The golden section
If you want your pictures to stand out, there are a few simple rules that will give you the basis for perfectly composed pictures every time you shoot. These rules, which have been followed by artists down the generations, are all based on the principle usually known as the golden section, or the rule of thirds.
What is the golden section?
It was the Ancient Greek mathematician Euclid who first espoused the principle of the golden section. The theory of this visually satisfying ratio dictates that the subject of a picture or photograph be placed at the intersection of imaginary lines drawn vertically and horizontally one-third of the way along the sides of a picture. Sculptors and architects have also followed the principle to produce classically proportioned statues and buildings. The Ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras later proved that the golden section was the basis for the proportions of the human figure, and showed that the body is built with each part in a golden proportion to all other parts. Later, during the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci adopted and perfected Pythagoras’s theory.
When composing your shots, try to imagine a grid like the one illustrated here. If you place your subject at the intersection of imaginary lines drawn vertically and horizontally one-third of the way in from the sides of the picture, your composition will be well balanced.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 50mm lens, 1/125 sec, f/8.
In this shot, I have used the tree to frame the picture – it occupies the left-hand and top-third of the shot. This gives a strong balance and leads the eye into the centre of the shot.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 28mm lens, 1/125 sec, f/16.
Following the principle
There are important elements to consider every time you compose your pictures, and all of them relate to the principle of the golden section. The first of these is framing the picture. You should ask yourself whether the shot would look better taken with the camera held in landscape mode or turned vertically in its portrait mode. The second is viewpoint, and you should explore whether you should change it from a high viewpoint to a low one or vice versa. At the same time, you need to pay attention to the foreground and background and how you can make them work within the overall composition. Since a DSLR camera with its lenses can zoom in and out, crop and include, blur and keep sharp, you can use it to control and enhance all the elements that go into making up the overall composition.
See also:
Framing the picture
Probably the greatest advantage of a DSLR camera is that when you look through the viewfinder, what you see is exactly what the lens sees. This is the most accurate way of viewing your subject, which should make it easy to frame your shot perfectly.
Taking your time
Even with this advantage, many photographers develop the unfortunate habit of always having their subject in the middle of the frame and always shooting with the camera in its landscape (horizontal) mode. Usually this is the result of trying to work too quickly and not giving enough time and thought to placing the subject in its optimum position.
Placing your subject slap in the middle of the frame often fails to produce the best picture because there can be too much distracting detail surrounding the subject. Using the landscape mode to shoot a portrait also results in unwanted peripheral detail. The human face fits far more comfortably in portrait mode, and you can zoom in and literally fill the frame – all you need do is turn the camera 90°. Many DSLR cameras have duplicated controls, so that the shutter release button is as easy to reach in landscape or portrait mode.
I deliberately placed this Welsh mountain pony to one side of the frame, as I thought it might make a double page spread picture in a magazine. The gutter would fall in a neutral area of the shot and there is enough blue sky for some type to be dropped in. Even so, the picture works well and looks much better than if I had centred the pony.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 28mm lens, 1/60 sec, f/11.
Professional tips
• Don’t be afraid to go in close to your subject and fill the frame.
• Change lens if you can’t get in close enough to your subject. Cropping the picture on the computer at a later date will result in a loss of quality.
• Look at your subject with the camera in both portrait and landscape modes.
• Try a few shots where your subject is to one side of the frame and not in the middle.
• If you are hoping to have your pictures published, consider where the gutter or type might be positioned.
This portrait fills the frame perfectly. Imagine how much background would have been included had I shot it with the camera in landscape mode.
> Canon EOS 1DS MK2, 70mm lens, 1/15 sec, f/2.8.
The telegraph pole and cactus look lost in landscape mode.
A tighter composition has been achieved in portrait mode.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 70mm lens, 1/50 sec, f/11.
Photographs for publication
Many professional photographers compose their pictures with an idea already in mind of how they might be published. For example, they may compose their shots so that they will fit over two pages in a magazine or book. When doing this, it is important that the gutter (where two facing pages join in the middle), which may have to slice through the shot, is in a position that is not going to affect the main subject.
Another consideration is where the type might go. Throughout this book there are double-page pictures that have some text over them. If the shots had been taken without enough of a neutral area, then the type would be illegible.
See also:
Portraits
Viewpoint
Selecting the best viewpoint for a shot is often low down in the list of priorities because, having seen a view of a subject that we find attractive, many of us shoot from that very spot. In some cases this might work, but if we had given ourselves just a little more time, the shot might have been so much better.
Important questions
Having chosen what you are going to shoot, take time to look carefully at the subject and ask