The art of composition

I will say this up front, please forgive me for any grammatical or spelling errors, it is almost 11PM (not including the time change) and I'm tired.

I asked people what they wanted to see in the next journal, and several people wanted something basic and composition related, so here it is.  First let me ask you a question, when you see a building that you want to take a picture of, what do you think about?  Do you think "Hey, it's a building I'm gonna take a picture of it!" or something like this "Hmm, what angle would be better for this, is the lighting right?  Ah, now that's the shot!".  I can tell you that I tend to stray towards the latter rather than the former, I would suggest you do the same, while you can get a good shot using the first mindset you'll find a much lesser degree of success.

When I look anywhere my mind tends to think of what would be the best picture, this is always going on in the back of my mind, why?  I don't know, maybe it's because I like photography a bit too much, maybe that's what everyone does and I just pay more attention to it.  I will suggest that if you don't think of this, try it this way for a day or two and see what picture result.  Carry your camera around but not out, and think to yourself while you're walking "What would be a good picture here and how will it best be portrayed?".

If you find yourself dissatisfied with even the images you get after thinking like this, take a deep look at them and figure out what would make them better.  I find that common faults of images tend to be overcrowded, washed out, over/under exposed, too centred, uninteresting composition, etc.  Some good pieces of advice in general are; when in doubt of how to compose an image, get closer, use the rule of thirds ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_… ), and try something new whether it be an HDR image, unique perspective, or something completely off the wall.  Images are digital now, you don't have to worry about developing cost and you can take as many as you want and just delete the bad ones.

I shall leave you with some last things to do when composing an image.  Ask yourself why are you taking the picture, what is significant about it, what is the subject and is that evident in the image?  What story are you trying to tell with the image, how do you plan to tell the story?  Take a final look around the viewfinder to find obstructions that you may not have noticed before such as poles sticking out of the subjects head.  Consider your focal length when composing, a wide angle lens will make objects seem further apart while a telephoto will make things appear closer together.  Hope this helped you, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to note me or comment here, I'll try to reply to every comment and note .