Rules of Compostition

All these 'rules' for composition can be found in Perfect Digital Photography, by Jay Kinghorn and Jay Dickman.

So what are these rules of classic composition that we hear about. The ones that are introduced in our book, Perfect Digital Photography are:

Rule of thirds - you dived your picture into sections (draw a tic-tac-toe board over it), at the one of the point of intersections for the lines you want the center of interest
S-Curves - these gentle sweeping curves draw your eyes through the photo
Rhythm and Repeating Patterns - the repetition will pull the viewer through the photo
Horizon lines - used to define areas in your photo, NEVER place across the dead center of your photo
Leading lines - something linear (fence row, parking meters) that pulls your eyes through the photo
Layering - distinctive layers in a photo that require the viewer to absorb the content of each layer and put it together for the photos message to be clear (think rock strata, but instead of up and down, it creates depth)
Scale - adding a familiar element (person, car, etc.) to a photo (think about a person next to a sequoia tree)
Tension - something that conveys emotion (this one is a hard one for me to describe)
Keep it simple - complexity will cause the viewer to get a headache; move close to the subject to fill the frame and don't place the subject in the middle of the frame
Breaking the rules - sometimes rules are meant to be broken
The final thing that this chapter leaves us with is a simple question:

"Does the photo work or not?"

The rules given here are a great guideline or aide to get us started with the composition process. This process starts before you put the camera to your eye. As photographers we must imagine what the photo will look like before we ever take the photo.

I will be out shooting this weekend, so hopefully I can share with everyone examples of these rules.