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These days it feels like Photoshop makes almost any image possible. Auto modes on cameras are more reliable than ever before, post-production software can correct a whole world of errors, but there remains one element of photography that cannot be faked, cheated or skipped over along the way: the art of composition.
Get it right, and you’ll find your audience will forgive any technical missteps. Fail to master it, and no amount of post-production tweaking or filter application will make your images really sing. Composition is the beating heart of any image. It’s the nuanced thing that makes people look and linger and feel, and it is the simple bare bones of the picture, the scaffolding that holds it all together.
COMPOSING FOR INSTAGRAM
If you plan to make Instagram your main sharing platform, it’s worth sparing a moment to consider the way your work will be seen. Just as an artist might make a commission to fit the space where it will be exhibited, we can make subtle adjustments to our photography to help it stand out or to create maximum impact on the end user’s screen.
For Instagram, we know that almost everyone will be seeing it via their smartphone app – Instagram regularly release statistics that make this very clear. Very few users are browsing from a laptop, say, and the ‘desktop’ site offers limited functionality besides.
This app-heavy user base means we know our audience is essentially looking through a small, handheld, portrait window to see our images – and if they’re anything like me, that ‘window’ can often be scratched, smudged or in need of repair!
So what does this mean for our composition? Well, perhaps that very small, fine detail might easily be missed, and that imperfect quality or resolution might be more easily overlooked. As screen sizes and resolutions increase (and the glass becomes less smashable), this will probably evolve to become less forgiving, and the bar will be raised. Indeed, already, early smartphone images that displayed fine in the initial days of Instagram look noisy and grainy on modern screens.
It’s worth remembering, as well, that the app only ever displays content in portrait mode – meaning that users only ever hold their phone in its upright position, and see everything on a tall and slim screen. It stands to reason, then, that horizontal or landscape images shared on platforms like Instagram tend to see statistically less engagement – in no small part due to the fact that they command substantially less screen space. A landscape image can appear as much as two thirds smaller than its portrait counterpart (see the examples opposite) – with direct consequences for how engaging an image is, and how much other distracting content gets seen alongside it.
Of course, that doesn’t mean we must only ever take portrait images or video – but when shooting for Instagram, it often pays to consider what sort of screen space our finished product can hope to receive.
On top of that, we’re all increasingly guilty of having a short Insta-attention span. Most users spend only a second or two looking at every image, double tapping to like and then moving on.
For any image to really reach out through the (dirty/broken) screen and truly grab a viewer’s attention, it needs to have something special, an extra impact or clarity. Composition is our friend when it comes to making this happen.
THE SIMPLE SECRETS OF COMPOSITION
Finding the perfect scene is one thing: translating it from our minds into a photograph is a whole different process, and can be as fun as it is frustrating. While we can always dial our camera onto auto to cover any gaps in our technical knowledge, there’s no ‘auto mode’ for creating a striking composition.
Composition is, as the word suggests, about the building blocks of an image – what our picture is made up of and how those elements are arranged. Understanding the basic rules that photographers apply – whether learned and deliberate, or simply a subconscious process – helps to build images that are strong, engaging and clear.
Of course, there’s an argument to say that overthinking composition can kill the creativity. If your style is very honest and journalistic, perhaps you’ll choose not to put as much scrutiny into framing a shot as someone looking to tell stories in still-life scenes. But a poem printed onto a white page speaks more strongly in black ink than yellow. Just as with language, our images will best communicate our intended story when they are clear and considered. By reducing distractions, carefully choosing our angles and the elements that make up our scene, we can tell our stories in a way that is accessible to our audience and sings out from on the screen.
Don’t think of the ideas on the following pages as rules, then, but simply suggestions. Choose the ones that work for you and feel free to experiment, disregard and break as many of them as you like along the way. And if all this sounds labour intensive and slightly exhausting, don’t worry. Once you start seeing these patterns in your shots, they’ll become second nature in no time.
1. STRAIGHT LINES
Tune into the lines that occur naturally around you, both horizontal and vertical – like the sea on the horizon, the level surface of the table or a tall building streaking overhead. Line up your camera so these lines are straight – as accurate to their position in real life as you possibly can.
It can sometimes be tricky to do by eye, but most phones and cameras have an option to display a grid of lines to help you, or a ‘+’ icon in the centre to act like a spirit level and show when your angle is straight. Tilting your phone or camera towards or away from your subject, even just a little, will change how level your natural lines appear, and the angle of your whole composition.
Most editing apps now offer a ‘skew’ function to correct some of this problem in post production, but taking a strong photo in the first place will always give the best and most flexible results.
WHY IT WORKS
Clean, straight lines are naturally pleasing to the eye, and draw the viewer’s attention inwards or along a scene. When they’re a little off balance it can be distracting, and detract from the impact of your shot. This is especially true on Instagram where your images appear ‘framed’ by the phone screen, and are stacked within a square grid. Off-kilter lines jump out to viewers, and take attention away from what we’re really trying to show or say.
2. SYMMETRY
Symmetry – when an image is mirrored exactly along an imaginary centre line – always stands out in a photograph, whether it’s a mirrored reflection in calm waters or simply a perfectly balanced scene. Spend a few moments getting both you and your camera exactly centred – standing off to one side by just a foot or so can throw all your straight lines and balance off, and spoil the effect. The grid lines are again useful here to ensure you’re centred accurately. Pay special attention to where your camera lens is, and where you’re holding it in relation to your eyeline and subject.
Remember the whole scene doesn’t need to be identically symmetrical for it to work – experiment with placing your subject or one eye-catching element off to one side, but keeping the image similar and balanced overall.
WHY IT WORKS
It’s visually appealing and pleasing to the pattern-seeking human mind. Symmetrical images feel balanced and satisfying, with an edge of unusual perfection. Symmetry tends to look great even when cropped by Instagram into square ‘preview’ thumbnails on your gallery, meaning the impact isn’t lost and retains its ‘click appeal’.
3. NEGATIVE SPACE
This, in simple terms, is the empty space around your subject – and every bit as important as the subject itself! It serves as a contrast to the main event, framing the subject (or ‘positive space’) and lending a sense of scale and context. Many of my favourite shots are the last ones I snap after I’ve stepped away – that added distance gives the scene extra perspective and important negative space. Remember, this space doesn’t have to be white or even empty – it just needs to be simple, relative to the subject, giving the eyes somewhere to rest.
WHY IT WORKS
Often an Instagram page will be full of tiny, detailed frames, so a shot with lots
of negative space can feel like a breath of fresh air and give your audience a moment to pause.
4. A POP OF RED
There’s a well-loved photographic convention to add a splash of red to an otherwise muted image, to add a striking detail. Think of a red cloak in the snow, or a single red poppy in a field of grass. Red works well because it’s so vibrant, and often there’s little to compete with its shade in our compositions – and perhaps because instinctually all mammals associate red with danger and food!
WHY IT WORKS
Adding an unnatural hue to a natural scene can create something eye-catching, and give extra depth and resonance. This contrast stands out to the viewer, even when first seen as a small thumbnail on social media. If red isn’t your thing, any bright, unexpected colour can work instead! Revisit the colours you felt especially aligned to in the exercise shown here, and see which you might incorporate into your images.
5. A FRESH PERSPECTIVE
Experiment with your level and angles when setting up shots. Lean over the tabletop to create a perfect top-down scene. Hang off the fence with one arm so you can get your camera right in among the sheep. Yes, you’ll look a little strange, but you’ll also get the killer shot. Great photography is a physical and active process, and the chance to gain a fresh perspective in the most literal sense.
WHY IT WORKS
We often look to photography to show us what we cannot see ourselves – be it far-flung places, impossible realities, or simply a different view of the familiar. As Instagram gets more and more popular, audiences grow tired of the predictable shots, and are looking for more engaging and surprising content to draw them in.
6. DON’T MIND THE MESS
We have magazines to show us a pristine perfect reality; social media’s appeal is about real people telling real stories. Embrace chaos and serendipity and see what unfolds, even when you’re trying to play by all the rules on these pages! The result is that our images retain a sense of playfulness and casualness, with heart and humanity.
WHY IT WORKS
Perfection is eye-catching and striking, but it’s the little imperfections that really hold people’s attention, and that can transform an image into a sensory and tactile experience. When we’re so used to seeing styled and perfected scenes, a little bit of reality can really hold our interest. How do you feel when you see a ring from a teacup, cake crumbs, lipstick marks on the rim of a mug? They’re all evidence of life, and rich with story and nuance.
7. RULE OF THIRDS
This basic composition idea has been used by artists since the 1700s, but remains just as relevant and true today. Put simply, it works like this: imagine two evenly spaced lines splitting your photo horizontally and vertically, dividing your image into nine equally-sized segments. Align the important elements of your scene – your subject, the horizon, any prominent features – with one of these lines, or where they intersect, and you’re following the rule of thirds. Photographs composed this way avoid having their subject at the centre, and tend to be evenly weighted, with no single element dominating the entire frame.
If you’ve never heard of this approach before it can often be best understood when seen in action. Visit meandorla.co.uk/hashtagauthenticbook for links to some video tutorials which explore the rule of thirds in greater depth.
WHY IT WORKS
The rule predicts that lining things up by this grid creates results that are more balanced and visually pleasing to the eye, creating tension, energy and interest. The aim is to bring a sense of flow to the composition, gradually drawing the viewer’s eye around the whole scene.
8. FOLLOW YOUR SUBJECT’S GAZE
If your image includes a person, and they’re looking in one clear direction, try to create more space in the frame to show what they’re looking at – even if it’s simply negative space – so you don’t leave the viewer guessing. There is so much narrative in the way a subject holds themself and is interacting with their surroundings – experiment with having your ‘model’ look to camera, in different directions, and standing with their back to the lens.
WHY IT WORKS
Showing what your subject sees avoids making a viewer feel frustrated, or like they’re missing part of the scene. It makes it easier for the viewer to imagine themselves in the image, and understand the story behind the screen.
9. BACKGROUNDS
We don’t all live in those perfectly ‘Instagrammable’ homes – and what a boring world it would be if we did. But if you’re shooting products, meals or flat-lays and don’t have your dream rustic tabletop to hand, there’s a simple way to fake it: printed vinyl backgrounds. Similar to those printed plastic tablecloths you had at school, they come in a limitless array of patterns, pictures and prints. There are small ones for tabletop shots, or huge wall-sized ones to hang up for outfit captures or family shoots. Search for them online; I find it’s worth paying a bit extra for better quality.
WHY IT WORKS
Sometimes the right background allows the subject of an image to really sing – whether by adding a missing element to the narrative or simply by cutting back on distraction.
10. BALANCE AND TENSION
This is in every art form and type of design – the tight-fitting bodice that flares out to a full skirt on a couture dress; the soft piano interlude in the music that slowly builds to a dramatic crescendo. Balance and tension make things satisfying, moving, enthralling and beautiful. Learn to look for this in your imagery, and play around with it. How much negative space should you include? What colours work together, or against each other? What can you add or subtract? It takes practice, and trial and error, but you’ll know when you start to get it right.
WHY IT WORKS
This is more about how an image feels than anything that can be measured with ruler or ratio. When the tension is just right, an image feels satisfying and complete, like you’re seeing all the parts of a whole.
11. NATURAL FRAMING
Occasionally nature or architecture will lend us a hand and provide a perfect frame for our scene. Consider this landscape from my window. How does the window frame add a sense of moment and scale? Would the image be as intriguing if it were only the landscape, with no indication of where it was seen from? Most of the time, context can enhance an image and add to its narrative.
Keep an eye out for the details that are framing your perspective whenever you spot a potential scene, and play around with these to create a scene uniquely your own.
WHY IT WORKS
By making use of shapes in our natural surroundings we can draw our viewer’s eye into the subject of our image, and build that effect right into our scene.
12. SEE WHAT I SEE
Instagram has become almost synonymous with this style of image. It’s all in the angle – top-down photographs of coffee cups on a table; feet standing outside a florist; a mum looking down on her pregnant bump. The idea behind all of these shots is to put the viewer in the place of the photographer, and let them ‘see’ through our eyes. It stems back to a time when Instagram was used much more instantly, and images were taken and shared throughout the day. Nowadays, most people post after the fact or at regular times, but this trend has continued, and remains a great way to bring people into your world.
WHY IT WORKS
It’s a powerful way to share your perspective. It feels quite documentary-like or journalistic – like we’re in a real moment with you.
CHASING LIGHT
Light can be the most emotive part of an image. Working along with it adds something that you can feel when you see it.
@meliamelia.co, UK
Light is the stuff that photographs are made of. It is the paint we splash onto the canvas of every image we create, and the thing that can most transform any image or scene into something flat and lifeless, or something magically alive.
To make sense of this, it’s worth thinking about how both the camera and human eye work. When we look at any object or scene, we are not seeing th
at object itself. Instead, we see the light that is bouncing off its surface – a bit like the echo-location of bats and whales, only visual, and full of colour and shade.
It stands to reason, then, that the source of that bouncing light is the most important factor in how any scene appears, both to our camera and to our eyes. The light cast out by a single yellow-toned lightbulb is entirely different from the bright glow of daylight pouring in through endless windows and doors.
Think of light as different types of paint, then – and natural daylight as the very best you can find. Artificial light sources – like flashes, lightboxes, desk lamps and strip lighting – can all still be used, in the right time and circumstance. But think of it like switching from fine, artisan watercolours to a cheap pot of kids’ poster paint: it takes a higher level of skill to create something of equal beauty, feeling and quality.
WAIT FOR DAYLIGHT
In most scenarios I advise just waiting for daylight if at all possible. Sometimes it isn’t – there’s an event or moment unfolding before you, and artificial light is all that there is. In these moments that light can become a part of the story, telling the time of day and immediacy of what you’re capturing on screen (see Every Picture Tells A Story). But for everything else, it’s usually possible to step away, and come back to it by morning light with a fresh approach and a bright and beautiful paintbox.