Doing More With Less - Simplify Your Composition

Composition as it relates to photography is a complex concept filled with so many subjective solutions it becomes difficult to narrow down the subject to a simple yet effective way of applying it. One concept does stand alone in its effectiveness that works well for beginners and more advanced photographers alike. That concept is to do more using less or put another way, simplify.

I suppose one of the most damaging of errors most people make when creating a photograph is to try to capture everything in one image. This almost never works in a composition as it tends to create a great deal of clutter that distracts from the main subject of the image. In fact, it often obscures the main subject so much that the image loses its focal point and becomes uninteresting.

As a photographer my purpose is to create order out of all the visual chaos. Sounds easy but it is not always so. The trick is to learn how to visually focus in on what is truly important. You do this by asking yourself a very specific question; What am I seeing that is truly capturing my attention?

Where does your eye keep going? More often than not if you can answer that question, you will discover the best solution to your photograph. When looking for the answer, the idea then is to simplify everything down to its basic elements and compose your image based on what you discover. You will find that by using less in your image you will actually create more. Doing more with less is a great way to learn how to compose images.

Isolating the most important part of your composition is an effective way to do more with less. I will often use a long focal length lens, something like 200mm to 500mm, to help me find and isolate what is most important. The long lens will by it nature create a blurred background and this alone will enhance that sense of subject isolation. However you can also isolate in other ways. Sometimes I will use a wide angle lens and use a dark or bland or uncomplicated background to isolate my composition. The sky for instance works well for this.

When trying to isolate your subject always think in the context of what fits. Simplifying your composition does not always mean your image will lack for complex details. What it means is everything that shows up is there for a reason and does not interfere with the composition. Nothing appears out of place. This does take some practice to develop your artistic eye, but is something even beginning photographers can grasp.

Doing more with less is a great way to develop your seeing skills. It is a matter of answering the question of what is most important about what I am seeing, then focus in on the answer.

Wait On The Photograph

Great photo opportunities rarely just suddenly appear and even when they do, more often than not we're not ready. I've probably missed far more great photo opportunities than I ever captured and as a result I was educated a great deal about what it takes to capture the few amazing moments that do appear. I wait on them.

One of the most difficult things for a lot of photographers to comprehend is the concept of waiting for the photo. The waiting process is what defeats us. We don't like waiting, we want it now, and so we too often try to force the image. The results are usually predictable.

Over the years I could count on one hand the number of truly remarkable images I've managed to capture, but the number of mediocre images I have forced are countless. Waiting on the photograph requires us to look thru the fog of clutter that interferes with the image we are wanting to capture, to recognize the potential of what is there. It is the potential we are waiting on, not the immediate situation. Recognizing potential often means we must return again and again to the same location sometimes spaced out over months, but most certainly over the course of hours or days.

I once heard Sam Abell, a former National Geographic photographer, say about photography, "Compose and wait." What he meant by this was to see the image, but wait for the situation to develop. The situation includes waiting on the light, waiting on the action, and waiting for the right moment to release the shutter. Work the moment while you have the opportunity and build your image in layers from the back to the front. See past what is there now, and wait for the opportunity to present itself. Think in terms of Setting, Expression, and Gesture. Compose and wait on the photograph. Look for graphic details, look for angles, look for reflections, and eliminate convergences. Convergences are those places where separation of elements need to happen in order to add strength and focus to your composition.

Often it is those subtle separations that help to define the image. I've been guilty as I am sure others are as well, of trying to see the big picture without truly looking at the smaller elements within the composition. A splash of color, the angle of the eyes, the leaning against a wall vs having a small separation from the wall, the highlight that defines an important element, and the timing of the shot can make all the difference. Subtle changes, soft movements, a horizontal line, a vertical line, a curved line, random crossing lines. Sometimes these are what moves an image forward and separates it from the ordinary.

Luck sometimes comes into play but more often than not the observant photographer can manufacture his own luck by thinking through the equation of what is required to create a given photograph.

The Photographic Puzzle's 3 Distinct Parts - Sculpting with Light

Light is the chisel, what you are photographing is the marble, composition is the artistic interpretation. The three distinct parts of the photographic puzzle. When blended together create what is known as Fine Art Photography.


What is important about visualizing photography from the perspective of these three elements is they can be applied to any photograph taken by any photographer. Sculpting with light can change the outcome of your final photograph by using light to enhance the characteristics of your subject.

Using Light as the Chisel: Light moves in a straight line, yet it can be bounced, diffused, softened, strengthened, dimmed, and brightened. All of these characteristics can be used to the photographers advantage. Because light moves in a straight line it inherently will create shadows and shadows are good for photographers for they bring definition to your subject, especially people.

When it is bounced off a ceiling or a reflector surface, light will automatically spread out and soften those shadows. The source of light does make a difference. If it is natural, it's characteristics are as varied as the weather conditions. Clouds diffuse it, shade darkens it, used from behind it can highlight and from the front it can be harsh. It is therefore up to the photographer to determine how best to employ natural light.

Your Subject as the Marble: What you photograph is just as important as the chisel you decide to employ against it. Your subject determines what kind of chisel you will use. People can be used against a variety of light. Athletic bodies require shadows for definition, beautiful models need softer light to help define their unique look. Animals are difficult to light because they tend to move around, where nature is often finicky and uncooperative.

Compositional Interpretation: How you want your image to look requires you understand composition. A weak composition is like weak writing. The best written stories are the ones that stay on subject and use strong verbs and descriptive prose. Strong writing helps the reader to visualize the story and carries the story forward with each line. Weak writing bogs it down and the reader loses interest very quickly. The same applies to Compositional Interpretation.

Weak composition in a photograph becomes an ordinary image and the viewer never really connects with the story. Strong compositional elements carry the story forward and the viewer is drawn into the image. Composition relies on the other two parts for without them, the image looks flat and dysfunctional.

The Final Image: When all three of the Photographic Puzzle parts are used to sculpt an image, the photograph comes alive. The viewer instinctively recognizes how this happens without even knowing why...it just works. It is up to the photographer to recognize how to employ these ideas toward what he is photographing. When he/she does, your photographic images become much more than pictures, they become a visual book that is captured and told in a single moment of time.