Regency Digital Photography Club

Photographic Composition

Pages with info and/or videos

• Digital Photography School - Definition of the Rule of Thirds

• B&H Seminar - Beyond the Rule of Thirds

• PetaPixel - Photographic Composition

• Adorama - Photographic Composition

• Digital Photography School - Anchoring Your Photography

Most photos should have:

• Foreground

• Middle Ground

• Background

Positive space is the actual subject.

Negative space (also called white space) is the area surrounding the subject.

• Examples

• PetaPixel discussion pf negative space.

Negative space acts as breathing room for your eyes. Too little negative space results in cluttered and busy photographs.

PetaPixel’s How to Use the Foreground to Create Depth in Landscape Photos

Spirals are great if you find one.

Patterns - The eye loves patterns, but a pattern interrupted is even more interesting.

The eye is drawn to areas that are in sharper focus drifting to areas of less focus and out of focus.

The eye is drawn to brighter areas and avoids darker areas.

The eye will be drawn to strong colors.

People as the subject

• 90% of the viewer’s attention is on the face.

• 90% of that attention is on the eyes.

• The viewer’s eyes track the direction in which the subject of the photo is looking. If the subject is looking to the side make sure you leave room on that side, otherwise it is disconcerting for the viewer.

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