January 27, 2025 • 34 mins
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This episode dives into the art of composition, discussing seven essential techniques that can elevate your photography. From the rule of thirds to point of view, these techniques inspire creativity and help photographers capture engaging images.
• Rule of thirds promotes dynamic placements of subjects
• Leading lines guide the viewer’s gaze towards the subject
• Framing enhances depth and focus around the subject
• Negative space emphasizes subjects by minimizing distractions
• Patterns and symmetry can create captivating visuals
• Layering adds depth through foreground, middle ground, and background elements
• Point of view invites creativity through varied angles
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey mama, whether or not you're trying out your
camera for the very first timeor you've been doing this a
while and just looking for somecreative inspiration, I've got
all that and more.
I'm here to help you see yourworld differently, challenge you
creatively and find yourpassion for photography.
Welcome back to the BetterPhotos podcast.
(00:21):
How was your week?
Did you guys get any snow?
Where you're at, we got just alittle bit and it pretty much
melted before my kids even wentoutside, and that just reminded
me that my kids are inside kids.
I love being outside.
(00:41):
I was out there with thechickens again.
If you saw my Instagram, at BePosh Photo, I was playing with
some dappled light with one ofmy chickens slash photo prop.
So we have chickens.
Yes, I am five minutes from aStarbucks, five minutes from a
Target and I live beside cowsand we have silky chickens,
(01:04):
which are these furry chickens.
I was at one of my friend'shouse and I saw this furry
chicken and I was like what isthat?
I need one of those in my lifeand she it was her rooster and
she told me the breed.
So come to find out.
Chickens are like dogs, likethere's pedigrees.
(01:26):
There is different breeds,different standards of the breed
, and you have to go on thislong hunt to find the standard
of the breed.
There are whole facebook groupsand farmers that sell
fertilized eggs.
They'll sell you a hen, but itsometimes comes with a rooster
(01:50):
and sometimes it is anywherefrom $150 to $250, maybe more if
you just want a hen, and thatis because these are the hardest
chickens to sex, so you don'tknow if they're a boy or girl
(02:10):
without a DNA test or you justhave to wait for them to crow or
lay an egg.
So I ended up finding some andthey weren't the best quality
and that means that theirlifespan may not be that long.
They are very finicky with allthe things, but anyway.
(02:36):
So that kind of started ourlove for chickens.
And don't even ask me how muchI've spent on those things.
They say you're saving moneybuying eggs, but we have been
spending way more than that onthe coop that I made my husband
build and all the things.
(02:56):
So anyways, that is what elseyou can see on my Instagram, and
what I'm doing in my spare timeother than doing photography is
I am a farmer, slash farmer-ish.
Let's just say that I've gotchickens, I have a garden.
I would love a goat, but wealso are not on a farm, so there
(03:22):
is that, anyways.
So we talked about differenttypes of light last week, and
then I also talked about thislens that I was getting, and I
got it but I have not shot withit.
So I am planning to do somesort of shoot where I can just
practice with that.
And then I also have beeninterested in these lens filters
(03:47):
that you can just put on top ofyour lens and it does these
really cool effects.
So I brought one.
It literally came from Amazon.
I put the package in my bag andwent to a first birthday shoot
at a home and tried it out.
I didn't know how to screw itonto my lens at that time and I
(04:11):
didn't want to be fumblingaround with it.
So I you can also like hold itup in front of the lens.
So it does these like reallycool effects.
And again, I'm like inspired byRussian photographers, like
everything they do.
I'm like that looks so good andso just nostalgic and romantic
(04:31):
and like a beautiful natural,even though there is like like
the mix of like great colorpalettes and you know, makeup,
but it's like not so dramaticand I don't know.
It's so beautiful and soinspiring.
So that is the next thing thatI'm going to try and be posting
(04:55):
about.
They have these ones that youcan buy from Russia, like the
exact ones that I saw onInstagram, but it takes like at
least 30 days to get here.
And then I had to look up likethe price conversion, because
it's like 9,000 rubles orwhatever the Russian currency is
(05:17):
.
So that's still up in the air,but I will put the one that I
got from Amazon in my show notes.
If you look in the show notes,you'll find the link to my
Amazon store and all the thingsthat I've talked about in the
podcast.
So today we are going to begetting into one of my other
(05:40):
favorite topics, which iscomposition, so stay tuned,
alright, so today we are talkingabout composition basics.
So there are so many things youcan do with composition again
to add variety and to justcreate something different than
(06:04):
what the typical photo lookslike, which is somebody standing
at about a 5'5 height andshooting straight from their
eyeball to the subject.
So things can look very thesame.
A lot of people put a subjectin the middle of the frame and
they don't really think anythingelse about it.
So today we're going to betalking about seven different
(06:28):
composition techniques thatphotographers and artists alike
think about when it comes tomaking better photos.
All right, so the first one isthe rule of thirds.
So if you are on your phone,sometimes in your camera, it'll
show you a grid and it lookslike a tic-tac-toe board.
(06:51):
Show you a grid and it lookslike a tic-tac-toe board, and it
does this in your camera too.
You can set it up to be able tosee the grid and what it is
saying is that viewers like tosee your subject at one of the
intersections instead of thecenter.
So you can do thispost-processing.
(07:12):
But it's also great to trygetting in the habit of doing
this occasionally for images, tomake sure that it really says
like specifically, like close up, that the eye of your subject
is in one of those intersectingpoints.
But obviously, if you'recreating a wider image, just try
placing your subject in one ofthose grids.
(07:34):
This can show movement or theidea of someone's going
somewhere.
Put your subject on the leftintersection of the grid and
then leave space to the right.
Doing the rule of thirds, youcan add variety, you can add
interest and you can, overall,tell a story with some of these
(07:57):
composition techniques.
All right.
The next one is leading lines.
So these are going to be linesthat guide the viewer's eye
right to your subject.
You can use pathways, you canuse fences, or you can even use
furniture like cribs or couches,or you can think about road
(08:19):
lines, you can think about oldrailroad tracks, window seals,
stairways, bridges all of thesethings that have like lines.
If you place your subject wherethey intersect with one of
those lines, then it can looklike that was meant to be all
(08:41):
part of a cohesive image.
So if you have like railroadtracks, you can play with that,
like having the line go straightto your subject or the path
going straight to your subjectAll of these things.
You want to make sure that thelines lead right into what you
want the viewer to see.
So maybe you are asking yoursubjects to hold hands and walk
(09:04):
down this path and looking ateach other as they walk.
Anything like that can beleading lines.
And once you start likethinking about these, you end up
doing them more naturally.
So I can go back and see imageswhere I'm like oh, like that
looks good, because I didleading lines and I wasn't even
like trying to do that, but inthe beginning you want to like
(09:26):
try to train your eye to see thelines so that can really help
with your image.
The miss, or the things thatcan go wrong with leading lines,
is when they don't go directlyto your subject.
If they are like vertical linesand they're next to your
subject and it's just like toodisconnected, then that is where
(09:51):
they would not come into playwith your image.
You want the lines to gostraight into your subject in
some sort of way that adds, thatdirects the viewer's eye to the
subject.
All right.
Number three is framing.
This one I love to do.
You can use different elementsaround the scene to create a
(10:14):
natural frame and put it aroundyour subject.
It will add depth, it'll addinterest and this is like a fun
one to do, like a scavenger huntkind of thing for when you're
out with your kids or you're inthe city or even around your
house.
You can start looking fornatural frames and some places
(10:35):
that you can find those aredoors.
So having people like within adoor frame, within the window
frame, whether they're sittingin the window, whether they're
looking out the window, whetheryou're on the outside of the
house and looking in the window.
All of those are frames.
Look for different shapes.
(10:56):
If you find like a mural orsomething that has like a solid
area, then that could be a frameto put your subject in sidewalk
lines, like if you have yoursubject laying down.
Or archways, like there's thislike fun archway in the
mountains that you can placepeople under and that becomes
(11:19):
like a frame.
Even in people's houses.
I love seeing that like whenyou're far away and you see like
the arch of, like their wallsand then the family's like in
there.
You can kind of use that as aframe also for newborns.
I'll use like a Moses basketand put the baby in there and
(11:40):
then that kind of makes a frame.
Or shooting between the cribslats, that can make a frame.
Or sometimes I make my ownframes so I will lay a newborn
down and I will put floralsaround them and make that a
frame.
So or I can even be literalwith it and I've done like a
(12:01):
picture frame, so a frame withina frame.
So a miss with using this istoo many distracting elements.
So if there's like so muchgoing on within a photo, like if
I do the flat lays like with ababy and do the florals around.
If I do too wide of a shot andthere's like part of the rocker
(12:24):
in it and part of the toy binand part of a book and my feet
that always end up getting inthe shot, then that is like too
distracting and it's going tolose focus from the frame around
the baby.
So you just want to be aware of, like, the extra things that
are around the frame.
Are they taking away from theimage or are they adding to it?
(12:47):
Number four is negative space.
So this is basically like blankspace to leave around your
subject that you can leave inthe photo so that it really
emphasizes your subject.
So you're going to look forblank or less busy areas to
leave in your photo on purposeto emphasize your subject.
(13:10):
This can be solid walls with noartwork, no stuff hanging in
your house, like sometimespeople are worried about they
just moved into a new house andI'm like no, I love that, I love
a blank wall.
Give me a blank wall.
Then that can look like such aclean image when you have your
(13:30):
subject just in front of a plain, blank wall, rather than like a
wall full of pictures andframes or art.
Another thing is like the sideof a building just making sure
it has no windows or doors oranything like that Laying on a
solid color blanket I alwaysbring a blanket to a session, so
(13:50):
then if I shoot above, thenthat can be negative space.
You can also use um a backdropstand and have like a solid
color backdrop those I alsolinked in my Amazon shop of what
I use for that Um.
You can also use um the sky asnegative space If you shoot up
(14:12):
at your subject and kind ofleave them in the bottom of that
frame and then the sky takes upthe rest of the space around
them.
So those are just some ideasfor finding negative space that
will just make your subject pop.
The miss with this, or whatcould go wrong, is if you have
(14:33):
too much negative space and thesubject is lost in it, and so
that means that the subject istoo small, too far away.
There's just like too muchnegative space where your eye is
focusing on that and not thesubject and not the subject.
(14:57):
So you got to have like a goodbalance, okay.
The next one is patterns andsymmetry.
So looking for repeatingpatterns or also creating like a
balance on either side of theframe.
Disrupting the pattern can drawthe viewer in.
So you're going to look forthings that repeat.
This could be windows, thiscould be stairs, this could be
(15:19):
trees that are all lined up.
This could be toys on theground, like.
Say, there's like Legos, like,or blocks or something that are
like in a repeating pattern, andthen all of a sudden there's a
kid's hand that is setting out ablock.
Well, that is interrupting thepattern and your eye goes to the
(15:41):
hand that's putting the blockdown, or maybe your child is
sitting there, maybe there'slike a lot of toys out and it
leads to the kid or the similarpattern of things, other things
with patterns that can draw in.
The subject is like a rug thathas a pattern and then placing
(16:04):
your baby like in the center ofthat rug.
If it has like medallions orthings that are, you know,
coming out of it or things thatare being repeated or things
that are being repeated, thenyou can do that With symmetry.
(16:26):
It can also be like if twoparents have a child in between
them and they're holding handsand walking.
Then that creates like abalance on either side, also
with patterns.
This is where my outfit choicescome into play.
(16:47):
When I'm trying to help stylemy clients is that I don't want
to worry so much about it, thepatterns clashing with the
background.
So most of the time I want myclients in neutrals, lighter
neutrals, because that willbounce off the busy background.
If they are wearing busyclothes or bold colors and then
(17:11):
we happen to be in front of abackground of a bunch of leaves
or trees, that it's just likevery busy back there and then
they're wearing busy colors,then it just is too distracting
for the viewer's eye.
So the more simplified I canmake their outfits, the more
they're going to stand outagainst the busy background.
(17:33):
Now, if I have control over thebackground and I can say, okay,
we're going to have a solidbackground, you wear your busy
pattern clothes or whatever,then that would be an
opportunity to wear those morebold things.
For me I just like to keep itsimple things.
(17:53):
But for me I just like to keepit like simple.
If you can just wear lighterneutrals, that is ideal for me,
because then it'll always lookcohesive to the rest of my stuff
that I post and it'llultimately draw the viewer's eye
into you as the family or thesubject based on wearing, mess
(18:18):
up the mood that I'm going for,which, like, I want like calm,
romantic, just again nostalgic,kind of soft vibes, I guess.
And if you mix a bold patternwith that, that just throws off
(18:38):
the mood that I'm trying toconvey completely, and so you
can mess up your image by havinglike a bold pattern, or even
like a modern bold pattern, inthe background of like a tender
baby, because you're trying toconvey this like sweet, tender
baby, and then you have thisloud pattern in the background
and so it can be just not themost cohesive image when you're
(19:05):
just playing with the viewer'seye.
I guess, again, things thatwith symmetry you can also do
parents on either side of thecrib and the baby in the middle
of the crib, things like thateither side of the crib and the
baby in the middle of the crib,things like that.
But then you can also balancethings out with things in the
(19:26):
room or just making sure thatit's not like nothing on one
side and then too much stuff onthe other side, and just kind of
scroll through Instagram oryour favorite photographers and
see, like, what do you noticeabout their composition that you
like or that you don't like, oreven, on your own, give your
(19:47):
own self a critique with the,the compositions that we're
talking about today, and justsee where could you do a little
bit better or what.
What made that one be a littleoff?
All right, so now we are goingto talk about number six,
layering, and so we'll talkabout this a little more when we
(20:10):
get to storytelling, which isnext week.
But this is adding depth byhaving a foreground, a middle
ground and a background, amiddle ground and a background.
So, whatever image you're doing, maybe you can incorporate
something in the foreground,like up close to your lens, and
then something in the middleground and something in the
(20:31):
background.
So the thing in the middleground could be the thing in
focus, and maybe the thing inthe foreground is the thing
that's out of focus and thebackground.
So an example of this would bepeople in the foreground, maybe
like a dad and mom, and thenmaybe a child that's just
learning to walk is comingtowards them, and they're the
(20:52):
ones in focus.
And then there's the house inthe background that's blurred,
or a sunset or something likethat, or maybe the grass or some
flowers or something in theforeground with the family on
the blanket that's in focus andthen the background is blurred.
Or again you could have like afamily all set up and they're
(21:13):
all running towards you atdifferent speeds and maybe the
little ones are in the front andso they're going to get a
little closer to you and soyou'll have a natural
progression of foreground,middle ground and background
with the people.
A miss for this would be if theforeground takes away from the
subject or it doesn't play intothe story or it blocks the
(21:36):
subject completely.
So before I sharpen my skillswith my focusing, I've had ones
where, like it got theforeground, like the grass and
stuff, in focus, but totallymissed the focus of my subject,
which was in the middle ground,and it was a great like cute
picture and I'm like I can'treally do anything with this
(21:58):
because I don't want thisfoliage to take away from the
moment that we all want to see.
That's now blurred in themiddle ground.
So that is where it can go.
Wrong is when you're the thingthat you want in focus is not
and other things are.
But you can obviously playaround with all of this and just
(22:19):
see what you like best, allright.
So our last compositiontechnique is point of view and
thinking how this can play intoyour composition.
Um, so you're thinking ofdifferent vantage points.
So I like to tell people, like,pretend like you're an ant
(22:39):
looking up or you're a birdlooking down, or you're making
your subjects look smaller orlarger, like depending on how
close you are to them or how faraway.
I don't know if you've seen thepictures that like, if you hold
your fingers like a certaindistance from your lens, and
then there's something like likeenormous in the background and
(23:03):
it can look like you're holdingit, just by the perception that
you're giving.
Um, that's kind of like whatwe're talking here, not just for
that creative um aspect, butjust like what could you make?
Look smaller and larger, um, inyour image.
Um, maybe you're getting on thefloor with your baby.
In your image, maybe you'regetting on the floor with your
(23:26):
baby Again, we're trying not todo that typical five, five shot
at your subject Maybe you'regetting down on the floor with
your baby or toddler.
Maybe you tape your phone tothe ceiling.
I've seen this.
My ceilings are a little tootall so getting up there would
be a challenge, but in somerooms, like my kids' rooms, then
maybe that could be somethingthat would be an option and then
(23:50):
, using just a remote timer toset off the shutter, you can
also get closer to the camera wetalked about and also get
closer to the camera we talkedabout.
Other things that I like to askis like what can I peer through?
And this adds an element to theviewer that makes them like
(24:13):
think, like how did this happen?
Like what is that?
What are we looking through?
Like it just intrigues them andhelps them to linger a little
longer at the image, intriguesthem and helps them to linger a
little longer at the image.
But also, like I love again,like I stated, I think, like
last episode or one before, Ilike to feel like you're peeking
(24:33):
in on someone's life and you'recapturing a moment, and so this
provides, like the viewer, justlike getting a little glimpse.
So maybe the door is likehalfway shut and you're just
like peeking in on this familyreading a book to their child or
your toddler reading a book tothe baby, or you know something
like that, something whereyou're like peeking in or like
(24:54):
what can I peer through?
Maybe you're peering throughthe coffee mugs handle that was
sitting there since this morningand it might still be full and
cold now but you're peering inat the mom that's taking care of
the child or something likethat that can also add into
storytelling.
But just just thinking in yourmind like how can I make this
(25:16):
difference than just standinghere shooting straight on Misses
that happen with this is youdon't want to get a distorted,
like 0.5 image.
If you've seen that like whereyou put it on 0.5 and go up to
(25:37):
somebody's forehead and takethat picture and it looks like
so distorted, I mean it's sounflattering if you've had any
of your kids do that to you.
So again, don't take picturesthat are like really close to
your baby's forehead or yoursubject's forehead and then
making their like the rest oftheir body look like really
small or distorted, and so justbeing careful of that.
(26:00):
Another thing I want to mentionis cropping.
Like when you're photographinga subject, never crop them at
their joints, so you don't wantto crop them at their wrist or
their elbows or their knees ortheir ankles.
That is not not a good look.
It just cuts off your image andit I don't it just like, makes
(26:23):
it not complete in a person'sbrain.
Um, people like I don't know.
There's like all this likepsychological stuff of what
people's brains do when theylook at images, um, and so
there's things that people don'tlike and then there's things
that you know don't stimulatethe brain in that way, I guess.
(26:44):
Okay.
So if you have a problem, thisis me okay.
So I have a problem getting myimages straight.
So when I go to post-processthem, I straighten all my images
and sometimes this can lead tocropping at the joints, like the
feet, feet or the ankles or thewrist or something else.
(27:05):
So if you are like me, or ifyou just want to be careful and
just in case, then pull awayfrom the subject a little bit
and allow yourself some room tocrop later.
I try to do, you know, get thatbest image so that I have less
to do on my computer later.
(27:25):
But I'm just not great withstraight.
I have the like leveler in mycamera and I don't know.
I'm just like working too quickor whatever, and AI is not that
good yet to add in the hands orfeedback of your subjects.
So that's just something tothrow in there.
(27:49):
When you're thinking ofcomposition and this the point
of view, is also like astorytelling technique which,
again, I said I will talk aboutnext week when we get into fun
things to incorporate, to add toour toolbox of things that can
really help tell a story.
So if you have questions,anything like that, then just
(28:13):
drop me a message in myinstagram dms at be posh photo,
or if you've taken any picturesthat go along with these
episodes, make sure to hashtagBetter Photos Podcast and I will
take a look and I have addedlinks to my backdrops, my ladder
(28:36):
, my drone things that can helpyou when you are trying to get
better photos, all in my shownotes.
So go down there and take alook.
You can also find my links tobooking sessions and my
Instagram feed.
So now for our challenge.
(28:57):
This week you're going to taketwo photos for each composition
technique.
So again, we have rule ofthirds, leading lines, framing,
negative space, patterns andsymmetry layering, which is the
foreground, middle ground,background and point of view,
(29:19):
and so if you can take twopictures of each of those and
just experiment and see what youlike best, then hashtag better
photos podcast if you post thoseand we will catch up next week.
So hopefully these things canjust help you with your shooting
and looking for specific thingsto capture or inspire you to be
(29:45):
more creative, and ultimately,this will leverage your
photography skills, so you'llhave new things in your camera
roll.
Feel free to share yourprogress with me and I'm so
excited to talk next time.
All right, you guys have agreat week.
Thanks for joining.
Hey mama, whether or not you're trying out your
camera for the very first timeor you've been doing this a
while and just looking for somecreative inspiration, I've got
all that and more.
I'm here to help you see yourworld differently, challenge you
creatively and find yourpassion for photography.
Welcome back to the BetterPhotos podcast.
(00:21):
How was your week?
Did you guys get any snow?
Where you're at, we got just alittle bit and it pretty much
melted before my kids even wentoutside, and that just reminded
me that my kids are inside kids.
I love being outside.
(00:41):
I was out there with thechickens again.
If you saw my Instagram, at BePosh Photo, I was playing with
some dappled light with one ofmy chickens slash photo prop.
So we have chickens.
Yes, I am five minutes from aStarbucks, five minutes from a
Target and I live beside cowsand we have silky chickens,
(01:04):
which are these furry chickens.
I was at one of my friend'shouse and I saw this furry
chicken and I was like what isthat?
I need one of those in my lifeand she it was her rooster and
she told me the breed.
So come to find out.
Chickens are like dogs, likethere's pedigrees.
(01:26):
There is different breeds,different standards of the breed
, and you have to go on thislong hunt to find the standard
of the breed.
There are whole facebook groupsand farmers that sell
fertilized eggs.
They'll sell you a hen, but itsometimes comes with a rooster
(01:50):
and sometimes it is anywherefrom $150 to $250, maybe more if
you just want a hen, and thatis because these are the hardest
chickens to sex, so you don'tknow if they're a boy or girl
(02:10):
without a DNA test or you justhave to wait for them to crow or
lay an egg.
So I ended up finding some andthey weren't the best quality
and that means that theirlifespan may not be that long.
They are very finicky with allthe things, but anyway.
(02:36):
So that kind of started ourlove for chickens.
And don't even ask me how muchI've spent on those things.
They say you're saving moneybuying eggs, but we have been
spending way more than that onthe coop that I made my husband
build and all the things.
(02:56):
So anyways, that is what elseyou can see on my Instagram, and
what I'm doing in my spare timeother than doing photography is
I am a farmer, slash farmer-ish.
Let's just say that I've gotchickens, I have a garden.
I would love a goat, but wealso are not on a farm, so there
(03:22):
is that, anyways.
So we talked about differenttypes of light last week, and
then I also talked about thislens that I was getting, and I
got it but I have not shot withit.
So I am planning to do somesort of shoot where I can just
practice with that.
And then I also have beeninterested in these lens filters
(03:47):
that you can just put on top ofyour lens and it does these
really cool effects.
So I brought one.
It literally came from Amazon.
I put the package in my bag andwent to a first birthday shoot
at a home and tried it out.
I didn't know how to screw itonto my lens at that time and I
(04:11):
didn't want to be fumblingaround with it.
So I you can also like hold itup in front of the lens.
So it does these like reallycool effects.
And again, I'm like inspired byRussian photographers, like
everything they do.
I'm like that looks so good andso just nostalgic and romantic
(04:31):
and like a beautiful natural,even though there is like like
the mix of like great colorpalettes and you know, makeup,
but it's like not so dramaticand I don't know.
It's so beautiful and soinspiring.
So that is the next thing thatI'm going to try and be posting
(04:55):
about.
They have these ones that youcan buy from Russia, like the
exact ones that I saw onInstagram, but it takes like at
least 30 days to get here.
And then I had to look up likethe price conversion, because
it's like 9,000 rubles orwhatever the Russian currency is
(05:17):
.
So that's still up in the air,but I will put the one that I
got from Amazon in my show notes.
If you look in the show notes,you'll find the link to my
Amazon store and all the thingsthat I've talked about in the
podcast.
So today we are going to begetting into one of my other
(05:40):
favorite topics, which iscomposition, so stay tuned,
alright, so today we are talkingabout composition basics.
So there are so many things youcan do with composition again
to add variety and to justcreate something different than
(06:04):
what the typical photo lookslike, which is somebody standing
at about a 5'5 height andshooting straight from their
eyeball to the subject.
So things can look very thesame.
A lot of people put a subjectin the middle of the frame and
they don't really think anythingelse about it.
So today we're going to betalking about seven different
(06:28):
composition techniques thatphotographers and artists alike
think about when it comes tomaking better photos.
All right, so the first one isthe rule of thirds.
So if you are on your phone,sometimes in your camera, it'll
show you a grid and it lookslike a tic-tac-toe board.
(06:51):
Show you a grid and it lookslike a tic-tac-toe board, and it
does this in your camera too.
You can set it up to be able tosee the grid and what it is
saying is that viewers like tosee your subject at one of the
intersections instead of thecenter.
So you can do thispost-processing.
(07:12):
But it's also great to trygetting in the habit of doing
this occasionally for images, tomake sure that it really says
like specifically, like close up, that the eye of your subject
is in one of those intersectingpoints.
But obviously, if you'recreating a wider image, just try
placing your subject in one ofthose grids.
(07:34):
This can show movement or theidea of someone's going
somewhere.
Put your subject on the leftintersection of the grid and
then leave space to the right.
Doing the rule of thirds, youcan add variety, you can add
interest and you can, overall,tell a story with some of these
(07:57):
composition techniques.
All right.
The next one is leading lines.
So these are going to be linesthat guide the viewer's eye
right to your subject.
You can use pathways, you canuse fences, or you can even use
furniture like cribs or couches,or you can think about road
(08:19):
lines, you can think about oldrailroad tracks, window seals,
stairways, bridges all of thesethings that have like lines.
If you place your subject wherethey intersect with one of
those lines, then it can looklike that was meant to be all
(08:41):
part of a cohesive image.
So if you have like railroadtracks, you can play with that,
like having the line go straightto your subject or the path
going straight to your subjectAll of these things.
You want to make sure that thelines lead right into what you
want the viewer to see.
So maybe you are asking yoursubjects to hold hands and walk
(09:04):
down this path and looking ateach other as they walk.
Anything like that can beleading lines.
And once you start likethinking about these, you end up
doing them more naturally.
So I can go back and see imageswhere I'm like oh, like that
looks good, because I didleading lines and I wasn't even
like trying to do that, but inthe beginning you want to like
(09:26):
try to train your eye to see thelines so that can really help
with your image.
The miss, or the things thatcan go wrong with leading lines,
is when they don't go directlyto your subject.
If they are like vertical linesand they're next to your
subject and it's just like toodisconnected, then that is where
(09:51):
they would not come into playwith your image.
You want the lines to gostraight into your subject in
some sort of way that adds, thatdirects the viewer's eye to the
subject.
All right.
Number three is framing.
This one I love to do.
You can use different elementsaround the scene to create a
(10:14):
natural frame and put it aroundyour subject.
It will add depth, it'll addinterest and this is like a fun
one to do, like a scavenger huntkind of thing for when you're
out with your kids or you're inthe city or even around your
house.
You can start looking fornatural frames and some places
(10:35):
that you can find those aredoors.
So having people like within adoor frame, within the window
frame, whether they're sittingin the window, whether they're
looking out the window, whetheryou're on the outside of the
house and looking in the window.
All of those are frames.
Look for different shapes.
(10:56):
If you find like a mural orsomething that has like a solid
area, then that could be a frameto put your subject in sidewalk
lines, like if you have yoursubject laying down.
Or archways, like there's thislike fun archway in the
mountains that you can placepeople under and that becomes
(11:19):
like a frame.
Even in people's houses.
I love seeing that like whenyou're far away and you see like
the arch of, like their wallsand then the family's like in
there.
You can kind of use that as aframe also for newborns.
I'll use like a Moses basketand put the baby in there and
(11:40):
then that kind of makes a frame.
Or shooting between the cribslats, that can make a frame.
Or sometimes I make my ownframes so I will lay a newborn
down and I will put floralsaround them and make that a
frame.
So or I can even be literalwith it and I've done like a
(12:01):
picture frame, so a frame withina frame.
So a miss with using this istoo many distracting elements.
So if there's like so muchgoing on within a photo, like if
I do the flat lays like with ababy and do the florals around.
If I do too wide of a shot andthere's like part of the rocker
(12:24):
in it and part of the toy binand part of a book and my feet
that always end up getting inthe shot, then that is like too
distracting and it's going tolose focus from the frame around
the baby.
So you just want to be aware of, like, the extra things that
are around the frame.
Are they taking away from theimage or are they adding to it?
(12:47):
Number four is negative space.
So this is basically like blankspace to leave around your
subject that you can leave inthe photo so that it really
emphasizes your subject.
So you're going to look forblank or less busy areas to
leave in your photo on purposeto emphasize your subject.
(13:10):
This can be solid walls with noartwork, no stuff hanging in
your house, like sometimespeople are worried about they
just moved into a new house andI'm like no, I love that, I love
a blank wall.
Give me a blank wall.
Then that can look like such aclean image when you have your
(13:30):
subject just in front of a plain, blank wall, rather than like a
wall full of pictures andframes or art.
Another thing is like the sideof a building just making sure
it has no windows or doors oranything like that Laying on a
solid color blanket I alwaysbring a blanket to a session, so
(13:50):
then if I shoot above, thenthat can be negative space.
You can also use um a backdropstand and have like a solid
color backdrop those I alsolinked in my Amazon shop of what
I use for that Um.
You can also use um the sky asnegative space If you shoot up
(14:12):
at your subject and kind ofleave them in the bottom of that
frame and then the sky takes upthe rest of the space around
them.
So those are just some ideasfor finding negative space that
will just make your subject pop.
The miss with this, or whatcould go wrong, is if you have
(14:33):
too much negative space and thesubject is lost in it, and so
that means that the subject istoo small, too far away.
There's just like too muchnegative space where your eye is
focusing on that and not thesubject and not the subject.
(14:57):
So you got to have like a goodbalance, okay.
The next one is patterns andsymmetry.
So looking for repeatingpatterns or also creating like a
balance on either side of theframe.
Disrupting the pattern can drawthe viewer in.
So you're going to look forthings that repeat.
This could be windows, thiscould be stairs, this could be
(15:19):
trees that are all lined up.
This could be toys on theground, like.
Say, there's like Legos, like,or blocks or something that are
like in a repeating pattern, andthen all of a sudden there's a
kid's hand that is setting out ablock.
Well, that is interrupting thepattern and your eye goes to the
(15:41):
hand that's putting the blockdown, or maybe your child is
sitting there, maybe there'slike a lot of toys out and it
leads to the kid or the similarpattern of things, other things
with patterns that can draw in.
The subject is like a rug thathas a pattern and then placing
(16:04):
your baby like in the center ofthat rug.
If it has like medallions orthings that are, you know,
coming out of it or things thatare being repeated or things
that are being repeated, thenyou can do that With symmetry.
(16:26):
It can also be like if twoparents have a child in between
them and they're holding handsand walking.
Then that creates like abalance on either side, also
with patterns.
This is where my outfit choicescome into play.
(16:47):
When I'm trying to help stylemy clients is that I don't want
to worry so much about it, thepatterns clashing with the
background.
So most of the time I want myclients in neutrals, lighter
neutrals, because that willbounce off the busy background.
If they are wearing busyclothes or bold colors and then
(17:11):
we happen to be in front of abackground of a bunch of leaves
or trees, that it's just likevery busy back there and then
they're wearing busy colors,then it just is too distracting
for the viewer's eye.
So the more simplified I canmake their outfits, the more
they're going to stand outagainst the busy background.
(17:33):
Now, if I have control over thebackground and I can say, okay,
we're going to have a solidbackground, you wear your busy
pattern clothes or whatever,then that would be an
opportunity to wear those morebold things.
For me I just like to keep itsimple things.
(17:53):
But for me I just like to keepit like simple.
If you can just wear lighterneutrals, that is ideal for me,
because then it'll always lookcohesive to the rest of my stuff
that I post and it'llultimately draw the viewer's eye
into you as the family or thesubject based on wearing, mess
(18:18):
up the mood that I'm going for,which, like, I want like calm,
romantic, just again nostalgic,kind of soft vibes, I guess.
And if you mix a bold patternwith that, that just throws off
(18:38):
the mood that I'm trying toconvey completely, and so you
can mess up your image by havinglike a bold pattern, or even
like a modern bold pattern, inthe background of like a tender
baby, because you're trying toconvey this like sweet, tender
baby, and then you have thisloud pattern in the background
and so it can be just not themost cohesive image when you're
(19:05):
just playing with the viewer'seye.
I guess, again, things thatwith symmetry you can also do
parents on either side of thecrib and the baby in the middle
of the crib, things like thateither side of the crib and the
baby in the middle of the crib,things like that.
But then you can also balancethings out with things in the
(19:26):
room or just making sure thatit's not like nothing on one
side and then too much stuff onthe other side, and just kind of
scroll through Instagram oryour favorite photographers and
see, like, what do you noticeabout their composition that you
like or that you don't like, oreven, on your own, give your
(19:47):
own self a critique with the,the compositions that we're
talking about today, and justsee where could you do a little
bit better or what.
What made that one be a littleoff?
All right, so now we are goingto talk about number six,
layering, and so we'll talkabout this a little more when we
(20:10):
get to storytelling, which isnext week.
But this is adding depth byhaving a foreground, a middle
ground and a background, amiddle ground and a background.
So, whatever image you're doing, maybe you can incorporate
something in the foreground,like up close to your lens, and
then something in the middleground and something in the
(20:31):
background.
So the thing in the middleground could be the thing in
focus, and maybe the thing inthe foreground is the thing
that's out of focus and thebackground.
So an example of this would bepeople in the foreground, maybe
like a dad and mom, and thenmaybe a child that's just
learning to walk is comingtowards them, and they're the
(20:52):
ones in focus.
And then there's the house inthe background that's blurred,
or a sunset or something likethat, or maybe the grass or some
flowers or something in theforeground with the family on
the blanket that's in focus andthen the background is blurred.
Or again you could have like afamily all set up and they're
(21:13):
all running towards you atdifferent speeds and maybe the
little ones are in the front andso they're going to get a
little closer to you and soyou'll have a natural
progression of foreground,middle ground and background
with the people.
A miss for this would be if theforeground takes away from the
subject or it doesn't play intothe story or it blocks the
(21:36):
subject completely.
So before I sharpen my skillswith my focusing, I've had ones
where, like it got theforeground, like the grass and
stuff, in focus, but totallymissed the focus of my subject,
which was in the middle ground,and it was a great like cute
picture and I'm like I can'treally do anything with this
(21:58):
because I don't want thisfoliage to take away from the
moment that we all want to see.
That's now blurred in themiddle ground.
So that is where it can go.
Wrong is when you're the thingthat you want in focus is not
and other things are.
But you can obviously playaround with all of this and just
(22:19):
see what you like best, allright.
So our last compositiontechnique is point of view and
thinking how this can play intoyour composition.
Um, so you're thinking ofdifferent vantage points.
So I like to tell people, like,pretend like you're an ant
(22:39):
looking up or you're a birdlooking down, or you're making
your subjects look smaller orlarger, like depending on how
close you are to them or how faraway.
I don't know if you've seen thepictures that like, if you hold
your fingers like a certaindistance from your lens, and
then there's something like likeenormous in the background and
(23:03):
it can look like you're holdingit, just by the perception that
you're giving.
Um, that's kind of like whatwe're talking here, not just for
that creative um aspect, butjust like what could you make?
Look smaller and larger, um, inyour image.
Um, maybe you're getting on thefloor with your baby.
In your image, maybe you'regetting on the floor with your
(23:26):
baby Again, we're trying not todo that typical five, five shot
at your subject Maybe you'regetting down on the floor with
your baby or toddler.
Maybe you tape your phone tothe ceiling.
I've seen this.
My ceilings are a little tootall so getting up there would
be a challenge, but in somerooms, like my kids' rooms, then
maybe that could be somethingthat would be an option and then
(23:50):
, using just a remote timer toset off the shutter, you can
also get closer to the camera wetalked about and also get
closer to the camera we talkedabout.
Other things that I like to askis like what can I peer through?
And this adds an element to theviewer that makes them like
(24:13):
think, like how did this happen?
Like what is that?
What are we looking through?
Like it just intrigues them andhelps them to linger a little
longer at the image, intriguesthem and helps them to linger a
little longer at the image.
But also, like I love again,like I stated, I think, like
last episode or one before, Ilike to feel like you're peeking
(24:33):
in on someone's life and you'recapturing a moment, and so this
provides, like the viewer, justlike getting a little glimpse.
So maybe the door is likehalfway shut and you're just
like peeking in on this familyreading a book to their child or
your toddler reading a book tothe baby, or you know something
like that, something whereyou're like peeking in or like
(24:54):
what can I peer through?
Maybe you're peering throughthe coffee mugs handle that was
sitting there since this morningand it might still be full and
cold now but you're peering inat the mom that's taking care of
the child or something likethat that can also add into
storytelling.
But just just thinking in yourmind like how can I make this
(25:16):
difference than just standinghere shooting straight on Misses
that happen with this is youdon't want to get a distorted,
like 0.5 image.
If you've seen that like whereyou put it on 0.5 and go up to
(25:37):
somebody's forehead and takethat picture and it looks like
so distorted, I mean it's sounflattering if you've had any
of your kids do that to you.
So again, don't take picturesthat are like really close to
your baby's forehead or yoursubject's forehead and then
making their like the rest oftheir body look like really
small or distorted, and so justbeing careful of that.
(26:00):
Another thing I want to mentionis cropping.
Like when you're photographinga subject, never crop them at
their joints, so you don't wantto crop them at their wrist or
their elbows or their knees ortheir ankles.
That is not not a good look.
It just cuts off your image andit I don't it just like, makes
(26:23):
it not complete in a person'sbrain.
Um, people like I don't know.
There's like all this likepsychological stuff of what
people's brains do when theylook at images, um, and so
there's things that people don'tlike and then there's things
that you know don't stimulatethe brain in that way, I guess.
(26:44):
Okay.
So if you have a problem, thisis me okay.
So I have a problem getting myimages straight.
So when I go to post-processthem, I straighten all my images
and sometimes this can lead tocropping at the joints, like the
feet, feet or the ankles or thewrist or something else.
(27:05):
So if you are like me, or ifyou just want to be careful and
just in case, then pull awayfrom the subject a little bit
and allow yourself some room tocrop later.
I try to do, you know, get thatbest image so that I have less
to do on my computer later.
(27:25):
But I'm just not great withstraight.
I have the like leveler in mycamera and I don't know.
I'm just like working too quickor whatever, and AI is not that
good yet to add in the hands orfeedback of your subjects.
So that's just something tothrow in there.
(27:49):
When you're thinking ofcomposition and this the point
of view, is also like astorytelling technique which,
again, I said I will talk aboutnext week when we get into fun
things to incorporate, to add toour toolbox of things that can
really help tell a story.
So if you have questions,anything like that, then just
(28:13):
drop me a message in myinstagram dms at be posh photo,
or if you've taken any picturesthat go along with these
episodes, make sure to hashtagBetter Photos Podcast and I will
take a look and I have addedlinks to my backdrops, my ladder
(28:36):
, my drone things that can helpyou when you are trying to get
better photos, all in my shownotes.
So go down there and take alook.
You can also find my links tobooking sessions and my
Instagram feed.
So now for our challenge.
(28:57):
This week you're going to taketwo photos for each composition
technique.
So again, we have rule ofthirds, leading lines, framing,
negative space, patterns andsymmetry layering, which is the
foreground, middle ground,background and point of view,
(29:19):
and so if you can take twopictures of each of those and
just experiment and see what youlike best, then hashtag better
photos podcast if you post thoseand we will catch up next week.
So hopefully these things canjust help you with your shooting
and looking for specific thingsto capture or inspire you to be
(29:45):
more creative, and ultimately,this will leverage your
photography skills, so you'llhave new things in your camera
roll.
Feel free to share yourprogress with me and I'm so
excited to talk next time.
All right, you guys have agreat week.
Thanks for joining.
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