BASIC FILM PHOTO CHALLENGE

Photoshoot: Film Roll 1 – Composition & Impact

Creating an image without a camera can be challenging since it’s necessary to determine how the image processing works. Using photosensitive chemicals and sunlight, one can creatively make an image with simple composition skills.

On this roll, you should include photos that demonstrate the following:

• Rule of Thirds
• Get Close: Fill the Frame
• The Triangle
• The Circle
• Frame within a Frame
• Leading Lines
• Negative Space
• Rhythm

To set up a good composition, look first for the lines and shapes in your composition. Contrasts that creates lines. Boundaries defining shapes. Edges of objects. Horizon lines. Visual or virtual lines. Use these lines to frame your shot.

Rule of Thirds

The concept is best explained by taking your photo and dividing it up into thirds, vertically and horizontally. Then use these guidelines to frame your shot with the main interest or focus on the intersections of the grid, or separate the shot into the three zones, horizontally or vertically.

Train yourself (your eyes and brain) to see your subjects in terms of lines and shapes. Sometimes lines in a photo are obvious, like the horizon in a sunset. Other times, the main lines in a photo are not nearly so obvious.

Get Close: Fill the Frame

Simplify. The more you simplify, the more attention you draw to your subject, the more successful you are in communicating your message to the viewer. Eliminate distracting backgrounds that may detract from your subject. Get closer and closer until there’s nothing else in the viewfinder except the subject matter. This technique is called “filling the frame.”

The Triangle

Triangles create strength and are more dynamic. Angles can be created in many ways, but mostly they are straight and noticeable only when looking for them.

Frame in a Frame

Use your foreground and frame it around two or more of the edges, creating a “frame within a frame“ effect. Tree branches, archways, doorways, etc.

Leading Lines

Lines that lead the viewer into the photo, as if they were standing on a trail, ready to walk into the image. Think about how you would like to “invite” the viewer into your picture.

The Circle

The circle can be used very effectively when composing a photograph, if the subject is right. Think flowers, rotundas, spheres, circular movement, etc.

Negative Space

Negative space implies that a small portion of frame is taken up by the subject – a “less is more” approach.

Rhythm/Repetition

Another way to create dynamic impact in your photograph is with the use of “visual rhythm”. Use repetition of form and shape in an image to create interest.

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