Common compositional

Understanding the most common photographic shortcomings is a good starting place to begin learning composition. The five most common photographic clichés are halves imagery, over-centering, overuse of horizontal format, and working too far from your subject.

Halved imagery

Halved imagery or breaking image into halves, one-half foreground/one-half background, makes for a static spatial dynamic. Nothing is emphasized or featured. Nothing dominates. Solution? Ground Thirds. This concept is also known as golden mean or golden oblong. It suggests braking images up into one-thirds-two-thirds divisions to provide emphasis and a better sequencing to the image. That the space is precisely broken off into pieces of one-third to two-thirds proportions is not imperative. You might employ ground fifths, or eights or tenths. What important that you emphasize something and break the space within the frame in an interesting and meaningful manner.

Over-centering

Over-centering of the subject is often due to the photographer’s reliance on the center-weighted metering and focusing system. Solution? Rule of thirds, also known as strategic placement or off centering. Basically, this strategy divides the images into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. The optimum points of placement are situated at or around those intersecting points. Those spots are considered ideal locations for placement of subject and main elements.

Overuse of horizontal format

Linear thought. This strategy simply suggests that the shooter note the basic flow of the lines within the frame. If they are predominantly horizontal, make a horizontal image. If the lines are predominantly vertical, move the camera a quarter turn and accommodate the image vertically.

Working too far from the subject.

Solution? Get used to getting up close to your subjects and the action. A good rule of thumb for any assignment that involves a portrait is to make several very tight images. It isn’t by accident that magazines and other publications run tight portrait shot the covers. They can be compelling and capture the soul of the subject, and we’re all interested in people. In any event, if a photograph of the subject is what’s going to drive the story- and often is- make sure you get a variety of good shots. That includes tight shots (filling the frame with the person’s face, environmental images (showing subjects in their surroundings or engaged in the activities that say something about who they are), and other shots and angles that help reveal personality of the subject being photographed.