Day 4, 10th September – At Sea

It’s day 4 of our virtual cruise, and we are at sea, beginning our 5-day crossing of the Atlantic. So I don’t have any travelogue videos for this day.  However, for me it was the first of my Photography Lectures on board.  The lecture was “The Secrets of Great Composition” so let me share with you the highlights from that talk.

There are three ‘rules’ that will help you with every image that you create.  They are Subject, Focus, Simplify

Subject

Before you start to create an image, decide what it is that you are planning to photograph.

It might be an object (such as an eagle)

It might be an action (such as cleaning)

or it might be a concept (such homelessness)

Focus

Next, decide how you are going to draw attention to (focus attention on) your subject

There’s lot’s of ways you could do this including:

The rule of thirds

Strong diagonals

Repetition

Simplify

Next, ask yourself the question is there anything I can do remove distractions and simplify my image.  For example

Remove bright objects (like this yellow bag) that will draw the eye away from your subject

Move or crop in close so that your subject fills the frame

Use a shallow depth of field to throw the background out of focus