Photographic composition

Photographic composition is the arrangement of visual elements within a photograph’s frame. It shapes how the image directs attention and communicates relationships.

Rule of thirds: A compositional guideline that places important elements along a two-by-two grid or at its intersections. It offers a simple way to position subjects away from the frame’s center.
Perspective (photography): The way a photograph represents spatial relationships and apparent size from a particular viewpoint. Changing viewpoint changes which elements overlap and how large they appear relative to one another.
Henri Cartier-Bresson: A French photographer known for candid street photography and the idea of the decisive moment. His photographs are noted for aligning gestures, geometry, and timing within a frame.
Symmetry: A property in which parts of a form correspond across an axis or around a center. Symmetrical arrangements create formal balance, unlike compositions that rely on asymmetry.
Leading lines: Lines within an image that guide the eye toward a subject or through the composition. Their direction connects separate parts of a photograph and can draw attention to its subject.
Focal length: The distance between a lens’s optical center and its image plane when focused at infinity. It affects angle of view; changing camera distance to reframe also changes perspective.
Dorothea Lange: An American documentary photographer whose work includes images made during the Great Depression. Her portraits show how placement and gaze can focus attention on a subject’s expression.
Asymmetry: A lack of correspondence between parts on opposite sides of an axis or around a center. Asymmetrical placement can balance unequal elements without mirroring their positions.
Negative space: The relatively unoccupied area around and between subjects in an image. It gives subjects visual breathing room and changes their apparent scale or isolation.
Camera angle: The camera’s orientation relative to the subject and the surrounding scene. A high, low, or tilted viewpoint reorganizes lines, scale, and spatial emphasis.

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