It's The Simple Things That Count - Look For Those Subtle Small Compositional Elements To Add Punch to Your Nature Photos

 Instinctively, I understood the photographic moment presented itself. Through my peripheral vision I was able to absorb the full spectrum of the scene, but interrupting what my minds eye saw into a workable photograph required a more refined interpretation. 

Using a wide angle lens, I framed the moment all the while looking for that single subtle element that set the scene apart. Then I recognized it; a single, distant tree standing in the morning haze. It was so subtle, one could easily overlook it, but including it within the content of the composition, bottom right corner, defined this Tallgrass prairie dawn.

Seeing those subtle compositional elements that help to define your images can often be overwhelmed by the big things within the scene. It's relatively easy to see those big important elements. It's hard to overlook the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, or the magnificent nature of a rugged coastline, or one of those amazing prairie mornings. But identifying those small things that set the scene apart from the very bigness of the moment, well, that can often be lost without even noticing it.

Take for instance this recently taken fall photo. The colors were amazing, the scene retained its natural flavor, the angle of the light fit the moment, but what sets this image apart from most of the others taken that same day is one subtle, very small thing. Along the center left edge you see the old fence row nestled under the overhanging limbs and between the tree trunks. You may have to click on the image to see a larger version in order to see it, but it's there and it adds to the rustic flavor of this wonder location. It's such a subtle thing easily overwhelmed by the bigness from the rest of the composition, but it is there for a reason.

Another example of how small subtle things add to the impact of an image is this one of a sunrise behind an old barn. Can you see it? It's the small thinly veiled clumps of grass that arch near the base of the old barn door. In this image, they indeed are an intrical part of the image for without them, the image becomes rather ordinary...almost too simple really. This slight arches of grass near the bottom adds depth, provides a clear impact of the rural nature of the scene, and gives the viewer a sense of place, the kind of place we've all seen before, but most of the time look past.

Being able to look past the big things and search for those important yet subtle small elements is something a good nature photographer instinctively recognizes. It comes with practice, it is refined by performing a self analysis of your own images and attempting to remember what your eye saw at the moment.

Those elements can be part of the background or part of the foreground. They can be very small an stand alone or help to define or accent the larger parts of the image.