1. Force yourself to use a different aspect ratio We tend to use our camera’s default aspect ratio without thinking about it, but many scenes benefit from being composed with an alternative option.
Obvious choices here would be to use a more panoramic option for landscapes or a square option for portraits and still life, but using a more unconventional combination can yield even more striking results. Why not use a panoramic option for street photography, for example, or for a wedding?
2. Make space for corrections
Anyone that has tried to correct optical aberrations or difficulties encountered when shooting using software will appreciate that this sometimes means sacrificing some of the peripheral detail in the scene.
These extent to which this is the case depends on what it is you’re correcting. It might be, for example, fairly minimal when fixing curvilinear distortion, but far greater when trying to deal with converging verticals.
For this reason, if you can see that a situation may require some post-processing, try to compose with a good safety margin around for subject so that this does not end up affecting your overall composition. This doesn’t mean you shouldn't try to get it right in camera, of course, just that you give yourself a little extra insurance for any necessary adjustments.
3. Get rid of unnecessary shooting information
There are many options and settings that you may want to keep an eye on while you’re shooting, but modern cameras contain so many of these that you may find they end up littering the viewfinder or LCD.
This is perhaps more of a concern with compact system cameras and compacts, where much of this information lies across the scene, although the viewfinders of more modern DSLRs now have this kind of information overlaid here too. Whichever camera you use, the presence of all of this information can make viewing the scene and composing with accuracy more difficult.
Fortunately, many cameras now allow you to disable all unecessary shooting information, so check to see what's possible on your particular model.
4. See whether you can recalibrate your electronic level
Electronic levels that help you to get camera lined up perfectly against a subject are now common across compact, mirrorless and DSLR cameras, and most of the time they can be relied upon.
Sometimes, however, you may be capturing a subject that itself is slightly unlevel, or you may find that the level itself is slightly out of line. Some cameras, notably Canon’s PowerShot models, allow you to recalibrate this if you suspect something is amiss, while others may require being sent back to the manufacturer or a service centre to confirm and rectify any fault.
If your camera doesn't offer any correction and you need a quick fix, consider slipping a bubble level inside your camera’s hotshoe (assuming it has one). This is admittedly more usable when using a tripod than the shooting handheld. A more practical alternative is to simply switch to using the grid overlays that can often be activated on both LCD and viewfinders, and you may even find success by trying to line up a row of AF points against the subject.
5. Remember that appropriate depth of field is part of good composition
Good composition doesn't just concern the balance of subjects across the frame; it also involves knowing what depth of field is appropriate to create the right balance between different subjects at different distances.
One of the most common pitfalls comes when using wide-aperture lenses. Here the temptation is to use such lenses at their widest aperture to isolate subjects from backgrounds, or to gain fast shutter speeds. This is fine, although if you end up isolating your subject too much you may end up losing context and making the subject appear too detached.
Closing your aperture down by just a stop or so will maintain the same idea you may have originally had, but will give you a little more definition in background details. Furthermore, this may also improve resolution and reduce aberrations such as vignetting and spehrical aberration.
Matt Golowczynski is a London-based journalist and photographer who has contributed to a range of photography magazines and websites over the past ten years. You can follow him on Twitter and see more of his work at www. mattgolowczynski. com
. digitalrev.com2017-3-3 03:00