Creativity Prompt: Composition
use your phone-camera to deepen visual curiosity (& take better photos!)
I’ve been thinking a lot lately (as I work through the arc of a memoir project) about the role a background in architecture plays in how I see the world and how I approach photographing my surroundings.
As anyone who’s ever accompanied me up a trail or down the sidewalk will tell you — my obsession with looking has been with me since I was a little kid. Thankfully I did eventually figure out how to turn it into a portrait photography career, but the fact that I use a camera for a living doesn’t mean clock-out of the impulse. Apologies to everyone who’s ever had to get anywhere in a hurry with me.
Architecture and photography both involve interpretive cognitive leaps. Our brain works in the background as we look at a photograph to translate information from two- to three-dimensions. An architect does the opposite, conjuring a flat sketch into a physical building in her head. A photographer turns a three-dimensional object or scene into a single, two-dimensional composition.
When you consider how our brains translate and make connections to fill-in information and complete a story when we look at a photograph — it’s no wonder the strongest compositions distill multiple things into just one or two clearly communicated ideas.
Ultimately, everything in a photographic composition should be included for a reason.
You may have heard the phrase, “remove distractions” in taking better photos.
It sounds great until you’re in the untamed space of the real world and you can’t vanish an ugly building or trash can (sadly). Rarely is a scene “compositionally perfect” when you first come upon it (unless you’re lucky enough to be on Main Street in Telluride, or some other destination so artfully composed by geology and time that you can point the camera anywhere and it’s nearly impossible to go wrong).
But, for those times you’re not visiting one of the Wonders of the World, I’d like to offer tips for finding beauty in your every day surroundings with this ongoing series.
If you’d like to create better photos, just a little bit of extra thought can go a long way toward better capturing the essence of a scene.
When a flowering tree or tiny bud captures your attention — a pattern of ice, series of diagonals or spot of reflected sunlight — do you ever grab a snapshot and later look at it thinking, “well that’s not even close to what I saw!”?
It’s in the word: “snapshot.”
Making a photograph is different — you are an active participant in the process.
While some say taking a photo takes us out of a moment, I’d argue creative intention forces us to slow down for a moment and more actively engage with our surroundings.
And in the process, it makes a photo exponentially better… while also bringing something of a moment home with us for reflection.
If a cool subject or scene captures your attention on a walk around town, you can almost always find a great composition if you look for it. And while the rule of thirds is a good starting point, it’s helpful to think beyond it…
How can you get closer to capturing what you see and better communicating an experience through a photograph? Here are a few tips:
It often comes down to manipulating your perspective.
Try walking around the subject or scene before deciding on what to photograph.
Look at it from different angles.
Move closer to it. Move farther away.
Observe the context around a scene — can you wait for a person to walk through for scale — or wait for people to move out for simplicity?
Look for something to ground or frame the subject.
Sometimes just a few inches of shifting your feet or even just the camera can bring a “WOW!” to your final image.
Every element included in the frame matters. And the composition includes edges and all four corners.
Experiment with how you point your camera — adjust it a little up, or more down, flip the frame vertically or horizontally.
Before you take the photo, look at the whole composition — are you filling the frame with a single subject or layering background with intention to the corners?
Are you keeping the elements perfectly aligned (turning on your phone camera’s grid-overlay in settings can help a lot with this!)
Do you want to tilt the camera at an angle and use diagonals to direct the eye towards a central focal point?
If there are distractions, can you move yourself in relationship to your subject to hide or eliminate them? Selective cropping is your friend!
It’s also a fun challenge to juxtapose contrasting elements to bring dynamic tension to the photo and/or lend context for the viewer.
I took photos of the sunset clouds (above) by themselves, but the addition of intentional context brought so much more to the final compositions, don’t you think?
Context helps us place ourselves in the scene when we look at a photo.
And in case you’re wondering about equipment, for many of these photos I was walking to or from a photoshoot and opted to take photos with my iPhone — not my professional camera gear. In fact everything in this post was captured with my iPhone. It’s an incredible gadget for capturing dynamic range, and, as they say,
“the best camera is the one you have with you.”
Now…it’s your turn!
Go seek out the beautiful in your world and make those good footprints, my friends. And please — feel free to ask questions or share more ideas about composition below.
I have so many more creative-prompt posts planned as part of this dive into curiosity, creativity and sustainability…
If you haven’t already, please subscribe (button below — it’s FREE!) if you’d like in on the Saturday morning action (one email per weekend at most).
I’d also love to create a private forum where we can share images with each other from each prompt for gentle critique and encouragement. Comment below or drop me a private message if you’re interested!
Jennifer Koskinen is an award-winning professional photographer (and aspiring writer) based in Denver, Colorado. Visit Merritt Portrait Studio to learn more.
What a beautiful piece. Thank you. I love taking photos, but too often they are throwaway pieces, merely snapshots. I will try to take your suggestions into account to use photography to become more engaged with my surroundings.
And beautiful photos as well! 😍
I love this and makes me want to go out and take more photos!!