remind myself of. I remember with photos that don’t pertain to food, more often!! Your pup is just gorgeous and so are all of these photos!!
Annamaria @ Bakewell Junction says
Dara,
My favorite photo is the one of your puppy. I need all the help I can get with my pics. I use picmonkey but your tricks will help tons.
Annamaria
Marjory @ Dinner-Mom says
Great tips and reminders…I end up using my good camera on food and special occasion and my iphone most of the time…I need to think about this more when I’m staking spur of the moment pics!
Nancy P.@thebittersideofsweet says
These photography tips are so helpful! I like the difference you showed in Getting up Close: the farther away and close up. The negative space photo of your dog is gorgeous!
Jessica (Savory Experiments) says
Great post! Photography is one of those things I am trying to improve on and never seem to find the time to really work on it and teach myself. Your photos are always gorgeous!
Angie | Big Bear's Wife says
I’m always working on my photographing skill and I’ll take any kind of teaching I can get! I’ve got to work on finding my frames my photos when I take them!
Heather | girlichef says
These are all fantastic tips – so helpful! Saving for reference, because I’m always striving to make my photography better!
Renee - Kudos Kitchen says
You’re a wonderful photographer, Dara. Thanks for the tips. They’ll come in handy for me.
Jeremy North says
Agree 100% with all your points, well illustrated. You might care to include the horizon as a composition aand I suppose an example of when to break the rules of composition…….
Michael Moody says
I prefer not to cut anything out of a photo that I take. I prefer to print it out in full size. Now if, by chance, I wanted to print an 8×10 or 5×7 how do I do that? I know the measurements on the computer when I do cropping. I am not familiar with the entire process.
Helen Langone says
I am the world’s worst photographer. I am going to use your tips on my next project, and hopefully improve. Thank you!
Dara says
I hope you find them helpful, Helen!