"This is Home"

This weekend we had the assignment to read about photo composition. Good photos aren't usually just taken. In fact, most of the time they are planned. Granted, an amazing photo can be accidentally snapped, but the best photographers look at the composition of a potential picture while snapping it. They consider simplicity, the Rule of Thirds, line, balance, framing, and avoiding mergers. All of the information about these concepts comes from Kodak Guidelines for Better Photographic Composition.

With this in mind, I decided that my subject of the pictures I'd take would be North College Terrace, where I am living this year. I took a lot of pictures and then chose the 4 pictures that I thought best represented four of the six principles above.

Simplicity
When you take a picture, you want to make sure that the background isn't too complicated. The more complicated the background is, the less the subject stands out. With this in mind, I took this picture. 

I took a few pictures of this Security Blue Light outside my building, but no matter where I took the picture from a tree, a gate or a building seemed to get in the way. I then decided to take it from a lower angle which allowed it to stand out against the plain blue sky and therefore appear as a more compelling, clear picture.

Rule of Thirds 
According to the Rule of Thirds when composing a picture you should divide it into thirds both horizontally as well as  vertically. The subject of the picture should then be aligned with one of the four intersections of lines. This makes a more dynamically compelling picture.

 In this picture, the Be Extraordinary sign is in the upper left intersection of lines. I chose to put it in this position so that the eye would take in the sign and then see the green grass and the pruned shrubs/bushes, which one may classify as extraordinary. The sign is still the focus, however, I also put the sign in the upper left of the picture because if it is in, say, the bottom right, the road and cars would distract even more than the single white car already slightly does.

Lines
Lines can be used in photo composition in a variety of different ways: diagonal lines create interesting composition, leading lines can be used to emphasize the subjects, S curves are compelling, and more. 

I like this picture because it uses the gentle S curves which is aesthetically interesting, and this S curve works as a diagonal line to lead to the subject of the picture, which is the sun in the upper right of the picture. The viewer's eye follows the road down the hill and is then caught by the diagonal rays of the sun.

Framing
Using things already in the scene to frame the subject is a very effective way to emphasize the subject and draw the viewers eye to it. Framing can be used to ensure that the viewer sees the part of the picture that you want them to see.

 The focus of this picture is the front porch and rocking chair of this town-home. The tree, which appears naturally in the scene, is used to frame the house and makes it obvious that this porch area is the subject. The light also hits in the right way to emphasize that this porch is the subject.

So there we go! Just four examples of photo composition principles found in the area surrounding my apartment complex. It really does show that by keeping good photo composition in mind, interesting photos can be created out of less than interesting subjects.
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Title Credit: "This is Home" by Switchfoot