How to Compose a Professional Photograph

Your digital camera's viewfinder is your friend, and it is where most of your photo composition should take place. The more time you spend composing your photographs before they are taken, the less time you will spend at your computer making adjustments.Reduce the time you spend on your computer altering the composition of your photographs by taking great pictures in the first place. As defined by the dictionary, composition is simply the arrangement of items in a way that makes sense. It's not hard to compose photographs to comply with that definition.

Instructions

1. Play with the position of the horizon of your photograph to make for the most interesting picture. Let's say you are about to shoot a picture at the beach. Typically, most people will place the horizon in the middle of the picture, and end up with a very quiet, boring picture. If the cloud formation will add an interesting background to the picture, then drop the horizon to the lower portion of the frame. If the texture of the sand or the rocks on the beach are interesting, then raise the horizon to the top 1/3 of the photograph. Some of the most interesting pictures of the beach are the product of that process.

2. Make sure that the person you are photographing is looking into the live area of the picture. Otherwise, you will be diverting the audience to something that is out of the picture. Make this simple adjustment, and your pictures of people will be more interesting, since you will avoid making your audience wonder what he is looking at out of the frame.

3. Make believe that the picture you are about to take is divided into ninths, or similar to the children's game, Tic-Tac-Toe. This is called the rule of thirds. Assess the elements in your frame; i.e., the most interesting, the second most interesting. Try to figure out ways to make them fit at the points where the lines intersect. The highlighted subjects will be more prominent than if placed in the middle of the frame. You can do this by either rearranging them, or by moving yourself and your camera to where they fill the frame in this manner.