With a powerful digital camera in everyone’s pocket these days, getting a great picture has never been easier. That doesn’t mean, however, that the camera does all the work. While modern digital smartphone cameras will take care of a lot of things like color balancing and setting the optimal exposure for lighting conditions, getting a great photo is as much about framing and composition as it is camera settings. Here are 3 tips to help you create great photo composition.
Close up, crop or blur
If you’re taking a photo of something, chances are good you want people to notice the specific thing you are taking a photo of. To that end, you don’t want a lot of “noise” in the background taking attention away from the subject of the photo. You can accomplish this in several ways. The best way to do this is to get close enough so your subject or subjects fill the frame. The second best way is to crop away any extra background in a photo editing app. The problem with this, however, is that it “blows up” the main image and you lose quality. The last option is to blur the background slightly so that your main subject stands out sharply and clearly.
Get everything in the frame
While there are times when you may want to place your subject to the left or right of the frame (or in some cases, have no choice), it can be awkward when arms, legs or the top of someone’s head is cut off. Even with a smartphone screen, you may not notice everything going on (or not going on) in the frame when you are just snapping a quick pic. It’s better to make the person slightly smaller in the frame and edit it later than to have them fill the frame and discover later that a good portion of the top of their head is out of the frame.
Understand the rule of thirds
One of the most basic concepts of photo composition involves dividing the frame into nine different sections. Good photo composition involves placing the subject in one of the nine boxes or in an area where the lines intersect. Many photography apps will have a feature that shows you a wireframe grid that divides the screen into thirds (three horizontal sections and three vertical sections) which help you determine where in the frame you want to place your subject.