tell your story in an infinite number of ways.
Let’s think of these as “recipes” or tools that you can learn to use and have at your fingertips. The more fluid you are with them, the more you’ll be able to utilize them in imaginative ways to make creative photos. I’m making these easily available to you to help you expand your creative skills in each.
As you’ll see, the book defines 83 composition tools for easy use, each illustrated by one or more photographs or other works of art. As a note, these illustrations serve several purposes: first to show the tool being discussed, but also you’ll find many interesting examples of composition that you can learn from. For some, I selected paintings going back many centuries to underscore the duration of these tools from the masters.
There are three ways to use this book:
1.Start at #1, study each tool, and then create your own examples all the way through the book. Then you’ll have real experience with each of them.
2.Read through the book to get a feel for these and take notes on the ones that resonate with you. Once you’ve done this, the best action to reinforce the concepts presented is to immediately pull out your camera or phone and try to create with that composition “recipe.” Since the book is compact, I want you to carry it with you and put it right to use as you’re going out and photographing—it’s not meant to sit on a shelf and gather dust.
3.The third approach would be—just as if you were learning French cooking from Julia Child—looking through the book to find a recipe that catches your eye, and then simply cooking it. You might be challenged by one and put yourself to the test to see if you can make a credible version of it, and hopefully find you exceeded your expectations.
In any case, my goal is to broaden you skills as a photographer, no matter what level you are when you enter this process. I want to help you fulfill that deep urge that I spoke of to tell stories with your pictures and share them with pride as prints, exhibits, in books you create, on your social media, and elsewhere.
Then, start sharing your photos with us so we can see your results and hear your stories behind your images. To do so, use the hashtag #AYPClub (as I started with my previous book Advancing Your Photography (AYP).
“When I was a kid, there was no collaboration;
it’s you with a camera bossing your friends around. But as an adult, filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you surround yourself with and knowing you could never have made any of these films by yourself.”
—Steven Spielberg
I want to give a hearty thank you to all the people who helped me research and write this book. It began with the many photographers who generously shared their advice with me, especially to Bob Holmes for his wonderful way of describing what has become instinctive to him. To Kim Weston, for graciously inviting me to his home to discuss his wisdom and to explore his grandfather Edward’s legacy. To Bambi Cantrell, Camille Seaman, and David Smith for their composition advice.
Thank you to Michael Zagaris, Bob Holmes, Florian Schulz, David Smith, John Todd, and Jake Garn for allowing me to use their images. To Pete Hoffman, Corey Waldin, and Andrew Hagood for assistance with illustrations. To Gary Meisner for helping me navigate the golden ratio.
I want to give a shout out to branding wizard David Brier for his spot-on coaching. To my wife Jan, for modeling and art directing the cover and for the millions of other magical things she does to enable me to write and create.
And to my many beta readers who helped me shape the book, especially Cathy Weaver.
I very much want to acknowledge those authors who provided inspiration and content for the book: William Palluth and John Ormsbee Simonds, for their collection of composition formats that form the major framework for the book.
And a big thank you to the team at Mango Publishing, especially Chris McKenney for his vision and encouragement, to Hugo Villabona, for editing and guidance throughout, and Elina Diaz for her beautiful design.
And finally, thank you again to my followers and readers who have supported me over the years. I love your passion for photography. I’m always thrilled to help you continue to advance and I dedicate this book to you!
PART ONE: FUNDAMENTAL COMPOSITION GUIDES AND TOOLS
“Composition is simply the arrangement
of your subject matter within the confines
of your picture space.”
—William Palluth, artist and author
The Oxford American Dictionary defines composition as, “the artistic arrangement of the parts of a picture.”
Always keep in mind that composition means how you arrange your subject within the frame of your camera in a way that best tells your story.
Also note that when I say “camera” I’m referring to any type
of usual camera or smartphone (you’ll see many of my photos
in the book were taken with an iPhone which I noted in the caption.) Almost all cameras produce a rectangular image, but a few are square.
You’re the captain of the ship when it comes to composition: you have an enormous number of choices for placing your subject within the frame of your camera and one of the adventures of photography is discovering new ways to do that creatively. My goal is to help you do so easily, even intuitively, by practicing with these tools.
As a note, whenever you hear or see the phrase “take” Photos, I’d rather you think of it as creating them.
The following are your 83 guides or tools for composition. You’ll be able to find many more, but I’m giving you the main ones that will get you rolling, and leave it to you to keep discovering more.
Also remember that, like basic ingredients that I mentioned, these too can be combined in different creative ways. Keep in mind that many of the examples I will show you are components of composition, and some of them on their own may not seem “amazing” but when you add them to your tool kit and put them to work you’ll find they become very handy in developing your eye.
Going back to the kitchen, when learning to cook you take up each part of a meal up separately. For example: when learning to make a basic omelet, it might not be much to sing about by itself, but it then becomes “amazing” when you add the other ingredients (cheese, onions, sauces, etc.) when chosen well.
But let’s begin by learning each on its own.
I’m going to take these tools up, set by step, beginning with the simplest first, building as we go. If you’ve been photographing for some time you will be familiar with many of these tools. But please keep your mind open to reinforce or learn new aspects of each. The biggest mistake one can make is to see a familiar tool and then assume that there’s nothing more to learn. I have found the reverse is true: the more I study a subject the more I appreciate and can learn from its basics; after all, “basic” means the foundation, which, like a
