66mm 1/160s f/4.5 ISO 3200
When composing a photo, most beginners, including myself when I started, don’t understand the fundamentals of proper composition, making any shot they take look average at best. Often, they lack at least one of these elements: Proper Framing (Rule of Thirds), Proper lighting (which to use for certain applications), Proper Focus (Depth of Field), and consideration of Foreground and Background elements. There is a lot more to it than point and click.
This guide will help you understand these essential criteria for creating a great photo by explaining why you should use each of these elements for a strong composition, primarily focusing on portrait photography.
So lets start with the first, Proper Framing.
Proper Framing
Framing a photo is paradoxically the easiest skill to learn and the most challenging to master. I often allude to what I call “The Vacation shot,” elaborated in this article, as a prime example of this concept. In essence, while most people grasp the idea of placing their subject within the frame, many overlook the significance of the subject’s placement inside the frame and its impact on the captured photo.
In my initial article on the rule of thirds, I explain the use of these “Guide-Lines” for framing a shot, I shed some light how they naturally draw the viewer’s eye to the intended focal point, creating a more engaging composition.
I’ll use the same example for the other article here, because it showcases how I applied the rule of thirds to great effect.
Lets start with the story I am trying to capture:
A shooter lines up his shot toward his clay pigeon, slowly aiming down the sights of his shotgun, poised to fire. The clay pigeon sits at a considerable distance across a vast, flat expanse of grass, surrounded by the dense trees of a forest, where this shooting range is located.
They say, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but I am not about to write that many for this one. In this case, you likely read the short story I just narrated aligning with your observations, in the correct sequence, of the image. Why does this happen?
First, we interestingly begin with human biology. Instinctively, we look for familiar shapes within our vision, asking “What is that?” drawing the natural focus of the viewer to my shooter first, because he is a human shape. It is then greatly enhanced by my use of Depth of Field by literally narrowing the focal range to my subject, more on that later.
The next step, is again a biological question. “What is the subject doing?” In my short narration, the shooter is “…slowly aiming down the sights… poised to shoot.” So I convey that by aligning the length of the shotgun to the lower third line, further occupying space on the frame.
A great tip: What is the Subject? -and- What are they doing? Are the first two questions every photographer should ask themselves when beginning a composition because it will help you target the natural focus onto human beings and where they need to be in the frame. Doing asking yourself these two things will help in the great majority of your photographs when it comes to framing your subject.
Moving on, the third question you should strive to answer is, “Where is this?” This aspect of Framing takes time to master. In the “Vacation Shot,” as explained in a seperate article, I emphasized the importance of where the camera’s position relative to the subject and the surrounding environment (Background/Foreground elements, explained later) and why those are important in a photo. If you take a look at the lower third line again, the ground follows it to the edge of the frame. Lets call this a “Horizon Line.” Horizon lines are useful when taking a more open shot like this one. They create atmosphere and setting for the remaining frame as a whole, which in this case establishes we are at a field in the woods.
Finally we need to consider where the camera itself is, not just what it sees. In this shot I have the center of the camera frame, as well as the camera itself slightly above the height of the eyes of my subject. This is a great place to start for camera placement in most portraits, especially when the subject is facing the camera. In all honesty, if you did the previous steps near perfectly, you might not have to do anything at all, your camera is already there. If your camera is too high above the subject, you lose the story by losing the background; or the background becomes the ground. On the other hand, if you’re too low you risk losing the action part of the story you’re trying to capture, in my example there might not be a clay pigeon to shoot.
This final step usually requires minimal adjustment if you did the the prior steps successfully.
Lets say some of these steps were not optimized and corrective measures are now critically needed. I advise you to take a few practice shots, not only determine proper exposure settings but also to determine the ideal thirds for your photo. For example, you will have to use your imagination for this one, I could have been a foot or two higher than my subject, looking down on him while still keeping my horizon line on the lower third, not losing the setting of being in the woods, right? But what would happen if I did that? My subject would be much lower in the frame and the sight lines that align with my rule of thirds would no longer apply to certain elements I wanted to have for my subject. In fact, it would turn into a vacation shot at that point, and the result would be too much background and not enough subject. It may be hard to understand that being too high can create a bad image. It is the most common mistake I see.
In summary, for effective framing: 1. Ask yourself, “What is my subject?” 2. Pose the question, “What is my subject doing?” 3. Consider, “Where is my subject?” 4. Reflect on any minor adjustments needed, such as asking “Is the Camera too high or low? Too far left or too far right?” When you can do these things autonomously, you are going to be golden!
61mm 1/250s f/5 ISO 100
Proper Lighting
To achieve great tonal depth, you need to properly light your subject in such a way that the highlights don’t distract from the shadows or darker tones. You know you’re doing it right when your photo looks really sharp. Hair is the best example of what you need to look for when it comes to these things.
While there are various methods to illuminate a subject, this guide will concentrate on Natural Light and its application in photographing a subject.
Lighting was the thing I struggled with the most, there are a lot of things about lighting that are very easy to mess up. First of which is the direction the light source originates. In portrait photography, the most common light source for the average photographer is the sun, and despite knowing where it is, many find it difficult to use properly. The most common mistake is to photograph a subject that is almost directly facing the sun.
I should be clear this isn’t always a bad thing, and I will explain why in a separate article, but for the sake of this explanation we will regard it as a mistake to avoid.
The reason it is a common mistake really comes down to three things; The first being the lack of definition because of the lack of shadows creating proper depth. Second, is the undesirable facial expression that occurs when facing a bright light–The squint. Squinting is highly undesirable and you should do your best to avoid it. Lastly, there are highlights that will blow out, referred to as “Overexposed” elements of your composition, leaving behind uneditable color data for later processing. Can prevent this by looking at the histogram function of your camera.
A quick bit: The Histogram is a great tool to watch when you are working with natural light, it literally tells you what color data there is in the photo you have taken or are about to take. The way to read it is simple, the left border of the graph shown above represents the blacks and shadows of your photo, then in the middle are the mid-tones, then on the right border is the representation of whites and highlights. If your graph is really flat and has a sharp peak, or “trends” in either the blacks (Underexposed) or the whites (Overexposed), it is not a great exposed photo. The ideal peak should be gradual, generally lying in mid-tones and slightly toward the blacks. Because shadows create depth and shape. Be aware, if there is no graph data for the highlights and whites, it is underexposed.
The Histogram in the above for example is considered underexposed, becuase it trends, or “peaks,” a bit too far in the shadows, while there isn’t a lot of data for the highlights and whites. Thus creating a dark look to the picture.
Alright–So how do you use natural light, the sun, for your portrait photos? In my opinion, the easiest approach is to use it as a hair or rear light. The surrounding environment usually reflects enough light to properly illuminate your subject’s face. This technique is known as back lighting, where the primary light source is positioned behind the subject. Alternatively, you can use it as an accent light in some shade, where the sun lights the background and NOT the subject. Typically I use this technique when it is a clear-sky, because there is no natural light diffusion coming off of the clouds.
30mm 1/80s f/5 ISO 100
Proper Focus
This is my personal favorite area to focus on, pun intended; and that reason is Bokeh. I’ll explain what that is in a moment.
Focusing on a subject nowaday is much, much easier than it used to be. Even smartphones use what is essentially “smart” focusing to their subject because they are programmed to look for certain things in a photo such as faces. Nonetheless, not even the best camera in the world will focus correctly all the time, at least not yet. Therefore the final control of focusing on your subject comes down to you, the photographer.
Inside every lens there is a series of magnified glass, mostly to determine zoom; and one specifically meant for focus. This small little piece moves independently of the others to get the desired focus for the photographer, sort of like your hand using a magnifying glass when you want to look at something in detail.
Knowing you have proper focus is pretty straightforward. Your subject appears sharp and detailed.
But what makes focus that much better is Depth of Field. Depth of field is achieved from aperture control (read more about that here) that lets in aberrant light, which is extra light bouncing around the inside of the lens and hitting the sensor, creating a blurriness to the background and foreground, further bringing attention to a subject.
Look at the blurry background behind this shell, which is sharp water ripples and wavy sand, you can’t see it can you? It has become a very soothing thing to look at! But isn’t distracting the focus away from the subject in this composition.
Bokeh is the shape of blur. I understand you might not know what that means. Believe me, I didn’t either. So here is a quick example I think you’ll understand: Bokeh, when you see it is most commonly circlular like the lens when it appears. In street photography it manifests in the distant city lights far away that are out of focus, and often they are circular because that is the shape the lens is. You also see it in movies that take place at night in large cities, with B-roll shots of cars on the bridge that are taken out of focus. When that happens, the light source “blooms” into an unfocused ball of light. That is Bokeh.
85mm 1/160s f/1.8 ISO 100
Background/Foreground Elements
First we will define what each of these are. Let’s start by defining each of these elements. First up, the Background. It encompasses everything behind your subject—woodland trees, an open field, or even a massive brick wall. Keep an eye out for elements in the background that might distract the viewer’s attention from your subject, like a photobomber. A less obvious example could be a fence post or a rogue tree branch that “appears” to intersect with or “cut” across your subject’s head. While these elements can’t always be entirely avoided, strive to minimize their distraction.
Sometimes, you can use those elements from your background, such as the fence posts and tree branches, to frame your subject. Literally frame them. Take a look at the photo above; notice how I’m using the handrails to guide the viewer’s focus to my subject—my mom. (I love you, Mom!) Pay attention on where the handrails are placed, none of the beams cut off limbs, or the head, but instead point attention to and contain in it’s own frame my subject. There is literally a box around my mom’s head! This exemplifies how you can use the background to frame your subject.
(Big photo, sorry… keep scrolling…)
85mm 1/160s f/1.8 ISO 100
Now, let’s move on to the Foreground. Foreground elements encompass everything either next to or in front of the subject. However, it’s easy to make mistakes here by including too much. In this particular photoshoot, I used the handrail of the boardwalk again to direct the viewer’s attention to my subject, without using the rest of it in the background. The composition’s focus was on capturing my subject, not the handrail. Pay particular attention to the board in front of my Mom; it doesn’t dominate a significant portion of my frame relative to my subject. Instead, it fills the space that is otherwise unoccupied by my subject in a way that doesn’t distract from her.
A common mistake, one that I have made myself, is trying to use more foreground elements than there needs to be, or using them in such a way that isn’t appealing to the subject; such as standing behind a bush as a full body portrait. Those don’t look great. NEVER DO THAT. Believe me, you need to fight that urge to use more foreground elements, it was so bad that I had to make a montra at one point that was “you only need 1.” You could probably get away with two, but honestly one or none is best in my opinion.
You’ll know when you’ve mastered using background and foreground elements when it becomes second nature because your shots become “simple, yet pleasing.” If that happens, you could begin your photo composition steps with this one, instead of starting at Step 1. What is the subject? I would advise you follow the order of the remaining steps if you do this one first.
Is that it?
Yeah! These are the fundamental steps of making a fantastic portrait photo composition. It will take a lot of practice to distinguish yourself from mediocrity to exemplary picture taking. But take my word for it, that journey is well worth it because of the incredible things you can creatively do with them.
When you’re ready, you can then you pair these skills with advanced lighting techniques, and your photography game will become that much better! Be sure to look out for a future lighting article!
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If you would like to see more examples of my work, please take a look at my portfolio page here:
https://nonegatives.pro/no-negatives-home/gallery/