Guest Post: Photo Compositon

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Hey everyone! I am so excited to be here today sharing with y’all some tips
on Composition in photography. My name is Madison, I write a little ‘ole
blog called Wetherills Say I Do! My blog is a little bit of everything and I do that on purpose. You’ll find things like photography, marriage & life lessons, tips, DIY projects
& recipes. And occasionally photos of my sweet puppy girl, Azi.

My dad gave me my first camera when I was 10. I love portrait style photography and I’m shooting my first two weddings this summer. The best advice I can give you, about a lot of things in life, but especially photography is that you’ll only get better with practice! That’s why I love what Teresa is doing here with the Photography Challenge, so let’s get started!

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Composition. This is probably one of the most important lessons in photography for me. The best part about it is that is can be applicable to any style of photography, including photography using your iPhone! Composition is an incredibly important skill to learn and is it what helps to convey your subject effectively.

If you haven’t already looked at lesson two from No Bad Foto, go ahead and do that. The basics behind the lesson are all about telling a story through your photo. Even if you are simply taking picture of a flower, landscape scene, or even your child, there’s a story to be told.

I want to talk about another element to composing a picture well that the lesson in No Bad Foto doesn’t mention. You may have heard of the rule of thirds. The basic concept is that any photo can be broken into thirds vertically and horizontally. How you place your subject within those thirds can make a huge different in conveying your story.

In the lesson, the author talks about emphasizing your picture and minimizing distractions. One way of easily doing this is by placing your subject into 2/3 of the frame of the photo. If you are wanting to show off the background then you can put your subject into 1/3 of the frame and leave the background as the other 2/3. Here’s an example, in the first I wanted to show off the subject, but in the second I wanted to show the background.

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background-view
To me, rule of thirds is one of those rules you have to learn so that you can know when it’s okay to break it. Your photos don’t always have to follow the rules of thirds, but knowing it can make your photos even better! Here are a few more examples, some bad and some good!

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Vertical pictures get really tricky with vertical photos (which I tend to favor). The best way to utilize this rule is by putting the space on the left or right of the subject, rather than at the top (like the second picture versus the first). Another element to composition is making sure there isn’t too much headroom.
Following the assignment from our lesson, go out and take a bunch of photos! One of the best ways I’ve learned composition is by taking 10-15 different pictures of one subject. Sometimes it’s easier for that subject to be an inanimate object. If you want to, you can also combine changing your aperture at the same time. Photography is all about experimenting. Like Teresa said last week, sometimes we just have to learn as we
go!
I can’t wait to see all of your pictures on the Flickr page! And as a reminder you can find the lesson here.
Thank you so much to Teresa again for letting me guest post today! I hope to see you all around soon. I’m so looking forward to your pictures. If you have any specific questions or would like me to critique any of your photos personally, you can email me at madisonlynn{at}gmail{dot}com
Madison | Wetherills Say I Do
Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Blog
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Thank you so much to Madison for sharing all of her awesome photography tips with us!  I can’t wait to get out and try them for myself.
Make sure to stop by Madison’s blog and check out her beautiful photographs and all the other wonderful stuff on her blog.
Happy Friday y’all!

12 Comments

    1. Thanks for stopping by Megan! Madison’s photography is awesome and I’m so glad she shared her tips with us! 🙂

      Reply

    1. Hi Karen! Thank you for stopping by. I’m so glad you loved the tips, and that is so cool you’re a watercolorist! Love your blog by the way. Have a great week!

      Reply

    1. I love that one too, Val! Madison is extremely talented and I’m really excited she shared her tips with us on the blog last week! I’m glad you were able to find inspiration from this post. Engagement or couple shoots are always so fun!

      Reply

  6. Hi Teresa! My dad gave me my first camera at 10 also! I’ve been a shutterbug ever since! Beautiful photos! I ran across your blog at the linky party. I’m glad I did! I’m following you via Bloglovin’ and I’m going to pin your post. Have a great day!

    ~ Vashti

    Reply

    1. Hi Vashti! Thank you so much for stopping by! I love Madison’s photos and she does such a great job explaining the rule of thirds! Glad to find a fellow photographer! 😉 Have a great weekend!

      Reply

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