This document discusses principles of photography composition, including focal point, framing elements that should be included or excluded, the rule of thirds, depth of field, and using lines and perspective to imply depth in an image. It provides examples of these principles and encourages photographers to consider what the main point or subject of the photo is, and how to direct the viewer's eye through strategic composition choices.

1. Nehru announces Gandhi’s death
PHOTO: Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1947
PHOTOGRAPHY PRINCIPLES

2. Decisive moment.
To take photographs means to recognize
- simultaneously and within a fraction of a
second - both the fact itself and the
rigorous organization of visually perceived
forms that give it meaning. It is putting
one's head, one's eye and one's heart on
the same axis.
Behind the Gare St. Lazare
PHOTO: Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1932

3. Dessau, 1945, VIDEO: unknown
Goal of photojournalism: To take
your viewer into the story
environment, make them feel
like they are there and then
show them something they
would not have seen even if
they had been there.

4. Dessau, 1945, VIDEO: unknown
Dessau
PHOTO: Henri Cartier-Bresson, , 1945

5. Composition mantras:
– What is the point?
– In that should out, out that should be in?
– Less sky/more sky
– Is there depth?
• Composition: What is in the frame?
• Focal point
• In that should be out; out that should
be in
•Rule of thirds
• Less sky/more sky
•Perspective
• Relationship between lines/objects
• Depth of field

6. Focal point
Mantra: What is the point of it all?
COMPOSITION:
WHAT IS IN THE FRAME?

7. Emphasize everything and you
emphasize nothing

8. Focal point: The “juice”
of the image. The main
subject or object that
grabs attention.
Find the point of it all.

9. Where did your eye enter the image?
Burhenwald concentration camp, 1945.
PHOTO: Margaret Burke-White

10. PHOTO: Jennifer Zdon, New Orleans Times-Picayune
Where did your eye enter the image?

11. Nuremberg, 1945.
PHOTO: Margaret Burke-White

12. Hero or goat? PHOTO: Evelio Conteras, Washington Post 2010

13. Focal point: What is the point of it all anyway?
PHOTO: Lisa Berglund, GoldDogMedia

14. In that should be out
Out that should be in
COMPOSITION:
WHAT IS IN THE FRAME?

15. What is in your shot that should be out; what is out that should be in?

17. IN THAT SHOULD BE OUT

18. SOLUTION #1: MOVE

19. SOLUTION #2: WAIT

23. Rule of thirds

27. Less sky, more sky
COMPOSITION:
HORIZONTAL THIRDS

30. COMPOSITION:
DEPTH
What leads your eye?

31. Depth – part art, part lens, part
where your feet are

32. Depth: Part art
Perspective: relationship
between lines and objects that
lead the eye.
Frescoe at Loreto, Melezzo 15th Century

33. Depth: Part art
Seville, Spain. PHOTO: Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1932

34. Depth: Part art
Streets’ fading lines into the
distance is a classic use of
leading lines that implies
depth.
Bandit’s Roost. PHOTO: Jacob Riss, 1888

35. Zoom out = long depth. Everything
in this image is in focus.
Depth: Part Lens
Zoom in = shallow depth. Only from the
statue’s arm to her hair is in focus.
Depth of field: The distance between the
closest and the farthest point of an image that
is adequately in focus.

36. Depth: Part where your feet are
Get close…

37. no closer …

38. PHOTO: Lisa Berglund, GoldDogMedia. 2012

39. Composition definition: The arrangement of visual
elements in an image.
Certain principles guide composition decisions.
What is in the frame (composition)
• focal point
• what is in that should be out, out that should be in
• rule of thirds
• less sky, more sky
What is implied in the image (depth)
• Perspective is the arrangement of lines and
objects that imply depth
• Depth of field is a photography term and is only
possible because of optics. Depth can be inferred
when an image has a shallow depth of field (the
distance of focus is small and the background of
an image is blurry).