Master the 7 Keys to Composition

Now the fourth compositional consideration adds incredible depth and dimension to most two dimensional visual art, ie: painting, drawing, photography, architecture or graphic design . It is called 'Perspective’. Understanding perspective will create extraordinary dynamism to your images and set your photographs apart from most photographers. A perfect example of this is where a lot of photographers would photograph a subject, say a portrait of a child or teenager, and they would photograph them against a wall or plain background. The image ends up being very two-dimensional, and the reason for that is because there is hardly any distance between the subject and the environment. Now by just shifting the camera to a 30° angle and shooting down the wall, or fence line, you add this fantastic dimension and perspective to the image which looks very three-dimensional. You have already been delving into this slightly in the last chapter on selective focus. As you will remember in the guided set of exercises, I suggested that you shoot the subject down the wall or fence line at around a 30° angle. Now adding perspective to your imagery, this can be shot in a few ways. One of the ways is to have the subject in the foreground, and then the perspective heads off in the background until it becomes really blurry. Add selective focus, and you have a winning image. Conversely what you can do is use the fence to lead your eye to the subject. Very powerful. One thing I would suggest if you do want to use the fence to direct your eyes to the subject, then have your model positioned on the right side of the image, so your eyes follow the fence line from the far left of the picture and lead you all the way to the subject on the right side of the frame. How to create powerful and impacting images by overlaying Now, as suggested above, perspective is a compelling way of getting correct dimension within your images. However, this is only one composition that we are applying to your image. Imagine if you were to overlay another compositional consideration that you have already learnt, like selective focus or the golden rule. This is how I create images every day for my own personal work and for my clients. I overlay several compositional considerations within the image which has a massive impact on the final photograph. So let's explore this a little bit more before we go into the next set of exercises to do with perspective. Visualising the images before you take them Let’s talk a little bit about visual art. You will find that all of the greatest visual artists from painters to sculptors in history, like Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, to mention only a few could ‘pre-visualise’ before carving out a piece of marble or dipping a brush onto a paint pallet. Pre-visualisation is a learned skill that you can develop I also have the natural ability to visualise or pre-visualise at a very high level. I can bring all five senses into the visualisation. I am not sharing this with you to impress you but impress upon you that this is crucial in producing high quality, impacting and creative visual art. The most exciting thing about visualising, as a skill, is it can be learned. That’s right. There are hundreds of guided visualisation exercises available online, and a lot are free. The brain is like any of your muscles the more you exercise your mind and visualisation skills the more it becomes second nature. I find it relaxing like meditation but with purpose in mind. When I am commissioned to produce photographs for my clients, the first thing I do is ask them what they are looking for and from there I am able to see the final product, shot, framed and hanging in their living room. The same goes for when I am producing a limited editions series. In this case, I ask myself what do I want to achieve and what do I want to say to the viewer with this particular series of photographs? In 2016, I embarked on an aerial drone series of several capital cities of Australia called ‘Metropolis’. You can view the limited edition series on my website -https://masteringphotography.com.au/limited-edition