15 Photographs That Make Excellent Use of These Five Composition Techniques

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Composition makes a photograph. A poor composition of a great subject may only result in an ordinary image at best. On the other hand, a strong composition – even if it’s of a rather ordinary subject – can help you create a truly exceptional image.

Now, if you're really looking to move beyond the basics of composition in photography and get into the more advanced ideas, you would be well advised to look at Kent Dufault's guide to advanced composition, but for now, let's move on.

As a photographer, you should be aware of some compositional tools that you can use to your advantage and elevate your photos from ordinary to remarkable. These compositional tools range from the oft-cited ‘Rule of Thirds’ to others such as ‘Leading Lines’ and ‘Negative Space’.

This post is a collection of photographs that demonstrate great use of five important composition techniques – 1) Rule of Thirds (or) Golden Spiral, 2) Symmetry, 3) Leading Lines, 4) Patterns, and 5) Negative Space. Of course, there are many other composition techniques too and we will cover them in a follow-up post very soon.

We hope these photos serve as an inspiration to help you with photography composition!


1. Rule of Thirds

Photo by Nick Kenrick
Photo by Nikos Koutoulas
Photo by Thomas Leuthard

You can read more about the Rule of Thirds here.


2. Symmetry

Photo by Thomas Leuthard
Photo by Tambako The Jaguar
Photo by Magdalena Roeseler

3. Leading Lines

Photo by Georgie Pauwels
Photo by Broo_am
Photo by Piotr Mamnaimie

To learn more about ‘Leading Lines', read the article here.


4. Patterns

Photo by Brewbooks
Photo by Aotaro
Photo by Rosmarie Voegtli

To know more about how to use patterns in your composition, check out this article.


5. Negative Space

Photo by Thomas Leth-Olsen
Photo by Thomas Leuthard

Read more about using ‘Negative Space' here.


Take Your Photography Composition to the Next Level

If you would like to improve your photography composition and learn concepts that go beyond the basics, we recommend Photzy’s best-selling guide Advanced Composition for an in-depth training on the subject. With this guide, you will learn how to see light, shadow, lines, curves, repetition and much more, and also develop the skills of anticipation, pre-visualization and timing. Click here now to check it out.

About Author

Ritesh has been photographing since 2010 and his photographic interests have varied from nature and landscapes to street photography. You can see his photography on Flickr or on his website.

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