I switched to one lens and zero expectations on a travel assignment. My pictures haven't been this honest in years.

I have a confession. For years, I've been telling readers and workshop attendees to shoot with a single prime lens. Learn to see at one focal length, I'd say. Use your feet, not your zoom. Understand what 35mm or 50mm actually looks like before you start accumulating glass. Sound advice, I thought. But in all honesty, I wasn't really doing it myself.

In fairness, when I started out in the 1980s, most of us had no choice. You got one lens because one lens was all you could afford – typically a 50mm (the nifty fifty). And you learned to see within that frame, to move your body rather than twist a zoom ring. You learned to anticipate where a picture was before you raised the camera to your eye. Then, over the years, the kit bag got heavier, and the seeing got lazier. I suspect I'm not alone in that.

It took Sigma Imagining to call my bluff. They asked me to shoot with their 24mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens for a couple of months. Not a focal length I would have gravitated towards, if I'm honest. A touch too wide, I thought. But within a week or so something shifted. I stopped worrying about what I couldn't frame and started paying attention to what I could. My eye adjusted and I started using my feet.

After that experience, I found myself reaching for my Fujifilm GFX 50R with the GF 45mm f/2.8 (roughly a 35mm equivalent) almost exclusively. It just stayed on the camera. I liked knowing exactly where I needed to stand to realise what I was seeing, without fiddling or second-guessing.

So when Fujifilm released the GFX100RF with its fixed 35mm lens (a 28mm equivalent), it felt like something had been made specifically for the way I now work. Everything I needed in a smaller, lighter package that freed me to do what I love most: wander. The flâneur had found his groove.

Here's what nobody tells you about working with one lens. It doesn't limit your photography. It limits your indecision. And indecision, far more than any lack of equipment, is what kills most pictures before they're ever taken. So try it. One lens. Leave the bag at home and just walk until you get your eye in.

I pay little attention to viral photography trends on Instagram, but I've spotted one might actually help you become a better photographer as well as photo editor: color hunting.

Color hunting is the name of the craze, and it’s a pretty simple one to understand: you go out looking for a specific color to make the focal point of your images.

People from all around the world are doing it and, what I like about this trend is that, unlike most Instagram photography trends, this one focuses on composition as well as editing.

I recently wrote a piece on how, for many people, composition is no longer king, so seeing a trend bring it back into focus, so to speak, is great.

So the gist of color hunting is to pick a single color and build your compositions around it. Subjects can be anything, from a passer-by wearing a bright jacket that’s exactly the color you’re hunting or a street sign with stripes of your desired hue.

But more than this, I think the key to color hunting, and what makes it a good trend to jump on, as far as trends go, is to focus on how the particular color enhances an already strong composition.

Take a vibrant yellow sunflower on a hot, sunny day, for example. The color works well here because it plays into the summer narrative. Alternatively, a dark blue car parked on a cold street corner would work just as well on a winter’s day.

Of course, you can get as creative with color hunting as you like. But, just like a strong edit doesn’t fix a poor photo, a stand-out color doesn’t either. So, seeing the color as more than just an eye-grabbing feature – as a part of the story of the image as a whole – makes for a better image all around.

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As a serious photographer, I will always stand by the age-old phrase "composition is king.” In my view, there will never come a time when anything other than the way a photo is crafted will stand as most important.

But when I put myself in the shoes of the average person who looks at photographs online, and I consider how the vast majority of images they see are taken by a layman with a smartphone, I wonder if the scroll-stopping factor of pictures these days is how they’ve been edited rather than how well they’re composed.

For me, digital technology not only revolutionized how we create photos, but also how we view them, and, subsequently, I think this has changed what the mark of a good photo is for the general public.

Previously, the average person would mostly be exposed to high-quality, well-composed images printed in magazines and newspapers, or hanging from gallery walls. Now, we have access to a bottomless sea of digital photos that demonstrate little to no understanding of compositional techniques.

So, if it’s not a well-defined subject, or a leading line, or the use of negative space, for example, that grabs the attention, what is it? In my view, it mostly comes down to how aesthetically pleasing the color palette is and how much the image ‘pops’ with contrast and saturation.

Of course, there are other factors, especially for images posted on social media, where the subject itself is often what keeps people lingering. But strong colors and contrast alone can evoke all kinds of emotional reactions in viewers.

I’d even go as far as saying that some contemporary professional photographers are guilty of prioritizing editing over composition, which further engrains what I think is a general view that the glitz and the glam added in Lightroom is more important than the scene itself.

I'm seeing a lot of images that show little in terms of photographic principles, but which show extremely well-honed editing skills. I don't think that is something we saw in the days of film photography.

Not that I was around to witness this, but with the post-processing firepower that we now have access to, of course, even some professionals would be distracted by this instead of mastering getting it right in camera.

For those who know what makes a good image, photographic composition will always be most important. And in the past, it probably was something similar for the average viewer, too.

Before the days of social media and mass access to photography, I can imagine more people in general being able to look at an image and pick up on the use of lighting or some compositional technique as being the reason why that photo ‘worked’.

But now we are so swamped with poorly-composed photographs that people are naturally drawn to the edit, and, I’m sorry to say, but, I feel like the careful thought I put into meticulously crafting a scene probably goes unnoticed the majority of the time.

I’m certainly not saying composition is no longer king. How a photo is crafted matters. But if you haven’t already, I think it’s time to accept that the edit can have a much greater impact than you want to admit.

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In recent years, I have travelled extensively with my camera. When I think about my photography and the images I make, I have learned that the real shift happens in my head and has very little to do with geography. 

It is not the destination that sharpens my looking, but the jolt of dislocation. Alain de Botton writes in The Art of Travel that stepping into a new place forces our senses awake. Colors lift, small details stand out, and the banal can become oddly beautiful. Most photographers know this feeling. You arrive somewhere new, and your visual awareness becomes acutely aware of everything. Even an electric meter, or a garbage can, can look photogenic.

This made me curious about how much of that effect is psychological rather than environmental. So I tried an experiment. I tried to photograph my own neighborhood as if I had flown halfway round the globe. It worked embarrassingly well. 

The trick was not distance but my attention. The moment I pretended to be a stranger, the familiar opened up. The street I walk every day began to reveal small dramas and quiet textures that I hadn’t really noticed for years.

Even though I live in a photogenic city, Bath, I mostly ignore the Georgian crescents on the school run or while walking to the shops. I rarely register the shop windows and their reflections, the door knockers or the way light hits the golden stone. These are exactly the kinds of details that, when I am wandering the streets of an African port or a dusty town in South America, I find myself transfixed by.

This experiment reminded me that looking is a practice, not a reflex. Dislocation helps because it jolts us into paying attention, but we do not need to fly halfway round the world to achieve that shift. We need only the willingness to approach the familiar with the same curiosity we reserve for the far-flung corners of the world.

When I slowed down and treated my neighborhood with the respect I usually give to foreign streets, I found images everywhere. Not spectacular ones, necessarily, but honest ones, like this image of a shop window on the London Road in Bath (see above).

Perhaps what travel teaches is not how exotic the world is, but how inattentive we can become. The art of looking, seeing and noticing begins at home.

Sometimes, even I am surprised by what catches my eye. Photographing the less obvious aspects of the world is something I’m inherently drawn to. I’m more likely to be photographically ‘happy’ working in suburban scrubland on the outskirts of a semi-industrial port than in some classical photogenic chocolate-box landscape.

During my travels in 2022, I became partly obsessed with covered motorbikes. At first, I didn’t realise it was happening. However, I noticed when looking through my files that I’d shot several, almost without consciously thinking about what I was doing. 

Having acknowledged that I found these covered bikes a photographic curiosity, my eyes became attuned to noticing them more intently. Through the act of looking, I saw more and more of them, to the extent that it became borderline obsessive. I only have half a dozen or so from various countries in the world that I’m happy with, but I plan to keep my eyes open for more until I have a decent body of work. These four were taken in Greece, Costa Rica, Turkey and Israel respectively (clockwise from the top left).

I’m trying to process the origins of my interest in these covered bikes, not to mention myriad other minor photo-obsessions… which got me thinking. Perhaps the answer lies, in part, with French artist Marcel Duchamp. I’ve always been drawn to ideas around Duchamp’s ‘readymades’ and find the basic concept deeply appealing. A ‘readymade’ is an artistic approach most famously illustrated by Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ – the urinal that he signed and hung on a gallery wall. The basic idea is that by acknowledging something, anything, as art, you can elevate it to that status. 

Maybe it’s something along these lines that’s happening here, with these covered motorbikes. I sense that I respond to the bikes as if they were beautiful street sculptures and delight in the fact that for the most part, I’d assume they’re largely ignored and slip unnoticed into the background visual noise of a street scene.

Apart from anything, it’s an interesting way to engage with the world from a new perspective. Find your thing and give it a go – you never know where it might lead you. 

• Other articles in the Art of Seeing series

Read more:
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• 100 best photography quotes from famous photographers
• The top 12 books on photography published in 2025

Confession time. I ignore just about every compositional rule I regularly teach. No rule of thirds. No golden spiral. No carefully balanced foreground interest. But I took the picture anyway. The world did not end. No alarms sounded. The image did not collapse in on itself like a badly cooked soufflé.

Composition is often taught as if it were a set of traffic laws rather than a loose collection of useful suggestions. Photography is messier than that. Look through any book on the history of photography and you will see some of the most celebrated photographers making truly seminal, iconic work violated the so-called rules with abandon.

The great American photographer Edward Weston put it well when he said that consulting the rules of composition before making a picture is a bit like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk. Gravity exists. It matters. But you do not actively think about it with every step. Composition works in much the same way. The principles are there, quietly doing their job in the background.

This really hit home while I was recently putting together a class on composition. I went hunting through my own archive, fully expecting to find at least one image that neatly demonstrated the rule of thirds. I could not find a single one. Not one image where the subject sat obediently on an intersection point. And yet the pictures worked. At least, I think so.

Perhaps part of the problem is how we talk about composition. Terms like Phi, the golden mean and Gestalt theory are fascinating, but they make my head spin. They suggest a level of calculation that simply does not reflect how most photographs are actually made. I do not stand in the street running ratios in my head. I look. I feel. I respond. If something pulls at my attention and works with the ‘story’ I want to tell, I take it.

That does not mean compositional guides are useless. Far from it. They are incredibly helpful, especially when starting out, or when a scene is not quite working and you need a way in. They give you the foundations of a visual language. They give you options. What they should not do is police your instincts.

The danger comes when guides harden into rules. When photographers, along with some adjudicators and so-called judges, start rejecting images because they do not tick the right boxes, rather than asking whether the picture actually says something.

So yes, learn the rules. Think about them. Be aware of them. Then, when the moment demands it, ignore them completely. The photograph will survive. You probably will too.

Learn more about the rules of composition:
• 6 ways to improve your composition
• Composition mistakes photographers make and how to avoid them
• 5 pro composition techniques for stunning shots

I’m a big fan of rule of thirds photography, but this compositional technique is often deemed too simplistic or even boring. However, if you’re starting out on your photography journey, it’s a simple and reliable method of capturing pleasing compositions, allowing you to focus on other areas you might be struggling with, such as the exposure triangle or camera controls.

But as you start to learn more about compositional theory, you may find the rule of thirds to be lacking. And yet, what makes the rule of thirds so useful is that it can be applied to so many different situations. Unlike the rule of odds, leading lines, and a frame within a frame, the rule of thirds is an overarching compositional principle that can be applied to almost any image. Thankfully, there’s a more advanced alternative: the golden ratio.

How to use the golden ratio

1. Know the rule of thirds
2. Familiarize yourself with the Fibonacci spiral
3. Apply the spiral to images in post-production
4. Place the focal point at the end of the spiral
5. Use the curvature of the spiral as a guide for leading the viewer towards the focal point
6. Mentally apply the spiral when capturing images with your camera

What is the golden ratio?

The golden ratio, sometimes called the divine proportion or phi, is a mathematical equation that ends up close to 1.618. This number can also be achieved using the Fibonacci sequence, where the current number in the sequence is added to the previous number to make the next number: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc. As the sequence progresses, the Fibonacci sequence increasingly converges towards the golden ratio.

I’m no mathematician, so I’m not going to embarrass myself by explaining how that happens, but there’s a relationship. What we’re interested in is those numbers being used to form a curve known as the Fibonacci spiral. However, in the world of photography, I’ve seen Fibonacci spiral, golden ratio, phi, and the like, all being used interchangeably to refer to this curve. So, from now on, I’m just going to call it the golden ratio.

Things get really interesting when you realise that the golden ratio pops up all over the place throughout history. Not just in great works of art by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, but throughout the natural world. And while the concept of the golden ratio is pretty difficult to get your head around, applying it isn’t. But it does require practice.

The biggest difficulty is that, unlike the rule of thirds, it’s hard to find cameras that actually feature golden ratio overlays. This means you’ve got to overlay the spiral in your head. Thankfully, both Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic have a golden ratio overlay you can use when cropping, so you can tweak your composition accordingly. There’s also a simplified version of the golden ratio, which looks a lot like the rule of thirds grid, but with the two verticals set closer together in the center of the image.

As with the rule of thirds, you can place the focal point of the image on any of the converging points on the aforementioned grid, or roughly around the center of the spiral. The spiral itself can be flipped horizontally or vertically, and you can use the curvature as a guide for leading the eye towards the center of the spiral via objects or leading lines within the image.

Ultimately, the golden ratio isn’t overly different from the rule of thirds. However, due to its equally spaced grid, it’s less flexible than the golden ratio, and subsequent compositions can appear more rigid. I also find the Fibonacci spiral more useful in that the curvature can be used to lead towards the focal point of the image, whereas the rule of thirds simply features intersection points. It's also worth pointing out that you the golden ratio is scalable, so you can apply it to different aspect ratios. So, the next time you’re out and about, or if you’ve got some images to crop in post, why not try the golden ratio instead of the rule of thirds?

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While it’s tempting to embrace those huge skies that you only seem to get in America – and while I would’ve happily used these images when I was a magazine editor, as the empty space in the sky would be perfect to put big headlines and text on top – when using these sorts of travel images online, this excess empty space can mean they lose their impact.

A bit of clever cropping is an easy way to lose these blank areas in the frame. So why don't you go for a panoramic-style crop? It’s a brilliant and quick fix for removing large areas of sky, or large empty bits of land or sea, like these shots by the beaches of California.

When I’m cropping these images, I don’t mean the classic 16:9 ratio favored for most panoramic shots; I’m talking about a more extreme 21:9 ratio for a proper widescreen movie experience.

The great thing with modern cameras is that the large file sizes captured by their high-resolution sensors mean that you can make some hefty crops and still be left with large, usable images.

These shots were taken with an old 30MP Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, which captures 6720 x 4480 images – more than enough pixels to crop. But, of course, when doing these 21:9 crops we’re keeping the full width, and therefore the full impact, of our high-res images.

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Are you born with a photographer’s eye or is it something you develop from years of experience? Blowing my own trumpet, I personally feel like I’ve always had a half-decent eye for this stuff, whereas I’ve met many amateur photographers on workshops who feel it’s an area they really need help with to: a) spot a shot, and b) compose correctly to capture it!

So how do you spot a photo op? Sometimes it’s luck. Sometimes there’s a bit of pre-planning. And you always need a camera with you to grab it!

For this shot, there was a bit of a combination of all three. I’d clocked this seemingly-dumped little motorhome a week or two before, tucked away in a car park near some sports fields where I often walk our dog. 

On the day I took this picture, I'd timed my little visit with the last light of the day, and on a day when we had some rare blue sky. I couldn’t resist grabbing this shot on my trusty iPhone 11 Pro Max before sunset, as a sort of tribute to Breaking Bad and Walter White & Jesse Pinkman’s infamous Winnebago crystal myth lab.

The sun cast some great side-light on the motorhome, and created some fantastic contrast with the motorhome and rank of garages lit up, but the surrounding carpark and building in shadow.

Then it was just a case of getting an interesting composition. I positioned myself to get the shot showing the little motorhome facing towards the light, yet still hidden out of view. 

I wanted a shot that tells a story. Why has the owner parked there? What’s going on inside? I was tempted to knock on the side door, to see if anyone would answer, and maybe open the door and growl, “I’m the one who knocks…”

I chose a 16:9 crop to mimic the wide-screen of television, and a little editing to bring out the warmer colours and vibrant blue sky to pay homage to that iconic Breaking Bad look the cinematographers favored when shooting scenes with big blue skies and the heat of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I can’t believe it’s been over 12 years since the incredible final episode! Breaking Bad began in January 2008, and concluded in September 2013, after five seasons and 62 amazing episodes.

In 2014, Breaking Bad was certified in the Guinness World Records as the most critically-acclaimed show of all time (based on its awards and nominations). 

The composition of a photograph is key – it can either make or break your image. And while it is possible to change the composition of your photographs with cropping in editing, this approach comes at the potential cost of image size and quality loss.

But there's a simple in-camera feature that supports you when composing, and it can transform your shots instantly: camera grid lines.

Activating this often overlooked feature helps you apply professional composition techniques in real time, so every frame feels balanced, intentional and visually engaging. So turning on your camera's grid overlay will help line up horizons, straighten verticals and compose like a pro.

With the in-camera composition guidelines, you can achieve perfect composition straight away – even handheld, on the go, without any compromise.

Many camera brands provide a rule of thirds grid as standard, as well as more advanced guides with additional lines that you can apply to any scene.

Every camera manufacturer's menu system is different, but you'll generally find the Grid Line features in the Display settings.

Having the ability to view these lines as an overlay is vital for photographic genres such as architecture or coastal photography, as non-straight lines and horizons can lower the image quality and the viewer’s experience.

With the help of these guides, you will encourage yourself to think more creatively by changing positions and perspectives. The in-camera guidelines are not only helpful in enhancing your compositions, but they also serve as a great way to train and build your photographic skills.

A useful tip is to always keep a particular grid option active to focus your mind on the composition.

Composition examples

Visual balance
The straight lines are crucial for creating a sense of harmony within the image composition.

The rule of thirds
By incorporating the rule of thirds, the subject is positioned off-center to create a more visually pleasing photo.

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You might be interested in our video explaining what is the rule of thirds, as well as our explainer on what is exposure in photography.

If you’re a beginner photographer there’s perhaps no simpler compositional rule to master than filling the frame. This often-touted photography ‘hack’ has become a bit of an instructional buzzword akin to Weegee’s “f/8 and be there”. And indeed, filing the frame can be traced back to a legendary photographer, too, none other than famed photojournalist and Magnum co-founder, Robert Capa. To quote him in full: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, then you aren’t close enough.”

Capa is arguably the most famous war photographer of all time, it’s not surprising that getting close to the action was of extreme importance. However, his wisdom can be applied to many different genres of photography and while filling the frame should be considered just one compositional technique in your arsenal, it’s a great technique for beginner photographers to learn, because it’s a simple concept that can be achieved with almost any lens (providing you’re photographing the right subject).

One way to fill the frame is by cropping your images. This is fine, so long as your subject is sharp and you’ve got enough resolution to play with. However, this technique works best in the way Capa intended it, by physically getting yourself closer to the subject, either by changing your lens or moving your feet.

Filling the frame is a useful technique for a variety of reasons, perhaps the most useful being that it amplifies the impact of your subject on the viewer. This is because it positions the subject closer to the viewer and in doing so eliminates distractions, which brings me to my second point, something I like to think of as shielding.

Filling the frame can be used to 'shield' the viewer from uninteresting or overly busy backgrounds or elements within a scene. If you’re photographing a portrait of a flower, but the background is a tangled mess of weeds or the back of a shed, filling the frame will eliminate the noise.

Filling the frame is also a good way to make a boring subject more interesting. For example, macro photography very often involves filling the frame by magnifying the subject beyond the capabilities of the human eye. Photograph your living room carpet with a 50mm lens from head height, and it’ll look extremely boring. Photograph it with a 1:1 macro lens, and the minuscule threads will form an abstract tessellation that's infinitely more interesting.

So, if you’re ever faced with a subject that you want to amplify, that isn’t quite interesting enough, or sits in front of an overly busy background, try filling the frame. If it’s good enough for the late, great Robert Capa, it’s good enough for me and you.

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As photographers, it is easy to become so preoccupied with our own artistic intentions that we forget about the impact that each photography composition technique has on the viewer. Since this is the entire reason we spend so much time constructing an image, it makes sense to strive to fully understand how different perspectives influence audience reaction.

This enables us to begin experimenting with angles and focal lengths to vary the narratives of our images – a moderate change can have significant effects, unlocking exciting potential for alternative stories.

Presenting familiar subjects in novel ways is reason enough to adopt some of the following advanced framing techniques. Many of these composition strategies enable a photographer to make the most of any subject.

"I think the best way to be creative with composition is exploring, trying new things, different perspectives, angles," explains pro photographer Mercedes Castillo Sánchez. "The most important thing is to observe all the elements: subject, light, colors, location – to play with combining them in different ways.

"Sometimes you will realize that certain things don't work for you, but that experience helps your growth towards being a better photographer."

The next challenge is learning to recognize when some photography composition techniques are not appropriate. It is not uncommon for photographers to want to emulate others they admire, but this can result in a tendency to apply techniques even if they do not work in the current setting.

"We are all tempted to copy the works that impress us," offers landscape and cityscape photographer Bogdan Maris. "This is not a bad thing, but I would suggest always searching for something personal to add to the composition. This will make your shot unique.

"When I shoot a place photographed by many people before, I look to include elements that give originality and dynamism to the scene."

Ultimately, advanced composition is not necessarily technically challenging – rather, it tests our ability to recognize when things do and do not work. The perfect composition is difficult to define, but Mercedes Castillo Sánchez describes it as when all of the scene elements are connected in a meaningful way. Bogdan Maris, meanwhile, knows he has the ideal shot when he has managed to keep only the essential scene elements.

5 photography composition techniques

1. Lines and curves

Find unique angles and features to frame points of interest. The Ponte dell’Accademia here frames the Canal Grande in Venice. This shot was only possible because of a temporary building site under the bridge.

Pro insight: Why it works
1. Contrasting form
The arc of the curve naturally complements straight lines in a scene, creating pleasing harmony
2. Lead the eye
The curve of the bridge crosses the physical and visual barrier of the canal
3. Natural frame
The eye is led around the entire shot by edges that also frame the main subjects

2. Repeating patterns

By cropping tightly so that objects of similar color or shape align, eye-catching patterns are created. Allowing the pattern to extend beyond the frame suggests an excitingly endless field of detail. The single yellow object breaks the pattern for added interest.

3. The center line

This image has a strong subject but sparsely detailed middleground. The central line of the jetty is a strong leading line, which guides the viewer's eye directly to the main point of interest – the silhouetted figures in the distance.

4. Extreme angle

Since we almost always see the world around us from a standing position, by lowering the camera to shoot straight up or raising it to shoot directly down at around +/- 90°, we can create an engaging perspective with near-abstract characteristics.

5. Experiment with timing

The position of a moving subject in a shot controls whether it feels like they are entering or exiting the frame. This alters the direction the viewer scans the image.

Pro insight: Why it works
1. Lead the way
A strong leading line guides the viewer through the frame to the subject
2. Direction of movement
The motion of the biker away from the lighthouse opposes the direction of the path
3. Control context
The distance between the biker and frame edge controls the feeling of context outside the image

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Images with a dramatic impact have the goal of attracting the viewer’s attention, drawing them into the image, and focusing their attention on the main elements of the frame – so following the optimal composition is essential.

What I like about dramatic compositions most is their dynamics – each composition must be well thought out. In the field, consider how to use the current surroundings to make the photo interesting for the viewer. The photographer’s task is to create a composition that is a visual story of a given moment, and which a viewer can interpret in any way.

First of all: contrast, understood in the broad sense of the word, plays an important role here. This applies to light and shadow, bright expressive colors combined with pastels, moving objects and static objects.

It is also about combining what the viewer perceives as beautiful and ugly. I am from Poland and we still come across artifacts of World War II on the beaches, including bunkers or ruins such as the building where torpedoes were tested.

I often use symmetry in my photographs, which draws the viewer deeper into the photo. Leading lines and placing distinctive landscape elements in strong points are other interesting elements of the composition that can be used.

I also like to create dynamic foregrounds to immerse the viewer in the image – and seascapes are perfect for this. Capturing the elements that are in motion, such as the waves or clouds, plays an important role here.

The sea currents and blowing wind make it possible to photograph waves, which are one of my favorite subjects to shoot in dramatic photography.

Examples

Go low 

Why lowering the eye level is a clever approach when composing a dynamic subject

Adopting a low angle when shooting is ideal for capturing objects that are just above the ground, as is the case with this image. The waves crashing over the concrete slabs and stones covered with algae make a perfect foreground, while in the background of the frame are the ruins of the Hexengrund torpedo research facility near Gdynia in Poland, which was used by the Luftwaffe in World War II.

This shot was taken just before sunset and the whole setting is in cool blue and green colors, which strengthens the dramatic character of the photo.

Create symmetry 

Draw the viewer in using lines, repeating elements and tonal range

The most interesting elements of this composition are the symmetry and leading lines, which draw the viewer deeper into the picture. However, for creating a photo with a dramatic character, you need a little more – so in this case, I used a wide tonal range.

Here, the sun is the main subject and also the brightest object, with the leading lines being much darker. The streetlights are turned off, which makes them appear almost black when photographing against the sun.

I took this photo in Gdynia, Poland. In spring and fall you can photograph the rising sun here, and I pressed the shutter when it was perfectly aligned with the pier. I used a subtle vignette to emphasize the direction of light.

Pro Advice

Analyze the scene
First, it is vital to decide on what elements you want to focus on. "Paying attention to atmospheric conditions like light, shadows and colors as well as the surrounding objects is key," says Katarzyna. "Think about what composition strategies and photographic techniques you can apply to highlight the subject."

Find your point of view
Now, explore the part of the landscape you want to photograph from different viewpoints. "It is worth doing that through the viewfinder or camera screen. Adjust the point of view to the location of the most dramatic feature in the frame and its subject matter."

Decide on strategy
Remember those tried-and-tested composition strategies that highlight the subject. "Determine the composition – look for symmetric elements and leading lines or apply the rule of thirds. Keep an eye on the landscape shape, the subject’s appearance and its location."

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Shaun Antle, recognized as 'Oh Me Nerves Photography', is a Canadian wildlife photographer. But unlike some wildlife shooters who exclusively work with full-frame cameras, Shaun shoots with an APS-C sensor.

His work has won many awards, and his image Splashdown earned an honorable mention in Canadian Geographic's Canadian Photos of the Year 2023 competition.

Shaun captured this image with a Canon EOS R7, using the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM, shooting at 1/200 sec, f/8 and ISO1600. This camera features a 32.5MP APS-C sensor, and the fact that this image was not taken on a full-frame camera might surprise people.

It’s funny how the debate about full-frame vs APS-C for wildlife photography just keeps going, and will probably never end. But the R7 really shines when it comes to taking wildlife pics, thanks to its impressive high-res output, crop factor (which extends the effective focal length) and speed.

It can shoot up to 30fps with the electronic shutter and 15fps mechanically, and let's not forget that it boasts super-fast autofocus with Dual Pixel CMOS AF II's subject tracking modes and 5,915 AF positions for photos.

On the visual side, Shaun's images create powerful connections that advocate for biodiversity and the protection of natural habitats. I spoke to Shaun about his award-winning image and discussed four critical factors that contributed to his triumph…

1. Natural behavior

When capturing wildlife, you should always respect your subjects and give them plenty of space. This ensures safety for both you and the animal, and also enables you to capture more natural behavior.

"I frequently capture the Great Blue Heron, due to its common presence in our region," says Shaun. “They are quite comfortable around humans, so I find it a valuable chance to refine my skills while respecting their space." Shaun believes that capturing an animal’s natural behavior is important.

2. Low perspective

Shaun aims to show wildlife from a new and distinctive perspective, while also raising awareness of conservation issues. "Shooting from a low perspective, such as the animal’s eye level, is fundamental. This approach enables viewers to connect with the subject, creating a more intimate portrayal.

"In today’s world, where environmental challenges are increasingly urgent, conservation photography that connects with the viewer inspires stewardship and drives positive change for our planet’s future."

3. Mirrored elements

Reflections create mirrored elements that add an extra layer of depth and complexity and create dynamic compositions. "During my shoots, I actively seek reflections. In this instance, the conditions were ideal – calm water, warm air and minimal wind – and the reflection you see is straight out of the camera; no filters were applied."

In post-production, Shaun cropped the image and made clarity adjustments to emphasize the bird’s eye within the water splash. "My goal was to maintain authenticity by adding or removing as few elements as possible, ensuring that the image stayed true to its original capture while also enhancing its focal point."

4. Sharp details

Freezing rapid motion, such as the bird diving into the river, requires a keen eye for detail and a mastery of the exposure settings. "I typically aim for the sweet spot between f/8 and f/10 and, depending on the available light, I adjust the ISO accordingly. With these settings and some adjustments to the shadows and highlights in post-processing, I was able to capture the scene as I’d hoped."

For this dynamic close-up shot, Shaun used the R7’s animal tracking feature. "I’ve honed my skills in approaching wildlife discreetly and anticipating the decisive moment. And as soon as the Great Blue Heron signaled its intent to strike, I was ready."

Others in the Why Shots Work series

• Urban street photographer reveals his candid capture secrets
• Photographer tells story of getting up close and personal with a python
• Discover four key elements that make this stunning photo a success
• The 4 photographic decisions that take this motorsport shot to the next level
• Photographer tells story of his amazing shot of wallabies fighting on the beach

"Being able to slow down and visualize what’s in front of you allows you to live in a better place," Ben Wootton answered when I asked him about his passion for photography. 

I had the privilege of interviewing him about his work and exploring his captivating photograph, "Nublado (Cloudy)." We uncovered the techniques he used to capture the image and discussed its profound impact.

1. Leading lines

"The power lines guide the viewer into the center of the frame," says Ben. Identifying strong lines within the scene is vital for creating a photograph with an impression while leading the viewer onto essential elements in the frame. "The direction, shape and type of guiding lines contribute to the mood of a photo," Ben explains. "For example, straight, converging lines might create a feeling of tension or urgency, while curved lines might convey calmness or sadness. In moody images, the lines I captured create the calmness from the moment."

2. Central subject

Ben placed the pylon in the center of the frame for a good reason. "In moody images, where the atmosphere and emotion are crucial, having the subject at the center ensures that it remains the focal point, enhancing the emotional intensity," he says. While composing the frame, he encountered a few challenges. "The most technical part was ensuring that I had the pylon in the center of the frame, not wasting any megapixels. One challenge I faced was that the clouds were rolling in pretty fast so I had to get the in-camera settings right and quickly."

3. Mystical character

The mist and clouds envelop the subjects in the frame, causing them to appear half-hidden. The carefully chosen colors also significantly enhance the ethereal and cinematic feel of the photograph. "I wanted to have the sense of the unknown in this image. Not knowing what is on the other side of the pylon really adds an extra element to this photo," says Ben. "In post-processing, I added a cool blue effect to underline the frame’s mystic feel. I also worked to make the pylon stand out a little more by adding some texture and sharpness, allowing it to pop."

4. Provide contrast

"In post-processing, I included a mask in the top right corner, where I added some orange gradient to balance out the blue from the cool clouds, this really emphasizes the depth of the image." The blues and oranges featured in this image are complementary colors, located opposite each other on the color wheel. "This contrast creates a visually striking effect, where both colors stand out more vividly and add drama to the image," Ben explains.

Tech details

Camera: Canon EOS 2000D
Lens: Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM
Aperture: f/5
Shutter speed: 1/2000 sec 
ISO: 100

Others in the Why Shots Work series

• Urban street photographer reveals his candid capture secrets
• Photographer tells story of getting up close and personal with a python
• Discover four key elements that make this stunning photo a success
• The 4 photographic decisions that take this motorsport shot to the next level
• Photographer tells story of his amazing shot of wallabies fighting on the beach

Learned the rule of thirds? Leading lines photography is a great next step on any photographer’s journey to mastering composition. Not only is it easy to understand and easy to implement but, in many cases, it can be used in conjunction with the rule of thirds to create a composition combo.

Leading lines are sometimes referred to as 'lead-in lines' and that’s exactly what they are: lines that lead the viewer towards a key portion of the photograph. The most obvious usage of leading lines would be a road that leads towards a mountain. As the road recedes into the distance, the viewer is compelled to ‘travel’ along it – eventually reaching the mountain, the subject of the image.

A road is a very literal usage of leading lines, but these compositional elements can be formed from almost anything, from rows of trees, fencing, and prominent lines found in architecture to more abstract examples such as the curvature of undulating land or blurred clouds in a long exposure.

Leading lines photography: types of leading lines

There are various types of leading lines. The most common are horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved and converging. Let's look at them in a little more detail…

• Horizontal leading lines are often employed in landscape photography; the horizon, layers of terrain or tree line are common examples. Their usage can dip into other compositional techniques, as they’re an effective way to denote symmetry and form layers to create depth.
• Vertical leading lines pull the viewer into the image, typically from the foreground, and when present on towering objects such as buildings or trees can create an imposing sensation of power.
• Diagonal leading lines can be used to scythe across the longest dimensions of the frame, leading the viewer through the entire image. They can also be created by performing a ‘Dutch tilt’, which is often used to create tension.
• Curved leading lines perform a similar function to diagonal and straight leading lines, but present a slower pace, as the viewer’s gaze meanders through the frame.
• Converging leading lines are perhaps most effective at drawing the viewer into the image, forcing them straight along their respective path. Oftentimes, converging lines recede into a vanishing point and while this doesn’t necessarily direct the viewer towards the subject, it still enables them to journey through the composition, with the receding lines also creating a clear sense of depth.

Leading lines photography: how to use leading lines

A common misconception is that leading lines must guide the viewer towards the subject, but that’s just one of their many usages. You might frame leading lines beyond your subject, indicating where they intend to travel. Or you could use leading lines to direct the viewer towards a secondary subject or point of interest.

Leading lines could also be used to delay the viewer’s journey toward the subject as they wander through the composition – curved lines are particularly effective at this. All leading lines can be used to separate images into portions and even frame areas of interest, too.

Leading lines that lead off the frame are generally avoided, as they will guide the viewer away from the image. The same goes for leading lines that intersect with another object since this will break the flow of the viewer’s gaze, even if the line continues thereafter. However, I don't like to discourage breaking rules – so long as you’re aware of the pitfalls and can justify your decision.

It’s also worth noting that the more obvious leading lines are, the more effective they’ll be. A big road carving its way through green fields is going to be noticed, but a tiny hedgerow far off in the distance isn’t.

It can be easy to become overly concerned with every potential leading line, but you only need to concern yourself with the ones the viewer is going to notice. If that tiny hedgerow in the distance breaches the edges of the frame, it’s no cause for concern as it doesn’t impact the composition enough.

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Want to learn the foundations of composition? Find out what the rule of thirds is in photography. If you're still a little unsure about manual mode, here’s how I learned the exposure triangle. And if you're looking for a tool that'll help you achieve great compositions, check out the best tripod.

The rule of thirds is the most famous compositional technique of all, and usually one of the first things new photographers learn when they pick up their first camera for beginners. But recently, I’ve seen countless articles and videos declaring that rule of thirds photography is limited and outdated.

The fact is, they’re not necessarily wrong. But if you only read the catchy headlines, you might be led to believe that you should avoid rule of thirds photography altogether.

Ultimately, it comes down to context – something we’re all guilty of missing out on when browsing online content. Most negativity towards rule of thirds photography is probably intended to encourage intermediate photographers out of their comfort zone – nothing wrong with that. But if you’re a complete beginner, my advice is certainly not to avoid the rule of thirds. It can still be incredibly advantageous.

First, let’s examine what is the rule of thirds to begin with.

What is rule of thirds photography?

The rule splits the camera frame into nine equal-sized rectangles, via two vertical lines and two horizontal lines, forming a three-by-three grid. These lines intersect at four points near the center of the frame, which some like to call intersection points. And this is the crux of rule of thirds photography.

By positioning one of these intersections over the focal point of your image, you will instantly offset the subject, creating a more interesting composition. This might be the eye that’s closest to the camera if you’re capturing a portrait, or a lone tree if you’re capturing a landscape. Do this and you'll leave one side of your image with more space than the other.

As to which intersection point you choose, typically you want your subject to be looking towards or facing the area of space – or for the area of space to provide additional interest within the frame.

The horizontal lines are useful, too. Landscape photographers will often line up the horizon with either the top or bottom horizontal line on the rule-of-thirds grid. Similarly to the intersection points, this creates a more interesting offset. If the sky is dramatic and interesting, you may opt to place the horizon on the bottom horizontal line, but if the foreground is more interesting than the sky, you’d be better off placing the horizon on the top horizontal.

Why should beginners embrace rule of thirds photography?

It’s simple and effective: When you first commit to being a photographer, there’s no reason why you can’t start taking images you’re proud of immediately. But if you’ve never thought about composition seriously, the last thing you want to do is confuse yourself. Many photographers consider the golden ratio to be more effective than the rule of thirds, but it’s also more complicated to apply and understand. The rule of thirds will get you capturing solid-looking photos straight off the bat, which will boost your confidence.

A one-shoe-fits-all solution: The rule of thirds is a compositional technique that rarely fails to turn out a solid photo, because it can be applied to almost any genre and a broad range of situations. Other compositional techniques may only be suitable in specific instances, meaning you’d need to study and memorize lots of them to adapt to a variety of situations. As a beginner that’s a tall order, making the rule of thirds is a much more viable short-term solution.

It gives you a framework: Most people use photography as a means to an end – a way to document a holiday or family event – and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Their focus is recording what’s in front of them, but they’re not thinking about how they record what’s in front of them. That intent is, in my opinion, the difference between a person with a camera and a photographer. The rule of thirds gives you that framework. It makes you think not just about what you’re photographing but how you’re photographing it.

Learn the rules then break them: I consider rule of thirds photography to be a foundational technique. It’s no good diving into some of the more complicated compositional techniques, such as negative space and the golden ratio, if you don’t have a good grounding. The rule of thirds will give you that foundation, which you can then build upon. And yes, eventually break.

The rule-of-thirds grid: Almost all modern cameras have a rule-of-thirds grid, which can be overlaid onto your live-view screen or electronic viewfinder. This visual reference makes it much easier to apply the compositional technique. Use other examples, such as the rule of odds or frame within a frame, and you have to rely on your own observations as a photographer, which will take time to develop.

It’s a landscape staple: The rule of thirds is perhaps most effective when shooting landscapes. And landscape is, by and large, the most popular photography genre for beginners, since it’s so accessible and doesn’t require oodles of expensive kit.

It’s a great base you can tweak: When you start learning other compositional techniques, you’ll find they often work in conjunction with rule of thirds photography. For example, leading lines, depth, color, minimalism and the rule of odds can all be used alongside the rule of thirds in many cases. So even when you start to learn additional nuggets of compositional wisdom, you can often rely on the rule of thirds to accommodate them.

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If you're interested in learning foundational techniques find out why I still use the 'outdated reciprocal rule, how I learned the exposure triangle and how to enable back button focus.

Next to being a commercial food photographer and stylist, Ronni Allen is also a food still-life photographer, selling her art in the form of prints and cards. She says, "I am inspired by natural simple produce, the intricate detail on food that we take for granted, the miracle of seasonal food, and the nostalgia food gives me.”

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ronni about her still-life work and analyzing their image ‘The Reign of the Victoria Plum’. We discussed the techniques she used to capture the scene and why it works... 

1. Old Master palette

When setting the scene, the use of colors was key for Ronni to complement the Old Master-inspired photo she wanted to create. As she explains, the creative process began not with a camera but with a notebook and pen. 

“Thinking about what I want to achieve and what kind of props, backdrops, or mood I need to execute my idea, helps me set up,” Ronni says. “To achieve the color palette of an Old Master, I used warm colors like brown, ochre, amber, and muddy gold, and muted the whites to cream or grey. The tones are highlighted by the natural light, giving the image the feel of layers of color. It was also important to use props that match the age of the image.”

2. Natural depth

“I am constantly learning how to be creative with natural light, it feels like an organically creative tool in my photography that complements my style.” By using natural light, Ronni has created depth within the frame. “I feel that I can be more creative and use it to my benefit by adding richness or using harsh light to bring out natural shadows for a bright and vibrant image,” she says.

3. Different textures

By integrating various materials, Ronni has added several layers to the composition. “I used an old, worn, dark wood, mottled backdrop, which was softened by having some highlights picked out by the natural light. Rather than being dark, this gives it subtle details, providing texture and depth to the image,” she says. “The use of the ochre velvet cloth not only adds texture but also gives a luxury and sumptuousness to the frame.” To make the textures and subjects visually tangible, perspective was crucial.  “First, I captured the image from a side view at eye level,” Ronni says, “but I felt it would work better from a higher angle to give the impression that it was placed on a sideboard or a wall.”

4. Hero subject

“I wanted the plums to be the hero of the image – it’s the reign of the Victoria plum – and also integrated some vibrant sunflowers,” says Ronni. Her goal was to evoke an appreciation of the seasonality of the plums and sunflowers – and of autumn in general. “I used the vintage blue and white bowl to show a seemingly full bowl of plums cascading onto the board and table and giving a voluptuous juicy eyecatcher that the viewer is first drawn towards,” she says. “The sunflowers were placed behind the board so I could bring the plums to the forefront. The leaves from the plum tree have been placed on the right side of the frame to balance the green in the sunflower leaves. I feel that this brings the image together and the darker backdrops help the subjects pop out.”

Tech details

Camera: Nikon Z5 

Lens: Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3

Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter speed: 1/180 sec 

ISO: 400

Others in the Why Shots Work series

• Urban street photographer reveals his candid capture secrets
• Photographer tells story of getting up close and personal with a python
• Discover four key elements that make this stunning photo a success
• The 4 photographic decisions that take this motorsport shot to the next level
• Photographer tells story of his amazing shot of wallabies fighting on the beach

Composition fascinates me. In my workshops, talks, articles and books, I often use the famous quote by Edward Weston that goes along the lines of: “To consult the rules of composition before taking a photograph is like consulting the rules of gravity before going for a walk”. Naturally, the point is that he didn’t think about any of the ‘rules’ or ‘guides’ when composing his photographs; in other words, he simply relied on intuition and instinct. 

I sense this is also the case with many other photographers. Not that I would put myself in the same league as Edward Weston but I never consciously reference any of the ‘accepted rules’ when making a photograph. However, I think it’s true that some folk are simply more ‘aesthetically’ inclined and in tune with a sense of visual balance, harmony and order, while others must work a little harder. 

Regardless of where you sit on the spectrum, being aware of the ‘rules’ can help and for some people, especially those at the beginning of their photographic journey, spending a little time becoming familiar with the ‘rules’ is a good thing, albeit taken with a pinch of salt.

That said, I was recently appalled to see my son’s photography GCSE coursework on composition, where his class has been delving deep into the complexities of composition theory and overlaying harmonic armatures and other such devices onto photographs to analyse their compositional structure. 

While I don’t want to be that annoying, interfering parent, I find it a shame – a tragedy, even – as it’s missing the point, massively overcomplicating things and sucking the joy and creativity out of photography. I’ve seen similar attitudes with some old-school camera club ‘judges’ getting their knickers in a twist over images that don’t strictly adhere to the ‘rule of thirds’ or other such ‘rules’. Open any book on the history of photography and you will see myriad examples by the world’s finest photographers who disregard the rules with glorious abandon.

This image was made in a Samoan fish market. I worked the scene a little to get the composition and took half a dozen or so shots before settling on this one. I changed my angle and point of view slightly between each image, being aware of the shapes, color and light and how they were arranged relative to one another in the frame. However, I never consciously thought of harmonic armatures, the golden mean or the rule of thirds.  

• Other articles in the Art of Seeing series

Read more:
• 8 composition mistakes photographers make (and how to avoid them)
• The 50 best photographers ever
• 120 best photography quotes from famous photographers
• The best coffee-table books on photography

Whether you are using a DSLR or mirrorless camera, both offer a variety of Picture, Creative Styles, or Picture Control options. An option in many cameras is the Black and White setting, which allows you to see a monochrome translation of the scene rather than having to visualize it. This helps you to decide whether the scene is suitable and rearrange the frame accordingly.

Here, the biggest concern is losing the color image due to this style setting. Ending with a monochrome frame isn’t ideal and is a big limitation when the client’s expectations change. What often gets forgotten is that when shooting B&W in RAW format, the camera records the frame’s color information. 

This not only gives you the freedom to decide whether it will end up as a monochrome image but also opens doors in post-processing, as fine-tuning through various color channels requires color information. Activating the B&W style in-camera will, therefore, help you visualize, analyze, and optimize the subject. 

When using your camera manufacturer’s RAW conversation software, the image will appear in black and white, along with any other in-camera adjustments you have made. When opening the RAW file in other editing software, such as Photoshop, the software won’t recognize the Picture Style information. This means that the photograph appears in color and requires manual conversion to monochrome. However, when you set your focus on black-and-white photography, in-camera settings, and adjustments are best to use to achieve maximum precision in detail. To manually convert the shot later takes just one click.

Set up your camera

Create and tune mono images in-camera without losing colour information

1. Shoot in RAW

Select RAW as the file format so that the camera is still recording the scene’s color data. As a RAW file type, choose Uncompressed to ensure high quality and avoid data compression.

2. Switch to Live View

When working with tripods or an optical viewfinder, enabling the live view on your screen can help you compose your image. This way, you will be able to oversee the preview in monochrome.

3. Select mono

In the camera shooting menu, the monochrome feature’s name differs from the camera brand. Watch out for Picture, Creative Style or Picture Control to enable a B&W preview.

4. Adjust parameters

Every scene requires different adjustments in contrast and sharpness to highlight specific features like textures or material. It is advisable to start fine-tuning these options in-camera.

Use in-camera filters

Enhance contrast and drama to cut the time spent in post-processing

Black-and-white photography requires more fine-tuning than colour images. Even when photographers predominantly used film, manual editing happened in the dark room. These days, editing programs such as Photoshop or Affinity make this possible. However, enhancing elements like the sky or luminosity distribution can take time. 

It is often overlooked that cameras feature genius settings that let you fine-tune settings directly in the camera. Color filters are integrated into most models, which are key to maximizing the effect of monochrome images. When shooting B&W analog, these come in physical form and are used in front of the lens of monochrome cameras. 

The Monochrome Circle

Use this cheat sheet to see how different colored filtration can affect the shade of gray you get when converting to black and white…

When it comes to scenes with high-contrast lighting, your camera’s sensor struggles to capture the details of both the foreground subject and the background. Despite what one of the commonly taught rules in photography says, intentionally blowing out shadows can benefit your image. Here, you need to go against the grain and remember that not every element of an image needs to contain information.

By exposing the sky, the viewer’s attention is drawn toward its details, without being distracted by the lackluster foreground that adds little and may prove to be a hindrance. Underexposing the subject integrates into the scene, with only the outlines of the houses visible, creating a silhouette while adding an extra layer of depth and interest.

To capture scenes such as this, we must bear three things in mind. Firstly, the timing is crucial – sunrise and sunset often produce dramatic backdrops, but even harsh midday sun can work if it is hidden behind the subject you are trying to capture. Secondly, selecting the right subject is key, so choose ones with distinctive shapes or outlines, such as trees, houses or even humans.

Finally, it is crucial to keep the sun’s position in mind. To create a silhouette, you need to shoot into the sun. At midday, when the sun is at its highest, light illuminates the subject from many angles but when the sun is low at sunset or sunrise, an elevated perspective such as a window on the second floor offers the best angle to create a true black silhouette in front of a colorful sky.

Before and after

Shooting steps

1. Shoot in M

When trying to create silhouettes, it’s important to switch to manual mode. In automatic mode, the camera will try to optimize the exposure for the scene, searching for details in the dark elements and making it a challenge to get true black pixels.

2. Deactivate functions

Some cameras have modes that create a balanced exposure for all elements. To produce deep black pixels, disable these settings. For Nikon users, it’s called Active D-Lighting; Canon’s is Auto Lighting Optimizer; and Sony’s is DRO.

3. Attach a polarizer

A polarizing filter boosts the saturation in a scene but it also reduces the amount of light reaching the sensor. This tool isn’t ideal for low-light conditions, so this stage is optional, but it can be useful when shooting in harsh lighting conditions.

4. Select Spot Metering Mode

Metering from the brightest element is best to achieve balanced background exposure. Take the meter reading from the sky and not from the sun as this leads to underexposed results where it is not wanted – in this case, in the sky.

5. Set the focus

In low-light conditions, your camera’s autofocus can struggle to achieve a precise focus. If this is the case, disable the autofocus function and focus manually on the subject. Focus on the edges of the subject’s silhouette to make it easier.

6. Overview and fine tune

Pay attention to the histogram and zoom in on both the sky and the silhouette. Experiment with exposure, reducing it by one or two stops until the silhouettes are a deep black – this way, you will better understand the technique.

More tutorials 

• Ditch your tripod – try handheld HDR instead!
• Freeze the motion in your images with this step-by-step tutorial
• Long exposure flash photography can give you mind blowing results
• Street photography: how to remove distracting elements with long exposures

Shooting in monochrome is easier, and a more obvious choice for some photographic subjects than others. Photographic genres like street photography benefit from the absence of color, which eliminates distracting elements in the background. Whereas, minimalistic scenes like landscapes are more challenging to capture. This is because scenes in black-and-white work well when contrasting boundaries within the scene’s elements are present. 

In color photography, this means the color contrast, but in monochrome, those elements can only be distinguished based on their luminosity levels. If this is not taken into account, monochrome tones merge, making it difficult to draw clear visual lines. Although it may seem simple to step back from focusing on shaping the scene based on colored elements, our eyes are not accustomed to focusing solely on contrast. To train your vision, study portfolios of renowned black and white photographers. This will help you develop a better understanding of scenes that work well in monochrome schemes. 

When out shooting, a simple yet effective way to ensure that contrast is present is to close one eye and squint with your viewing eye. This simplifies the scene into what is light and what is dark, revealing the contrast. 

Once you have found a suitable subject, keep an eye on the light. This is a key element that affects luminosity and defines the scene’s elements by adding or minimizing contrast. To understand the power of how light can transform your subject, start to photograph the same scene at different times of the day. You will notice that the subject appears significantly different and may even lose its impact under specific lighting and weather conditions.

Balance mono scenes

When composing, think in layers to give your frame a dynamic look

As there are no colors to add impact, composition strategy can make or break a black-and-white image. As we work with a reduction in tones, simple composition techniques are most effective to draw the viewer in. Analyze the scene, identify a strong focal point, and look out for leading lines you can integrate into the composition. Don’t forget that the distribution of elements due to their color isn’t effective in black and white, so seek lines of differentiating luminosity only. If the scene you are capturing is shaped by similar mono tones, you can separate them by changing your perspective and adding some mid-ground. Here, additional foreground elements can help the distribution of the frame while also adding interest.

Add depth

Reveal the shapes and textures of the subject to add monochrome interest

Monochromatic tones underline the subject’s form and shape. On a clear day around midday, the sun creates high-contrast scenes, revealing texture and shapes from the subject. Here, simple and graphic shapes gain importance and get transformed into leading lines, which direct the viewer into and through the frame. 

To go a step further, make use of the defined shadows the harsh midday sun creates on your subject. Those can become an interesting and more abstract subject themselves. 

When capturing the shadows, it’s best to have the sun directly behind your subject so that you can add the shadows in the foreground and add interest to your composition. A bright, sunny day also reveals the textures of objects, adding dimension and depth to your frame. To create a visual interplay between image elements, look for scenes with contrasting textures. Here, you can introduce a secondary dimension and visual counterpoint, creating a real sense of interest.

Discover more of this series: 

• 5-minute photo tips: when to use Noise Reduction
• 5-minute photo tips: Make AF microadjustments to sharpen your shots
• 5-minute photo tips: Create double exposures in-camera
• 5-minute photo tips: activate grid lines to instantly improve your composition
• 5-minute photo tips: Use Auto HDR and save your exposure struggles!
• 5-minute photo tips: customize the white balance to save yourself time
• 5-minute photo tips: Select in-camera B&W to master mono and keep color

Divyanshu Verma is known for his ability to capture the beauty in the mundane. He has a unique talent for finding extraordinary and creative elements in the ordinary, daily scenes around us. 

He shared insights on the technique he used to capture his image "Run Free", and why it works.. 

1. High angle perspective

This picture is a perfect example of how composition and perspective can make or break an image. With a clear vision in mind, Divyanshu experimented with various angles but he wasn’t satisfied with the initial results. “I wanted to compose and balance this frame properly, but the challenge was to find the right spot to achieve this composition. In the end, I had to go to the top of the wall of the temple to take the shot,” he explains. By choosing a high angle and a top-down perspective, Divyanshu could capture the scene while controlling the shape of the shadows. The resulting shot is a harmonious and captivating frame with strong visual language.

2. Defined shadows

Divyanshu created this image by combining the harsh glow of the afternoon sun with the long shadows of the subjects in the frame. This resulted in a high-contrast scene with hard shadows and a silhouette of a person. “The shadows make this scene, but to get the correct placement, I observed this place for a while at multiple times of the day,” he says. “I love how the diagonal lines are used here in the form of shadows. While I was capturing the scene, this kid showed up, creating an interesting shadow that added a surprising element. His silhouette gives the shot an extra layer of interest,” Divyanshu adds.

3. Negative space

“Negative space is one of the most powerful tools of composition as it can be used to draw attention directly towards the subject,” says Divyanshu. While it may seem easy to simplify the frame, it’s important to strike a balance between the input of negative space and image elements. “The effect of negative space can create a positive impact on the viewers because it gives the image room to breathe and helps them direct their attention on the subject while easily understanding the story behind the photo,” he says. Negative space is frequently used in photographic genres such as minimalism and black-and-white photography, as it adds dramatic impact to the photo.

4. Monochrome magic

Converting an image into black and white is a powerful technique that effectively eliminates visual distractions, simplifies the composition and creates a strong foundation for visual storytelling. “By doing this, the viewer’s focus is directed towards the shapes, textures and overall tonality within the image,” Divyanshu explains. “It also enhances the overall impact and visual clarity of the subject matter and  that’s the reason I decided to convert this image to mono.” Divyanshu’s use of this technique has resulted in a more dramatic and visually striking frame, with bold contrast and captivating textures that convey a more moody look.

Tech details

Camera: Canon EOS 500D

Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II

Aperture: f/9

Shutter speed: 1/1250 sec 

ISO: 800

Others in the Why Shots Work series

• “I used natural lighting to illuminate my subject"
• My photo portrait "unfolds like a clandestine glimpse through distant trees"
• I get inspired by the charm of minimalistic landscape photography
• "By zooming in on these tiny creatures, I hope to spark curiosity"
• Urban street photographer reveals his candid capture secrets
• Photographer tells story of getting up close and personal with a python
• Discover four key elements that make this stunning photo a success
• The 4 photographic decisions that take this motorsport shot to the next level
• Photographer tells story of his amazing shot of wallabies fighting

Simon Carter has teamed up with Thames & Hudson to showcase his 30 years of climbing photography in an all-encompassing photography book, The Art of Climbing, that is as much about the land as it is the action. 

Carter's groundbreaking work has been shown globally for decades, cementing him as one of the pioneers of modern climbing photography. His imagery, as showcased in his new book, goes beyond that of the action sport and captures the essence of what climbing is: a physical connection to nature. His work captures the relationship between climber and landscape with great drama, but equally dignity and grace. 

I found myself awestruck by the work and how each image was simultaneously an expertly composed landscape photograph and a sports / climbing photograph. I had to find out more about what it takes to be a climbing photographer and Carter's experience in the genre. Ahead of the release of The Art of Climbing, I sat down with him to learn more… 

The Art of Climbing by Simon Carter is an incredible look at a genre of photography that doesn't often reach the mainstream spotlight. It is not only packed full of spectacular images, but holds a wealth of information on climbing, the landscape and the photographic equipment used to capture the images. 

Accompanying texts from some of the world's leading climbers add incredible depth to the book and provide another dimension of context to the imagery. I have had this book for a little while now and it has kept drawing me in for another look, and each time I see or learn something new. It is certainly a fantastic coffee table book!

Published by Thames & Hudson, The Art of Climbing by Simon Carter will be available from May 28 in the US, and is on sale now in the UK and Australia. The price is $45 / £30 / AU$59.99. 

You may also be interested in our guides to the best coffee table books, the best books on photography, and the best books on portrait photography. 

Mario Tarantino describes himself as a ‘monochromantic’ but it was the photographic potential of brutalist architecture that led him to capture the image that won an award. “I submitted the photo because I felt the narrative I wished to convey when looking at it,” says Mario. He already had a creative direction in mind before being on location.

“I wanted to create an outer-worldly narrative, a meeting place or place of worship on another planet. Once on location, the sheer scale of the monument was impressive. To convey that immenseness, I put a silhouette of my father in the frame.”

Brutalist architecture is built with rough concrete, making for a heavily textured surface. “Getting the right angle, aperture and exposure was crucial in keeping the balance between enough and too much detail,” he says. 

Another challenge was the strong light, therefore Mario used an ND filter which let him control the light further. With a minimalistic environment and subject, the composition is crucial. “The composition is minimalist – the monument with its clean lines is placed on the third with the sky creating lots of negative space. The scale is demonstrated by the silhouette on the opposite third, which creates a balance between the subjects,” says Mario. 

Using traditional composition rules such as the rule of thirds is a tried and tested method, but it’s important to experiment as every subject requires different strategies. “Try experimenting with both portrait and landscape orientations when photographing your subject. Sometimes a tighter frame is better to guide the viewer’s eye into the frame making it more engaging,” says Mario. “Try and take the time to visit a location before going to photograph it. That way, you are familiar with the surroundings resulting in better composition as well as knowing what time of the day is best to do the shoot”. 

When it comes to light, he prefers to shoot in the early morning or late afternoon when the light is softer. “I prefer shooting in low light conditions. However, I have taken great photos during strongly lit daytime as well. The midday and early afternoon sun can also enrich B&W photography, especially if you want to create high-contrast imagery,” he adds. 

Mario follows a minimalistic philosophy of ‘less is more’. This is not just visible in his photographic work but also his technical approach. One of his most important accessories is a tripod for long-exposure shots. “When it comes to lenses, try and keep it simple,” he says. “A 24-70mm is a great all-rounder and should be part of everyone’s kitbag. I usually carry this optic and a 16-35mm flat wide, so I’m not overcomplicating things on location.”

Lens choice

Expand the view by working with short focal lengths

“I enjoy working with wide-angle lenses and with practice, have got to know their pros and cons. What I love about this optic is the spectrum of genres they cover, from architecture, landscapes and even street. 

A wide-angle lens draws the eye into the scene, creating a strong feeling of perspective as well as a greater field of view in either landscape or portrait format. I also find the depth of field on wide-angle lenses superior to telephoto in that images are usually sharp throughout, with the exception of the corners. I work with a Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L.

When shooting with a wide-angle lens, fill the frame to avoid empty spaces where the eyes exit the image. Try to shoot at low angles, making use of leading lines to take the viewer through the image to the background.”

Three photographic techniques

1. Exposure bracketing 

“This is one way of creating well-lit and detailed photographs. Expose for the blacks, shadows, mids, lights and highlights. Each of these exposures can then be blended together, creating a wonderfully detailed and lit image. Having these exposures also allows for greater artistic expression in the way the image is lit and guides the viewer’s eye through the photo.”

2. Focus stacking

“Sharpness and detail are important so focus stacking is especially effective when working with wide-angle lenses. This technique helps to ensure a sharp image from front to back. To do so, multiple images with different focus points need to be created. Start by focusing on the foreground and then move it through the image. The images can be blended in post-production.”

3. Get support

“Always bring your tripod with you, especially if you are going to shoot in low light conditions. It is vital for exposure bracketing, focus stacking and long exposures as well as providing a steady base for sharp images. A tripod also helps with your photo composition, as it forces you to slow down and take in your surroundings as you set it up, usually resulting in a better composition.”

Improves: Composition

The composition of a photograph is a critical factor that can either make or break the image. However, when taking pictures in busy areas – such as in the middle of a big city – this aspect often gets overlooked. 

While it is possible to change the composition of your photographs with cropping in the editing process, this approach comes at the potential cost of a loss in image size and quality. 

With the in-camera composition guidelines you can achieve a perfect composition straight away, even handheld on the go, without any compromise. Many camera brands provide a rule of thirds grid as standard, as well as more advanced guides with additional lines that you can apply to any scene.

Look for the Grid Line features in the Display settings. Having the ability to view these lines as an overlay is vital for photographic genres such as architecture or coastal photography, as non-straight lines and horizons can lower the image quality and the viewer’s experience.

With the help of these guides, you will encourage yourself to think more creatively by changing positions and perspectives. The in-camera guidelines are not only helpful in enhancing your compositions, but they also serve as a great way to train and build your photographic skills. A useful tip is to always keep a particular grid option active to focus your mind on the composition.

Examples

Visual balance

The straight lines are crucial for creating a sense of harmony within the image composition.

Compose with strategy

By incorporating the rule of thirds, the subject is positioned off-center to create a more visually pleasing photo,

You might be interested in our video explaining what is the rule of thirds, as well as our explainer on what is exposure in photography. 

Looking through my images one day, I realized that I was framing in the landscape orientation more often than not. It wasn’t deliberate, and this made me curious about the cause. Despite thinking about it a lot, I’m not sure. However, I did decide to try to make more images in the vertical orientation and see how this affected my image-making. 

It was liberating in a way, and I sense that my creative process has opened up as a consequence. Of course, I’d taken vertically oriented images before, but I was holding on to some sort of horizontal hang-up, and it was good to be free of it. 

It occurred to me retrospectively that one of the unexpected and delightful aspects of shooting upright was how it felt much more natural from a purely design point of view to pair images together. This then opens up bags of potential creative fun, playing with ideas around diptychs.

I love the idea of the diptych, especially as a way to alter meaning and create narratives by placing two images next to each other. Ralph Gibson speaks eloquently on the subject in his book, Refractions: Thoughts on Aesthetics and Photography. He talks about overtones in music, and how a struck note will reverberate and mix with other struck tones to create new impressions. 

He says that placing two images together has the same effect, and the overtones can create interesting points of departure for further enquiry and ‘readings’ that don’t speak to the photographs’ face value. This way of reading images can produce myriad stories and interpretations. I love how Gibson describes it: “The images reverberate infinitely back and forth, creating a hall of mirrors in the mind.”

These two images taken on my travels were made several days apart in different locations. I love the way they work together. The hand, window and ocean have a sense of intrigue, suggestive of a novel, while the lone, isolated red chair in its stark, clinical surroundings with only an exit sign for company adds to the story. I’m not sure what it means, but the resonance between the images works, with the overtones creating new narratives and meanings. I shall make more.

• Other articles in the Art of Seeing series

Read more:
• The 50 best photographers ever
• 100 best photography quotes from famous photographers
• The best coffee-table books on photography

Lately I’ve been travelling vicariously through my hard drives. It’s a helpful reminder of just how lucky I am to have been to all the places I have visited. I’ve also noticed how many projects I seem to start, but never quite finish. I have stumbled through countless visual ideas and photographic musings that remain unresolved, unloved and virtually forgotten in my hard drives. Some of these ideas are best left there – but some have stood the test of time, and are worthy of resurrection or, at the very least, further enquiry. 

One such idea I once played with was using the circle as a framing device. Travelling through Japan and Iceland circa 2016 seemed to inspire a burst of circular crops. Looking back, I really like them. I’m struck by the way the circular frame makes an image feel so much more intimate. 

Liberated from the tyranny of the straight line, and of the square and the rectangle, the circle is a wonderful way to think about and frame an image. Squares and rectangles suggest hard boundaries; while there’s clearly a boundary with the circle, it feels more infinite, more suggestive of the world outside of the frame. The circle is a more ‘natural’ shape, after all, so it seems logical that it should resonate on a more harmonious level. 

Thinking about which images work within a circular crop is perhaps most closely related to the square; while all the ‘rules’ of composition can still be used, you may have to work a little harder to find a balance. 

I’ve since cropped a lot of images into a circular frame, but perhaps it seems most fitting that I focused on images from my archive taken in Japan. This image was shot from the top of Tokyo Skytree, at a height of 451 metres. I love the way the receding, layered perspective works in the circle: it seems so much more engaging than the rectangular version. 

• Other articles in the Art of Seeing series

Read more:
• The 50 best photographers ever
• 100 best photography quotes from famous photographers
• The best coffee-table books on photography

Sony has just unveiled a feature that could potentially transform the landscape of photography. The tech giant is set to release a Custom Gridline License starting with the Sony A7 IV in March 2024, with plans to extend the innovation to more camera bodies in the future.

Users of one of the best Sony cameras will be able to import up to four personalized gridlines, giving photographers more creative control and precision. These gridlines can be seamlessly displayed on both the electronic viewfinder and the rear LCD monitor during shooting, and will help deliver a new level of consistency and professionalism in image capture. 

This innovative new feature will benefit a wide range of professionals but it will be especially useful for "volume photographers" who shoot portraits at schools, graduations, on cruise ships or at shopping malls. These photographers routinely capture similarly-composed images, and this will enable them to do so without the need for a reference image. It’s quick and easy to import gridlines, and they can be replaced when needed and even colorized to make them easier to see. 

"With a focus to improve both the consistency and quality of school photography, this advancement is a great foundation for a platform geared for volume photographers across the globe," says Nic Davison, director of photography at Strawbridge Studios.

Sony has shown unprecedented commitment and support to the industry and this useful new feature could revolutionize the volume photography industry – especially if other camera brands such as Canon and Nikon start rolling out similar features. [Although this is something that has been offered for years on Canon DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, via the popular Magic Lantern software – Ed.] 

The flexibility of the custom gridlines enables users to not only create unique compositions but also use them as partially-filled transparency masks. Beyond school and sports photography, Sony envisions applications in various industries including theme parks, nature photography, ID photography, dentistry, and CG photography.

This first-of-its-kind license will be available for $149 (roughly £117 / AU$224)  through the Upgrade and License Management Suite at Sony's official website in spring 2024. Sony hopes that this innovative custom gridline feature will not only improve the work efficiency of photographers but also ignite a new wave of creativity across diverse industries. Prepare to witness photography like never before.

Why not check out the best tripods for photography – they're another handy tool for capturing consistent photos.

Long exposures can do more than just provide illumination – by physically moving the camera while working with longer shutter speed, familiar scenes can be presented in a fresh light. The recorded movements add a level of abstraction to an otherwise realistic photograph.

This technique, called Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), allows photographers to create images that showcase their creativity and artistically manipulate the shot. Here, the emphasis is not on sharpness but on artistic blurring, which brings out colours and textures while highlighting the lines and patterns. ICM allows us to create unique and captivating images that tell a story and evoke emotions.

With ICM, the challenge is to expose the image correctly. As the shutter is open longer, more light enters the sensor and this may cause an overexposed image with blown highlights. To prevent this, an ND filter is helpful. This reduces the amount of light reaching the camera, allowing us to control the exposure. ND filters come in different strengths with higher stops blocking more light and allowing more motion blur. Another option is a variable ND filter, where the strength can be adjusted.

Before and after

Shooting steps

1. Choose location

The perfect location does not have to offer a lot of light, however, it should provide a variety of colours and structures. Popular places to try creating powerful ICM scenes could be city lights, forests or a sunset at the beach.

2. Shoot in M mode

As the ICM technique is only effective with longer shutter speeds, shoot in manual mode to gain control. Select the lowest ISO value and an aperture not wider than f/11. A shutter speed of 0.5sec is a good starting point.

3. Activate manual focus

To prevent your camera from searching for a focus point while you are moving it, deactivate the autofocus. Also, don’t forget to turn off the image stabilisation on both the camera and lens to optimise the effect of the ICM.

4. Work with a filter

Due to the longer exposure times, more light will enter the sensor. The danger here is that the photos may be overexposed. An ND filter helps to control the light coming in so you will be able to expose the scene correctly.

5. Create test shots

With this technique, it is important to understand how the camera captures the scene in combination with shutter speed and your movement. Take some test shots and analyse results to get a feel for this technical interplay.

6. Move the camera

The results depend on the speed and direction in which you move the camera. Move it up and down or sideways and change your speed and also the shutter speed of the camera from time to time to vary the intensity of the effect.

More tutorials

• Ditch your tripod – try handheld HDR instead!
• Freeze the motion in your images with this step-by-step tutorial
• Long exposure flash photography can give you mind blowing results
• Street photography: how to remove distracting elements with long exposures

Ever since the pandemic torpedoed the camera market we've been bombarded with headline after headline about the collapse of the industry. But what if we told you that, "in fact, the camera market has recovered"? 

That's according to a report from Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, one of Japan's leading daily business newspapers. And what's responsible for this recovery? Entry-level cameras. 

• Just getting started? These are the best cameras for beginners

"Sales of cameras in general have been growing since 2021, and the driving force is introductory models that even beginners can use," says the report, citing data from industry body CIPA – the Camera and Imaging Products Association.

"The shipment value of digital cameras in the January-June period increased 12.6% year-on-year to approximately 313.7 billion yen [around $2.2 billion / £1.7 billion / AU$3.4 billion]. Mirrorless cameras are steadily increasing in terms of shipment value and volume."

Clearly we're not talking about recovery to the levels of the industry's peak, in 2012, where 20.16 million cameras were sold (CIPA currently estimates that around 5.72 million cameras will be sold in 2023). However, 12.6% growth over the past year is certainly a remarkable recovery. But is it down to entry-level cameras alone?

Obviously there are other key factors. While the supply chain and manufacturing issues persist, disruptions are less severe than they were a year ago. And of course, people aren't locked in their homes hiding from the pandemic any more. So not only are they travelling again, they are also making purchases to support their travels – including camera equipment. 

A lot of people developed an interest in photography and videography during the various lockdowns, many of whom were using the smartphones they already owned, so it makes some sense that they would then 'graduate' to beginner camera systems. 

"The increase in opportunities for consumers to go out against the background of the [COVID de-escalation] is a tailwind for the camera market," continued the report. "Manufacturers have introduced models that are easy to handle even for beginners." 

However, the real boom seems to have been in vlogging and video-oriented cameras – which in many ways have become the 'entry-level cameras' of this generation.

Indeed, a CIPA representative "expects the camera for vlogging to become an introductory machine that will broaden [the market]". And Hironobu Shimoyama, of Japanese electronics giant Yodobashi Camera, concurred that "demand for video recording is increasing significantly." 

Either way, the key takeaway is that the camera industry is officially rebounding from the crippling effects of the pandemic. The question is, is this just a levelling of the market, or will this shift in what is considered an entry-level camera result in an all-new opportunity for growth? 

You might be interested in the best student cameras, the best budget DSLRs, and even the best drones for beginners.

Canon Europe is excited to announce the highly anticipated return of its third Redline Challenge photography competition, which has officially opened for submissions. 

This year's theme is 'Room to Breathe', which invites budding photographers to capture a moment that embodies the essence of minimalism. Embracing the 'less is more' philosophy, participants are encouraged to channel their inner creativity and present a stripped-down perspective on their chosen subject. The overall winner will take home an impressive Canon EOS R5 bundle, complete with the versatile RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM lens.

• Check out the best Canon cameras including the latest mirrorless systems, classic DSLRs and travel-friendly compact cameras

The Redline Challenge, an event that garners the talents of amateur photographers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), challenges participants to put their photographic skills to the test. The competition welcomes a wide spectrum of entries, from serene landscape compositions that utilize negative space to inventive explorations of shapes and lines. Personal moments of solitude are also fair game, allowing photographers to exhibit their prowess across diverse genres.

As a testament to the evolving landscape of photography, submissions for the Canon Redline Challenge can be taken using any photographic device so whether you shoot on a mirrorless camera, a DSLR, a camera phone or even a film camera you can get involved. The judging criteria encompass composition, ingenuity, technical mastery, and alignment with the overarching theme with the ultimate victor will be revealed in October.

Last year the Redline Challenge garnered a staggering 14,000 submissions under the theme 'A Split-Second Story'. The crowned winner of that edition was Jiří Durdík, a self-taught photographer hailing from the Czech Republic. Durdík's winning entry captured the exhilarating motion blur of a dirt bike race, showcasing his mastery of capturing dynamic moments.

Entries for the 2023 Redline Challenge are open until September 16 2023, providing aspiring photographers with a window of opportunity to submit their captivating compositions. For more information about the competition, submission guidelines, and updates, visit the official Canon Redline Challenge website.

Also check out the best Canon lenses and browse a range of super-sharp primes, versatile telephotos and ultra-wide angles perfect for landscape or astrophotography!

Picture a street scene in your mind – narrow bustling lanes, vibrant colors of people in local dress, vehicles of all types, maybe a traditional market featuring all kinds of exotic produce – and there’s a good chance that the scene you’re imagining could be a snapshot from India. 

A modern, multicultural, yet traditional nation, Indian society comprises people from many different religions and ethnicities speaking a variety of languages and observing a wide range of traditions. Streets in India are more than just a route for traffic; they are places where work and social life come together and major interactions take place.

• These are the best travel cameras to capture moments wherever you go

For the past six years, Jignesh Chavda has been documenting life on the streets of India. With his fine appreciation of the effect of light, he offers an extraordinary view of Indian culture and its people through his lens.

For Jignesh, photography is more than just a medium for documenting people and places. It enables him to convey his impressions and visually represent his personal reflections of a rapidly changing society. 

"In India, you can say home is where the work is," he explains. "In my hometown of Ahmedabad, every home has a story, every house has a shop and the people do business in a festive mood."

Interview

There are so many intricate layers when I compose the image. Sometimes I work with the basic rules of composition, such as the rule of thirds, but then again, I often break them, too. I try to include foreground interest to create depth with light play, but I always go with my instinct. 

I rarely go out with a concrete idea of looking for something specific. I alternate between static moments, where I choose an interesting space and light and wait for something to happen within the frame, and more dynamic situations where I approach the subjects that interest me directly. Crowded and dynamic places are great to photograph because of the multitude of situations and people that you encounter.

Make sure to pack the best lenses for travel photography, and check out the best camera bags for travel. You might also be interested in the best travel adapters and the best travel drones.

1: Focus

Influence the direction of the viewer’s gaze by deliberately sharpening different elements. In this photo, strong colours are reflected in the model. To make the subject stand out visually, Sergey enhanced the sharpness of the subject’s face and body, with contrasting blur on the hand and Ferris wheel in the background. Through this approach, lights turn into graphic elements that enhance the photography. Integrating the blur helps influence the overall effect of the photograph.

2: Background composition

“The lights of the amusement park made this frame interesting and turned it into a setup full of magic,” he says. Through the clear delimitation of the background, the colors and lights are in stark contrast with the dark night. They are clearly visually highlighted and create a unique atmosphere.

3: Interaction

When shooting with a model, communication is key. Make sure to create a pleasant atmosphere when taking photos. Adjust your technical settings in advance and concentrate on working with the model. To capture this interaction with the person, it is advisable to think in image sequences. This allows the model to move freely, with motion sequences providing the opportunity to capture the perfect moment.

4: Color balance

To create a harmonic photograph, Sergey has applied a basic rule – choosing colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. This way, the composition of the photograph moves within a radius where similar shades interact with each other. Sergey chooses warm colors that are in line with the skin color of the model. There are many graphic and restless elements in the photograph, but the choice of colors adjusts the atmosphere. 

Tech details 

Camera: Nikon D750

Lens: Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art

Aperture: f/1.4      

Shutter speed: 1/160sec

ISO: 3200

What is golden ratio photography composition? It's a unique method of framing your images, distinct from the more commonly used techniques among photographers.

One of the most well-known compositional approaches is the rule of thirds. This involves dividing the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically (as shown by the blue lines above). Elements in the photo are then arranged around these divisions, with key focal points placed at the intersections of the lines.

The rule of thirds is a simplified version of the golden ratio (represented by the pink lines above), a naturally harmonious proportion that has been utilized in art and architecture for centuries.

So what is golden ratio photography composition?

The golden ratio, also known as the golden mean, golden section, or divine proportion, is widely regarded as beautiful and harmonious. This concept traces its origins to ancient Greek mathematicians and is closely related to the square root of pi. The Greeks discovered the golden ratio while studying five-sided figures like the pentagon.

Essentially, if the points of the Fibonacci sequence are plotted and connected by a curve, they form a Fibonacci spiral, also known as a golden spiral. This spiral intersects at every point where the rectangle is divided according to the golden ratio of 1.618.

Use the golden ratio to crop photography

When using photo editing software, one crucial factor that influences the overall harmony of your shot is the crop. Cropping is a powerful tool that can make or break your image. When used correctly, it eliminates distracting elements and directs the viewer’s gaze to the main subject. This tool can reveal new perspectives and transform your photos into unexpectedly striking results.

In Adobe Photoshop CC, the Crop tool has other overlays to help you achieve a more pleasing composition. Choose the Golden Ratio photography overlay. Crop the shot and drag it inside the crop window to place key features in various sub-divided sections. Then, simply hit Enter.

The crop tool must be used with care, especially in portrait and fashion photography, as cut-off elements can impact the end result. Cropping images should be handled strategically – keep the ratio of your intended media platform in mind when doing so.

Is the golden ratio better than the rule of thirds?

Since the dawn of photography, artists have been experimenting with different compositions. Over the past few centuries, we've established some fundamental rules to help achieve a decent composition when the scene in front of you seems challenging.

One of the classic compositional approaches is the rule of thirds, which we'll explore in more depth below. The reason this method is so well-known and frequently used is simple: it’s a tried and tested technique that positions and spaces your focal points and horizon to make optimal use of available space and draw the viewer’s eye into the image.

Typically, an image is perceived as more photogenic if the focal point is positioned one-third of the way in from one or two sides, giving it more room to breathe compared to placing it near the edge of the frame. However, as with any rule, these are merely guidelines. If breaking them helps you achieve your creative vision and narrative, don't hesitate to do so.

In photography, the golden ratio is similar to the rule of thirds, as it also divides the frame into nine sections. However, unlike the rule of thirds, the golden ratio uses a ratio of 1:1.618, resulting in unequal sections. The middle horizontal and vertical boxes form a squat 'cross' shape, placing the intersecting lines of the grid more centrally. This positioning draws the viewer's eye toward the heart of the shot, making the golden ratio ideal for compositions with a central focal point.

The mathematical principle of Fibonacci’s spiral, which frequently appears in nature, can also be used to enhance your landscape compositions.

You might also like to read about these 6 classic composition setups, and tips for landscape photography composition with a wide-angle lens.

Photography presents all sorts of technical challenges which, with time - and trial and error - anyone can come to master. But one of the hardest things to master as a photographer is the art of seeing. What do we mean by ‘seeing’? We mean spotting the elements that make up a good image, from focal points to camera angle to depth of field and more. We’re talking about photo composition.

One of the most common mistakes photographers make when composing images is not having a good sense of balance in their composition. This can manifest in a variety of ways, from not having an even distribution of elements in the frame to not creating enough negative space. When photographers fail to create a sense of balance in their images, the end result can be an image that feels cluttered or off-kilter. 

Below we’ve rounded up some of the most common photo composition mistakes photographers make, which can upset the balance of an otherwise great image. What’s more, we explain what you can do to get it right the next time around.

01. The background

Perhaps the most common mistake photographers make when composing images is not paying close enough attention to the background. Because our focal point is typically a foreground element, we sometimes fail to consider how the background elements may be distracting or detract from the overall composition. 

When composing an image, photographers should be mindful of the background elements and how they interact with the foreground elements and contribute to the overall atmosphere of the image. This is why you typically see portraits, for instance, frame against plain-colored walls or nature photographers shoot wide open for shallow depth of field to smooth over the vegetation behind their main subject.

02. Use the Rule of Thirds

We all like to break the rules from time to time, but the creative rules do exist for a reason. And the first step to creating a well-balanced image is to consider the Rule of Thirds. The Rule states that when composing an image, photographers should divide the frame into three equal sections both horizontally and vertically. This creates a grid on which they can place the main elements of the image. By positioning these elements along one of the four lines or at one of the four intersections of the grid, photographers can create a much more balanced image.

In addition to the rule of thirds, photographers should also pay close attention to the placement of elements within the frame. They should be mindful of how the elements interact with each other and the frame as a whole. This means avoiding placing elements too close together or having them overlap. It also means considering the position of elements in relation to the frame’s edges. Photographers should make sure that the elements are not too close to the frame’s edges, as well, because this can make them appear cramped or unbalanced.

03. Subject too small in the frame

Our brains do a great job of zooming in on a subject and somehow excluding the surroundings, but when you look at the resulting image it suddenly becomes obvious that your subject seems small and inconsequential in the frame. Before you take a shot consider whether it would look better if you took a few steps forward or zoomed in a little with your lens so the subject really fills the frame.

04. Shooting straight-on

Many novice photographers get preoccupied with finding a subject and forget to think about how they're going to photograph it. If you shoot a subject straight-on you will record its appearance, but you may fail to capture any context or atmosphere. When you're shooting a flower in a garden, for example, rather than shooting it straight-on from the edge of the bed, think about shooting it from the side so you have the rest of the flowerbed extending into the distance to give a sense of the huge number of blooms and the depth of color.

05. Nothing in the foreground

Whether you're shooting a landscape or a still-life image, it pays to have something in the foreground to give an image depth, add some scale and help draw the viewer's eye. As well as being a waste of space, an empty foreground can act as a barrier to the eye that you feel you have to peer over. 

Whether it's a clump of flowers, a rock or tidemarks in the sand, most landscapes have something that can be used to inject a little interest into the foreground. When you're constructing a still-life scene, it's up to you to put something in the right place.

06. Deciding aspect ratio post-capture

This point often goes hand-in-hand with an empty foreground because there's a tendency to crop to remove the blank space and improve the composition. Post-capture cropping is fine, but you'll usually find you make better images if you consider the aspect ratio at the shooting stage. Most cameras allow you to set aspect ratio in your general menu settings.

07. Bad use of depth of field

We mentioned above how shallow depth of field can be used to smooth over and de-clutter a background. Depth of field is a very powerful tool for photo composition because it can determine which elements within a scene are clearly visible in the image. 

Shooting with a small aperture creates lots of depth of field, which is often desirable, but if you want your subject to stand out from its surrounding it's usually better to shoot with a bigger aperture to restrict depth of field.

08. Sloping horizon

A sloping horizon in a landscape or even behind a portrait subject can be incredibly distracting so it's worth making the effort to ensure that it's level. Most cameras now have a built-in electronic level that can be displayed in the viewfinder or on the LCD to guide you. Alternatively, many tripods have a spirit level built-in.

It's especially important to make sure that water looks level, but this can be deceptive when the water's edge or a shoreline is in the frame. Even if the camera was perfectly level at the time of the shoot you may find that you need to rotate the image a little post-capture to get it looking right.

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Watch video: How to blend photos from two different focal lengths

One of the great joys of landscape photography is when you’re treated to a combination of enticing foreground details and elements in distant scenery. But composing this into a balanced frame can sometimes be a challenge. 

If we use a wide-angle lens to shoot the foreground details – due to the exaggerated perspective – the backdrop can become too small and insignificant. Here, for example, the blurred water in the foreground plays an important part, but to capture it we needed to use a wide-angle lens. 

This left the focal point beyond – the Pontsticill Reservoir in Wales – too small. Focal length blending offers a way to get around this. By taking two frames at different focal lengths – one wide, one longer – then blending them, we can enlarge the background.

Compositing in landscape photography is a contentious issue. But combining two versions of the scene like this may arguably bring us closer to how the scene feels in the flesh. Our eyes don’t work like super-wide angle lenses (they’re more like a combination of a sharp 50mm in the center and a blurry 20mm around the edges). 

So the exaggerated perspective you get with wide angles – with oversized foreground details and minuscule distant scenery – often feels vastly different to the view when you’re looking at a scene with your own eyes. Blending two focal lengths could be closer to the experience of being there…

1. Prepare your images

Open your images in Adobe Photoshop (if toning in Lightroom first, ensure that both images have identical adjustments). Analyze the scene in the wider of the two images and determine where the easiest join line will be. Here, the dark banks of the lake are ideal.

2. Copy and position

Go to the zoomed-in image then grab the Move tool. Drag it to the tab of the other image and then down and in to copy it over. Lower the layer opacity to around 50% then hit Cmd/Ctrl + T. Use the bounding box to transform, resize and position the image to fit.

3. Paint a mask

Bring the layer opacity back to 100%. Click the Add Layer Mask icon in the Layers Panel then grab the Brush tool. Paint with black to hide parts of the long image so that it blends with the wide scene. Use a soft-edged brush tip for a gentle transition.

4. Fine tune the blend

Zoom in close to check the edges of the layer, making sure that the blend looks natural. Using a smaller brush, paint with black to hide parts or hit X to switch to white and paint to reveal hidden areas. You can also paint at a lower opacity for a gentle transition.

5. Clone to tidy

Make a new layer and then grab the Clone tool. We can use it to tidy any rough areas in the composite. Set it to Sample: All Layers in the tool options at the top, then hold Alt and click to sample a clean area and paint to clone over any sketchy patches.

6. Final toning

Hit Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to merge a copy of all the layers, then go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter. Try the color-shifting presets in the Profile Browser (click the grid icon in the Basic Panel to access it). Make any other tonal changes or local adjustments you like to finish.

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Circles of confusion in photography are aptly named, and if you're not sure what the term actually means, you're not alone! We'll try to explain the concept simply, as well as how it relates to depth of field.

According to Wikipedia, when we're thinking about optics, "a circle of confusion is an optical spot caused by a cone of light rays from a lens not coming to a perfect focus when imaging a point source."

When a lens focuses, every point of the subject gets projected as a point onto the camera's sensor. A single point on a subject is only registered as a point on the camera’s sensor if the lens is precisely focused at the right distance. Otherwise it will actually be recorded as a circle (known as a ‘circle of confusion’).

Depth of field isn’t simply a matter of some things being out of focus. Areas of a scene can range from being slightly unsharp (a small circle of confusion) to completely blurred. Things that are just outside the depth of field zone are still recognizable, and this can actually make them distracting.

To reduce or eliminate distractions, you might want to throw some areas (normally the background) so far out of focus that they’re beyond recognition. This may mean doing everything possible to keep depth of field to a minimum. This is why many pros prefer lenses with the widest maximum apertures, as these allow depth of field to be minimized.

How to use the circle of confusion in your photos

Unfortunately there isn't a way to mathematically calculate the circles of confusion that you'll get in an image, although you can adjust the circle of confusion on your image plane by adjusting the aperture and focal length of the lens. See our depth of field refresher to help you out there.

Ever heard of depth of field charts? These can also be used to work out what a lenses hyperfocal distance is (see hyperfocal distance and depth of field explained) – the distance you need to be from your subject so that it's in perfect, tack-sharp focus.

You can find DoF charts online, but of course many lenses also have depth of field markings on the focus rings themselves. Instead of trying to calculate the circles of confusion (because who wants to do that), you can simple stick to the depth of field chart and use the hyperfocal distance that it gives.

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Camera shutters, when triggered together at exactly the right time, can make for some fascinating musical compositions. Something that was discovered by innovative photography manufacturer MIOPS, having collaborated with a sound artist to create a small-scale symphony of shutter sounds. 

Different brands of camera were chosen and used in the project to provide alternate sounding shutters, using MIOPS' own camera triggers and smartphone app as a technological maestro to conduct the timed sound and shutter release perfectly.

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The video below shows the orchestrated cameras coming together to create a shutter sound symphony. Brands such as Canon, Sony, Nikon and Fujifilm all have cameras used for the project, and their shutter sounds all differ to create a unique soundscape. 

“This idea suddenly came to my mind during an internal meeting, when one of our employees said that our triggers ensure cameras to take pictures at the right time, like a maestro," said Erkan Yigiter, MIOPS' co-founder.

Watch the video below and you're likely to recognize some of the cameras used in the creation of the musical masterpiece, such as the Fujifilm X-T3, Fujifilm X-S10, Sony A9, Sony A7R, Canon EOS 6D , Canon EOS-1D X, Nikon D850 and the Nikon Z6 II.

MIOPS collaborated with Berlin-based sound artist and designer, Kuntay Seferoglu, as well as regional Canon, Nikon and Sony brands in the creation of this video. Kuntay has curated remarkable musical projects in the past using various objects in the replacement of musical instruments. 

For this endeavor, Kuntay first recorded the shutter sounds of 27 different camera models, analyzing them in detail. After a month of effort, he later composed this wonderful composition by using sounds from nine specific cameras.

“The idea of making music with the sounds of everyday life always excites me," he said. "The shutter sound of the cameras was one of the sounds that especially caught my attention… Each object has its own unique sound and character, and when we approach them as instruments, there are special ways to play them. In fact, we encounter many of them every day, I believe that all of them can have a place in music.”

A mechanism consisting of different MIOPS products to trigger each camera shutter was created by Kuntay, with smartphones running the MIOPS Mobile application that controls these triggers, and solenoid valves that enable the camera to be triggered by pressing the buttons in this application. 

Kuntay also developed computer software entirely by his own means to ensure that the solenoid valves were activated at the perfect time.

"As a camera equipment design company, we try to develop our products to be compatible with as many different brands and models as possible," added Onur Celik, MIOPS co-founder. 

"Therefore, we take care to keep all brands as equidistant as possible. We know that if all these brands are in the market and continue to compete with each other, better photography products will be available and we as photographers will benefit most from this.

"This competition between brands not only enables better products to be released, but also allows photographers with different needs to reach the right equipment, thanks to the diversity that has emerged. This diversity acts as a complete orchestra. Instead of a piece of music played with a single instrument, it creates magnificent music that includes dozens of different instruments playing in harmony with each other.”

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There are certain subjects that pose unexpected compositional challenges. This might be to do with the arrangement of objects in the foreground, making it tricky to pick an ideal focal length, or objects in the scene impeding the perfect view of the subject. One example of a setting that, on paper at least, should be relatively simple to shoot, but which causes many photographers to throw their hands up in frustration, is a tall and thin subject.

Structures such as this lighthouse look as if it were impossible to take a bad image of, but their tall, narrow design makes it a challenge to fit them into a balanced composition. The issue is not so much with the lighthouse as with the negative space around it. Instinctively you might shoot in portrait orientation, but this can sometimes produce an uninspiring, predictable composition. Shooting in landscape, however, reveals too much sky or foreground if you fit all the building in the frame. 

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With this scenario it is important to experiment with both angles and also depth of field, to cover your bases. If you can’t recompose, do what you can to make what is visible in the frame work for you. Let’s explore the possible approaches to this type of subject.

1. Find the best angle

There is a lot of empty midground here, so we looked for a leading line to break this up and draw the viewer straight through it, to the lighthouse. This angle also minimized background distractions, aligning the horizon to hide unwanted detail behind the building. Setting up on a tripod allows for precise framing, which won't change between images.

2. Try wide open

If shooting a horizontal frame, midgrounds can be a common challenge in this type of image, as bland horizons result from the vertical nature of a tall, thin structure. If you have to use this orientation, try minimizing depth of field to blur unwanted detail between the camera and the subject’s position. We were shooting on a camera with a large sensor, so shooting at maximum aperture greatly diffused areas closer to the camera position, when the focus was placed on the subject. In this case focusing further into the frame is an advantage.

3. Adjust horizon placement

In order to reduce the high frequency foreground detail we opted to lower the horizon and make more of the sky, which featured greater interest. The blue also contrasted better with the red of the lighthouse – colors which were brought closer together in the frame, by the lower angle – creating a more coherent theme. 

4. Vary distance 

Beware of getting too close to a tall subject, as this can call for use of a wide-angle lens, thereby producing excess negative space and potentially converging verticals. Try moving towards and then away from the subject to find the optimal compression effect and favor a longer focal length, which can produce more manageable frame proportions. 

5.  Try other framing options

The aim here is to minimize large expanses of empty space either side of the vertical structure. Look for other objects, like vegetation, which can break up these areas without interfering with the subject itself. Aim to create layers that guide the eye to the building and which produce a sense of direction in the frame.

6.  Flip it

Always try both camera orientations, landscape and portrait, to experiment with detail distribution. Here we chose to exaggerate the verticality of the scene but divide it into layers, using the branches. Any gaps work as detail ‘breaks’, but negative space either side of the frame is contained and works to further the structure of the scene, rather than acting as voids, which draw the viewer's eye away from the subject.

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A lie. A myth. Malarkey. Hokum. Hogwash. That’s what 'compression of perspective' is, according to a couple of prominent online stories. 

'Compression of perspective' is a term that has been used by photographers for decades, to describe the effect of using longer lenses to visually 'compress' the fore, mid and background of an image. This results in objects and environments in the background looking bigger, and it also flatters the elongated features of a human subject. 

However, compression of perspective isn’t some magical property possessed by telephoto lenses; rather, it is simply a byproduct of magnification and perspective distortion. 

“Focal length does nothing but magnify that image, that’s it,” says Marcus McAdam, in a segment on YouTube channel Photography Online. “So the myth that longer focal lengths compress a scene, and shorter focal lengths exaggerate a scene, is totally false. 

Watch video: Marcus McAdam debunks the compression "nonsense"

“I understand where the theory comes from, and it’s because we tend to photograph things that are a long way away with telephoto lenses, and things that are very close to us with wide-angle lenses. But it’s important to remember that it’s our distance to the subject which is changing perspective, not the focal length.” 

McAdam uses his daughter standing in front of an old church, shooting with 25mm, 50mm, 100mm and 200mm lenses, to demonstrate that it isn’t the focal length of the lenses but the distance of the photographer from the subject (which is, obviously, tied to which lens is being used) that actually affects the compression of a scene. 

Ergo, all the lens actually does is magnify what’s in front of the camera. Thus, “rather than state the focal length, which is what you would typically see in the textbook, we should really state the distance, as this is the force at play here.”

Petapixel writer and commercial photographer, Illya Ovchar, wrote a similar teardown of the notion that lenses cause compression. “The focal length of lenses doesn’t cause perspective distortion, which is often explained as ‘lens compression.’ Period.” 

Like McAdam, Ovchar took photographs of a subject (this time a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV) at different focal lengths to illustrate the effect of perspective distortion. 

“There are different types of distortion that exist. When it comes to perspective distortion, only the image plane (camera) position affects it. Hence, you can take the exact same picture with a 16mm lens and a 200mm lens simply by cropping the wide-angle photo into the telephoto one.

“Different focal lengths will cause a photographer to choose different distances to their subjects, and this distance is what causes perspective distortion, not the focal length. Hence, it could more accurately be called “distance compression” rather than “lens compression.”

So there you have it: lenses don’t compress perspective. Though of course, a wide-angle lens causes all kinds of optical distortion on the human face, so you would still choose a telephoto lens to shoot a portrait – but it won’t technically compress the background any more than a wide lens would.

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Unless you have a perfectly square picture, every photograph has a ‘long side’ and a ‘short side’. The relationship of one to the other is known as the ‘aspect ratio’.

So if you have a sensor or a frame of film that measures 36mm by 24mm, the aspect ratio is 3:2 (dividing the length of both sides by 12 to get the lowest common denominator). By finding the relationship between the sides, we can quickly find the simplest ratio that expresses the proportions of the picture. In the case of a square-shaped shot, the long and short sides are both the same, so distilling it to its simplest form, the ratio would be 1:1.

TVs and computer screens

You'll get a different ratio with the picture on a high definition TV. Though actual screen sizes vary, the picture itself is made up of 1920 pixels on the long side, and 1080 pixels on the short side. Divide both these numbers by 120, and you arrive at a ratio of 16:9, which is the aspect ratio of all HD TVs. 

Go back to the 1990s – before the advent of widescreen TVs – and the established ratio for television was 4:3. This was also the accepted ratio for early computer screens, as they displayed 640 x 480 pixels (just divide by 160 to get the 4:3 ratio). Nowadays, many laptop and tablet displays use 16:10, so when viewed horizontally, they’re a little deeper than an HD TV picture.

Compact cameras, smart phones and micro FourThirds system cameras from Olympus and Panasonic still offer a 4:3 ratio, as that is the actual aspect ratio of the sensor. Of course, the shot you take can be cropped to offer a different aspect ratio such as of 3:2 or 16:9, but the native aspect ratio is still 4:3 as that is the shape of the sensor recording the data. 

Cinema and video aspect ratios

One confusing part of aspect ratios is that in cinema, it’s traditional to give the long side of a picture after expressing the short side as “1”. So a typical Hollywood blockbuster would have an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. If you treat the 3:2 aspect ratio of many cameras in a cinematic way, it becomes 1.5:1, and 16:9 would be 1.78:1. In some ways, the cinema method is simpler to visualise, as the width is directly related to a height unit of 1, but it’s not the norm when referring to stills photography or television aspect ratios.

After you’ve taken a photo, you can of course crop it in software to produce any aspect ratio you like. Sometimes a ‘letterbox’ crop of a 17:6 panoramic camera will add drama to a shot, and other times, the square format of a 6x6 medium format camera will be the perfect shape to show off the content of the image. If your image is for publication in a magazine, then it needs to fit the ratio of the paper it’s going on.

Aspect ratios and print sizes

Your camera's native aspect ratio won't always match the size of the photo papers you want to print on. 6x4" photo paper has an aspect ratio of 3:2, like many cameras, but this is actually quite 'wide' for most print sizes. 7x5" photo paper, and A4 photo paper, is slightly more 'square', while the traditional 10x8" photo paper is squarer still. Your photos will be cropped to the paper's aspect ratio when you print them, but you may want to do this manually to have more control over how the picture is cropped.

Try different aspect ratios

For convenience, all the different crop ratios you might need can be set up in Photoshop and other photo editing programs, but one of the easiest ways to try different aspects is to use Photoshop's Rectangular Marquee tool. 

In the Options bar, set the Style box to Fixed Ratio, and then key in the width and height (it doesn’t matter whether you use stills-camera speak or cinema-speak!). Then drag the box over the screen to see how your new aspect will look. If you like it, go to Image > Crop, and you’re done.

Aspect ratios on YouTube

Aspect ratios are very important for video. What do you do if the aspect ratio of your video is different to the one you want to use? You might have an old-school 4:3 ratio video that you want to publish as a more up to date 16:9 video, for example.

You have two options: You can either crop the video to the new, wider format and hence lose some of the image area at the top and bottom, or 'stretch' a 4:3 video to fit the wider 16:9 format.

The answer? ALWAYS crop and NEVER stretch. Cropped video isn't ideal, as you lose some of the area of a video that might not have been very high resolution in the first place, but stretched video looks absolutely awful. Don't do it!

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Watch video: How to photograph a classic still life at home

Still life is arguably one of the most accessible genres of photography. Even if you only have the best camera for beginners and the best travel tripod, you can capture stunning still life images. It’s also a great discipline if you’re new to photography or simply want to brush up on your core skills, because there’s really nowhere to hide. 

The understated nature of items such as flowers and fruit means you’re not going to wow the viewer with the subject alone. How you arrange and light your subject is paramount and, since you’re working in a controlled environment, anything that isn’t tack-sharp and perfectly composed simply won’t do. 

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We set out to replicate the lighting used in classic still life paintings from artists such as Rembrandt and Caravaggio. A single light source allows you to create plenty of contrast between the highlights and shadows, and while you’re certainly welcome to use studio lighting, it isn’t essential.

We set up our still life next to a window on an overcast day to produce diffused side lighting. A plain sheet or wall will work as a backdrop, but we used a Lastolite Vintage Collapsible Background. Since our background is purple, we chose daffodils as our main subject. If you refer to the color wheel you’ll notice that yellow sits opposite to purple and is a complementary color.

Since we only had four daffodils to photograph, we added a dried rose to balance the composition according to the rule of odds. The shriveled rose contrasted to the freshly cut (or rather bought) daffodils, while referencing classic vanitas still life paintings.

Step by step: How to photograph a still life at home

01. Window light

We set up next to a window on a cloudy day so our vase of flowers was lit from the left-hand side by diffused light. The result is a chiaroscuro-style lighting effect seen in classic still life paintings from artists such as Rembrandt. If you want a little more control over your lighting, try using a reflector or diffuser. 

02. Backgrounds

We used a collapsible background from Lastolite (LL LB5722), but you could shoot against a plain wall or sheet of cloth. If you’re struggling to hang a sheet, try sewing a hair tie on each corner of the fabric, you can then loop them over objects such as picture hooks to hang your backdrop securely. 

03. Wheel of fortune 

Color is an important consideration when arranging a still life. Knowing that opposites on the color wheel are complementary, we chose to shoot yellow daffodils against our purple backdrop. The green cloth also complemented the red rose. You can edit colors independently using the HSL/Color panel in Adobe Lightroom.

04. Play by the rules 

We selected five flowers as our subjects. As you can see (right) an odd number of subjects makes for a more pleasing composition, as per the rule of odds. We wanted to position our flowers at different heights to help them fill the frame. This was achieved by using a pair of scissors to cut the stems to different sizes.

05. Use Live View 

Set up your camera on a tripod. We used an L-bracket to secure our camera in portrait orientation. Use Live View to compose your shot, but don’t rely solely on bubble levels or your camera's virtual horizon; even if your camera is level, your subject might not be. We suggest using the grid overlay to line up your frame with your subject.

06. Camera settings 

In Aperture Priority set the ISO to 100. We chose an aperture of f/8 to keep the subject sharp. To make the shot feel more like a classic still life, we added some negative exposure compensation to underexpose and create deeper shadows.

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Watch video: How to photograph a frame within a frame

A frame within a frame is a popular compositional technique used to frame the subject of a photograph with a natural or man-made object. This could be anything from a window or doorway, to an avenue of trees or a row of bushes. 

Frames can be captured with any optic, but are fun to spot while out on photowalks with the best 50mm lens. The frame doesn’t need to completely surround your subject, but it should be prominent enough to guide the viewer’s eye straight to the focal point. Frames are a great way to simplify overly busy scenes or obscure unattractive or boring areas of your images. Our photograph of Bath Abbey is a good example. The grand building is a beautiful architectural subject, but its size cuts a lonely figure as it protrudes high above everything else in the city, which makes it difficult to compose. 

Thankfully a nearby archway allowed us to frame the magnificent structure, and create a much more balanced and interesting composition. The hard part is inevitably finding a suitable frame, particularly if you already have a subject in mind. However, you can search for frames whenever you’re out and about, even if you don’t have your camera on you. 

Just like other compositional techniques, such as leading lines and the rule of thirds, if you practice long enough, you’ll start to notice frames within frames everywhere. Hopefully the steps below will help it to become second nature!

Step by step: How to photograph a frame within a frame

01. Find your frame 

When you’re actively looking for frames within frames you’ll start to see them all over the place. However, if you have a specific subject in mind, it can be challenging to find a suitable frame. We walked in a circuit around our subject and eventually happened upon an archway that lined up with the building perfectly. 

02. Think frames

Man-made and natural objects can work as a frame and it’s important to note that they don’t necessarily have to surround your whole subject. Bushes, tree branches, plants, windows, doorways, arches, pillars, mirrors and even orbs of bokeh can all be used to frame your focal point. 

03. Tripod vs handheld

Tripods allow you to compose your scene using your Nikon’s rear LCD and the grid overlay for ultimate precision. However, when working within a town or city with ample light, we’d recommend shooting handheld. Tripods are a trip hazard on busy streets and are often not permitted on privately owned public spaces.

04. Where to focus

The purpose of a frame within a frame is to funnel the viewer’s gaze towards the focal point of the image, so we used single-point AF and single-servo AF to focus on the abbey. The advantage of using the latter (or back-button focusing) is that you can lock focus on your subject and then refine your composition before firing the shutter.

05. Camera settings

We kept our ISO low and used a shutter speed of 1/320 sec to mitigate camera shake. An aperture of f/8 to f/11 is a good middle ground, but you may wish to use a wide aperture and get close to your frame if you want to blur out the foreground. This works particularly well when using a colorful frame, such as flowers. 

06. Make your own

If you can’t find a frame you can DIY your own using items such as fallen branches. You can also gently guide flowers or branches in front of your lens to create a frame – but take care that they aren’t damaged in the process.

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In photography we often talk about focussing the viewer's attention, or directing where the viewer looks. This is usually followed by a discussion of compositional tools such leading lines, the golden ratio and the rule of thirds, which all function to tell the viewer where in the frame they should be looking. But have you ever asked why?

Why do leading lines work? Why does the golden ratio appeal? Why is directing attention in a photo necessary at all? 

These are all valid questions that we often don't dwell on - we simply take it for granted that the aforementioned 'rules' of photography are effective and put them work without a seconds thought. In many cases this doesn't create any issues, but it's a point I've been thinking about recently. As beginners we are often told to do something by somebody we deem to be more experienced and assume it's going to make our images better. This is a wise approach, yet there is a great deal of value in understanding the process behind the process. What's going on in our brains when we look at an image and why do the 'rules' often work well?

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The answer is really quite a simple one luckily and once you understand the underlying mechanism you not only have the power to provide your viewers with a greater experience, but you can learn to appreciate what makes you want to shoot an image yourself. 

Consider the image here. I shot this recently while out for a walk. The sun was low in the sky but high enough to be casting a few rays into the shaded river valley. I knew that if I waited for a few minutes the light would fall directly on the old Fulling Mill building. I also knew this would have two effects. Firstly, it would create a nice reflection on the water and second, it would instantly highlight the building as a focal point.

Why would that happen? Well the human brain is drawn to the brightest part of a scene first, so with the sunlight on the building, it would be like a spotlight on the area of the scene I wanted people to look.  More importantly than that though, at this time of the day, the difference in tonality between the illuminated building and darker riverbanks would be pronounced, making this effect even stronger. It's not so much the total intensity of the brightness, rather the contrast between the brightest and darkest areas of the shot.

This works as a compositional tool because it replicates how our brain perceives the world. Think about it. When you look through your eyes how much of any given scene do you focus on in a single moment? Let's be clear, the question is not how much you see, it's how much do you focus on? 

The answer is, not a lot of it. Together your eyes have a generous field of view, so they physically receive light across that whole area, but your brain doesn't really take much notice of anything that isn't at the centre of that scene. 

This helps us concentrate our attention on the most important aspects of what is in front of us. If something catches your eye, so to speak, you instantly switch your attention to it and filter out extraneous information, to give it your full attention. 

So what implications does this have for photography? Quite a few! A photo is actually a very unrealistic way of viewing the world, since it presents a scene in its entirety, all within a small frame. Even if we limit what appears within that frame, there is an awful lot of extra detail that we are asking our brains to examine, all at once. We can of course control this with depth-of-field, which is a great way to simulate the shallow focus of our own vision, but we can also use light. 

It's often stated that it's what isn't in a photo which defines it, not what is present. This is very true, as using differential exposure limits how much information we are forcing our brains to examine. The house in this shot is clearly the main event, so we're not making ourselves (or our viewers) work harder than they need to to find a place to rest.   

This image represents not our vision, but our mind's eye - it plays to our perception of a scene and, just like a perfect key change in a piece of music, satisfies what we want to see. It's like placing a map at the entrance to a maze - it creates a shortcut which gives viewers an easy journey and tells them where to stop. The compositional tools all work in the same way.

This all sounds wooly and a conceptual, but it has a very real impact on our potential to create very popular photographs. When you go to take an image spend a second analyzing how you see it and what you instinctively see as the key elements. What did your brain automatically pick out as the important bits? Then think about how you can apply this information to the creation of your shot. Exclude details which you hadn't previously noticed, didn't really draw your interest.

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Watch video: How to create great panorama photography

When you witness a beautiful sprawling vista your first instinct might be to reach for the best wide-angle lens. And while such focal lengths can produce stunning results, in the wrong situation they can also leave you feeling terribly underwhelmed. 

Super-wide lenses suffer from barrel distortion, which makes objects appear further away. This isn’t usually a problem when capturing immense objects, such as mountains, but if your subject has less impact or fails to prominently protrude from the horizon line, a wide focal length could leave you wanting. Thankfully, by shooting a panorama you can have the best of both worlds, a sprawling composition that’s free from barrel distortion. 

Panoramas work by panning the camera to shoot a sequence of images using a lens with a narrower field of view. Standard lenses work best because they suffer from little to no barrel and pincushion distortion. Blending together multiple images in post creates super-high resolution shots, which affords you plenty of room to crop and refine your composition in post. 

Our image of the Bath skyline is a composite of three landscape orientation images, but you can boost resolutions further by shooting panoramas in portrait orientation. Here’s how to shoot, stitch and edit a panorama.

How to create great panorama photography

1. Focal length

A major advantage of shooting a panorama is that you can create sprawling photographs while avoiding the unpleasant distortion of a wide-angle lens. We shot our sequence of three images at 85mm (35mm equivalent) to avoid both barrel and pincushion distortion.

• Read more: Best 85mm lenses

2. Level headed

A stable tripod is crucial, so we hung our kitbag off the centre column as a counterweight. It also helps to have the legs perfectly aligned, so your framing remains level. For perfect precision use a tripod with a bubble level on the centre column.

3. Settings

Whatever method of focusing you use, ensure your camera is set to manual focus when you begin shooting to prevent it refocusing. Use Manual mode to keep your exposure consistent and select an aperture between f/8 and f/11 for a large depth of field with optimum sharpness.

4. Pan and shoot

As you shoot your sequence, make sure each image overlaps by at least a quarter of the frame to prevent gaps. Don’t worry about getting your composition spot on. Your panorama’s large size means it can be comfortably cropped, but if your framing is too tight there’s nothing you can do about it.

5. Merge your sequence

Open and highlight your panoramic sequence in Adobe Lightroom’s Develop Module. Hold Ctrl, click the sequence and select Photo Merge > Panorama. Choose your preferred projection – we recommend Cylindrical. Click Auto Crop (this can be refined later) and hit Merge.

6. Refine your framing

Once you have edited your image, use the Crop Overlay to refine the composition further. We used the rule of thirds grid to divide the foreground, city and sky equally in our frame. A Radial Filter (Shift + M) was used to selectively increase the exposure around the largest building in the image to help draw attention to the focal point of our photograph.

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Based in Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, I am an entertainment and advertising photographer, specializing in composite photography and creative artwork. I have worked with international clients and agencies, including Nike, Crypt TV and Athlon Outdoors.

My love of art and storytelling was the reason I bought a camera, and things escalated quite quickly from there. I believe art can change lives, so I teach Photoshop workshops around the globe, to give people the skills to change theirs.

• Read more: 100 Photoshop tips

01. Hand in hand

Compositing was something I started to learn at the very beginning of my journey. I never wanted to just take a photo: I wanted to tell stories and create art. I bought Photoshop at the same time I bought my camera, so I learned both simultaneously. This allowed me to pick up composite creation and create the images I wanted.

02. Creative thinking

One of the main benefits of composite photography is that anything is possible. If you can imagine it, you can create it. The only limit is your imagination. Using stock photos enhances your freedom to create. You might not be able to get to New York to shoot a skyscraper, but you can easily find a stock image of the scene you need.

03. Where to source?

I use a mixture of free and paid stock. The best free sites in my opinion are Pixabay, Unsplash and Pexels. For paid stock my go-to places are Adobe Stock or Shutterstock. I also use Neostock, which has model shots in a variety of costumes. The thing I look for in a good stock image is whether it can elevate or enhance my story. I also make sure that an image is large and high-resolution.

04. Light quality

Quality of light is always important. Being a photographer means that I understand how light works more than a graphic designer, or a composite artist who doesn’t take photos. Light is one of the best ways to blend an image together and make it realistic, simply by matching direction and overlaying the light effect on the model.

05. Get busy

I think the number of elements depends on the story. Use as many as you need to get your message or vision across. Don’t worry about the number of elements: worry more about how they will work together.

You can see more of Clinton's work at www.clintonlofthousephotography.com.

This article was first published in Digital Camera magazine.

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Shooting at the coast can be both a fun experience and stressful one depending on how you approach it! For landscape photographers there are few environments as satisfying as a seascape - coastlines provide almost everything you could want in an image: great light, clear levels in the composition, hard and soft textures to contrast. A wonderful combination.

That is until you take a closer look at your images and spot burnt out highlights you can't seem to shake, then notice how difficult it is to perfectly frame the scene within in a 3:2 or 4:3 shot. Exposure and composition are two of the major challenges newcomers to coastal photography (and some more experienced shooters) find can hold back the quality and impact of their photographs.  

• 16 essential landscape photography tips

Regarding exposure, the difficulties arise from the vast difference in reflectivity of each surface within the scene. On some parts of your image you have textured rock and sand, which reflects very little light back towards the camera. In other parts of the location you have wet surfaces, which can create 'glints' or localized bright spots, which are tricky to expose for. Then, making up a large area of the shot, the ocean itself is highly reflective, which can be problematic when the sun is low in the sky. 

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To solve some of these exposure issues, changing your metering mode to Spot or Partial, will restrict where your camera looks to source exposure information. In the case of this image Centre Weighted metering mode was chosen and an exposure reading was taken from the highlights on the water. This gave a more inclusive reading that Spot, which avoided serious underexposure.

Once the majority of highlight detail had been recovered I pushed the exposure up to expose to-the-right (ETTR), which meant as much shadow and highlight information as possible could be squeezed out of the camera's dynamic range. 

As for composition, the big problem with coastal scenes is that they tend to be quite linear - the major points of interest are centralized along the horizon. While cliffs do create layers, there is a problem - they can be so tall they tempt the photographer into using an ultra-wide lens to get them all into the shot. This means foreground detail becomes very small and you also end up with large areas of empty sky on one side of the frame.

They key is to try and arrange the elements of the scene so that they seem closer together. For this image the effect was achieved by using a telephoto lens - the opposite strategy many new photographers might try. By zooming in to around 200mm the scene was compressed. This allowed the cliffs to be included in the frame, to provide a sense of height, without revealing too much sky. It also brought the rocky foreground and distant sea stacks together.  

Why the image works

1. Reduced sky: using a longer lens helps keep empty space to a minimum
2. Leading lines: the cliff top guides the eye to a clear subject, despite the busy environment 
3. Layers: Including the cliffs adds levels to the image and creates a sense of scale in an otherwise flat scene.
4. Bright spots: Metering from the highlights and using ETTR helps provide a balanced exposure. Image blending was also used for a wider tonal range. 

Conclusion: when shooting coastal scenes remember to check for small areas of blown highlights. These are easy to overlook but can reduce the impact of your shot, by distracting your viewers. Use Spot or Partial metering modes to make your exposure calculation more precise, but watch for underexposure too. Try bracketing your images and blending the exposures later, since hardware filters are often unsuitable, due to artificial darkening of cliffs.

Next, always make sure you have a clear subject for the eye to settle on and use the terrain to guide the eye to it. Don't always reach for a wide optic, as this can create large empty areas of the shot.

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I'm not a patient guy! This applies to me waiting in a fifty mile line at Starbucks and it most certainly describes my behaviour when out shooting photographs. This isn't something to be proud of, though I should point out it is only because I want to see results and be the best photographer I can be. There are times when patience pays off however and landscape photography in particular benefits from waiting. 

• 16 essential landscape photography tips

This can be difficult when you've dragged yourself out of bed for a sunrise, hauled kilograms of expensive photo gear into a forest, all with great expectations, only to be faced with a damp squib of a dawn. That happened to me at the location shown here. I'd wanted a misty sunrise, but there was no sunrise, nor was there mist. I was a bit disappointed to say the least. 

I didn't give up and shot a few frames, but I knew there was nothing dramatic about to happen. The only option was to try again in a few days. I returned on a clearer day, but despite the promise of fog there wasn't much. I had a good view of the rising sun through the trees though, so we were half way there. After a further three attempts I finally got lucky!

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I really wanted to capture this tunnel of trees, filled with illuminated mist, ( I had this image in my mind and wanted to recreate it). So placed the camera close to ground level, mounted a Sigma 10-20mm lens and waited for the sun to appear at just the right angle. I'd have preferred a longer lens to compress perspective, but needed the wide angle-of-view to fit in the left hand tree.

In woodland photography be careful of empty spaces - a wide lens can capture too much foreground. Here that wasn't a problem as the leaf carpet was attractive but remember to try zooming to compress the scene.

Why the image works

1. Darker to lighter: the edges of the frame a much darker than the centre creating a tunnel-like effect. Enhance with vignetting.
2. Leading lines: the trees form leading lines and guide the eye into the centre.
3. Warm to cool: The frame has more blues (high Kelvin) colours at the edges and reds/yellows (low Kelvin) hues at the centre, creating direction and depth.

The magic of Dehaze

One of the best additions to Lightroom and Camera Raw in recent years has been the Dehaze Slider. It's fantastic for removing hazy mist or light fog but I'm far more enamored of it because of what happens if you drag it the other way. If there is even a little mist present Dehaze can drastically enhance this and create that thick fog feeling.  

For this image I pulled the Slider to -66 to soften the whole scene and then used the Adjustment Brush (K) to add a little extra over the sun area. I then used the Auto Mask feature to selectively remove any unwanted application over the foreground trees.

Conclusion - good things come to people that wait. Making sure you are in the right place at the right time is as much of an important photo skill as learning your camera settings. Take the time to assess what lighting and weather you are likely to find and make informed decisions based on that. If you can't get the conditions you want keep coming back (when possible). With each visit you gain a more detailed knowledge of how best to get drama in your images.

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Composition is arguably the most important aspect of any photography - even if the exposure or focussing is a little off, a great composition can still inspire the viewer independently. This effect can be seen in many vintage photographs, taken by some of the 'masters' of the medium, shot decades ago on large format film. When framing any image it is critical to consider not just the subject but the environment it sits within. This approach is what can separate a professional shot from a mere snapshot. 

For this image I had a tough decision to make - mount a telephoto lens on my camera and zoom in to frame the Paris skyline tightly, or try to capture more of the foreground. The latter choice seemed like the better one since I was standing on the steps of Sacre Coeur - one of the most impressive landmarks in Northern Europe! Why waste it!?

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I was traveling light so had brought an 18-200mm superzoom lens with me, which offered the perfect combination of focal lengths for what I wanted to achieve. I zoomed all the way out to the wide end of the range and moved inside the doorway to the church. This allowed me to include the archway and the door itself, which both framed the city beyond and provided a sense of outward direction.  

This highlights an interesting human trait - we want to walk through a doorway! When we see an open door we instinctively want to peer through and see what is behind it. While there is no secret in this picture it creates a sense of awe at the wide view of the city. 

In the case of this image there was another motivation to include a frame for the cityscape. The horizon was very flat from up here on the hill and, while a lovely shade of blue, the sky was very empty - no dramatic clouds to pick up the morning light. The frame of the arch limits the amount of empty space at the top of the composition 

1. Arcs and lines: the arch of the doorway contrasts pleasingly with the straight lines in the image
2. Leading lines: the lines in the door lead the viewer out to the city reveal in the distance
3. Colour contrast: The cool blues of the sky contrast nicely with the warmer tones in the wood and stone, creating depth.

Things to remember

A key mistake with any architectural photography is to distort perspective. Try to keep your lens at 90° to vertical lines in the scene, to prevent converging verticals. The wide end of a superzoom lens can exhibit barrel distortion already, so the bending of lines in a shot can build up quickly and become distracting.   

Secondly, don't forget the essentials of composition. Remember to divide up the scene for maximum interest, using the rule of thirds, or another core composition tool.  

You could also consider trying a tilt/shift lens to keep lines in the scene straight, by reducing the need to pitch the camera up or down, preventing converting verticals. 

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