How Camera Angles Improve Composition
by William Lulow
Composition is all about seeing camera angles that tend to lead the viewer’s eye into the scene. The photographer needs to be able to use elements within the scene to direct the eye to the parts of the scene that are most important. There are several ways to do this:
- Use an interesting foreground element
- Focus sharpness on the foreground
- Use vanishing point lines
- Use light correctly (light objects tend to stand out or draw attention while dark objects tend to recede)
- Use elements that tend to hold visual attention
Even though composition is mostly an innate talent, its elements can be taught through example.
In this image, it is the angle of the walkway in the foreground that leads the viewer’s eye into the scene. The bridge, with a straight line going from right to left actually keeps the eye going back to the buildings in the center. Also, the arrangement of the boats tends to form a triangle that also leads the eye across the river and to the tallest building. Then, because the sky is actually darker than the buildings, attention is further focused on them. It’s a strong composition because the eye is attracted at first and then kept “in the scene” by the other visual elements.
This image uses the composition element of the dry stream bed leading to the center (vanishing point) to attract and retain the viewer’s eye. The lighter part of the image (the sky) takes the eye out to the horizon and then back again to pick up the details of the grasses. It is a strong composition because the viewer’s interest is retained by the interplay of lights and darks as well as the “s-shaped” river bed.
In this image, the line of the fence draws the eye’s attention at first. Then the position of the trees keeps the focus on the trees themselves. There is also a kind of vanishing point set up running from right to left. It adds to the interest of the composition because the normal eye scan direction for Western Civilization is left-to-right.
So, in these three examples, I have attempted to dissect the compositional elements and explain how they contribute to the visual strength of these images.
Keeping foreground objects sharp is a great way to help compositions. In this example, I made sure that the closest objects were sharp and let the focus on the background just fall off. Largest objects will be viewed first by the eye. Keeping this in mind often helps the composition process:
Here, the focus was on the rocks in the foreground. Because I was shooting with a wide-angle lens, the depth-of-field took care of the bridge in the background while I was able to keep the focus on the largest part of the image. And, of course adding the pelican in flight added a neat little touch. Another suggestion is to vary the horizon line. Don’t always put it in the middle of the frame. This helps to add visual interest.
Anything you can do to lead the viewer’s eye into the image will help to make it an arresting photograph.
