It's Your Rectangle

Zen and the art of photographic composition

Of all the concepts in photography, composition is usually the one people struggle with the most. It’s easy to teach people camera settings and even post-processing, but making a strong composition takes practice and having a good understanding of what works and what doesn't. Some people have a good eye, others really struggle. It doesn’t really help that the “rules of composition” aren’t really rules at all, just "suggestions.”

In the fall of 2004, I attended my first photo safari/workshop. It was a week-long trip to Rocky Mountain National Park here in Colorado. I made a lot of new friends that week, and learned a tremendous amount. I was still shooting slide film at the time; this is when digital cameras were improving rapidly and beginning to become more widely adopted. One of the participants had brought along a box of plastic slide mounts, each drilled with a hole and fitted with a piece of cord so that you could hang it around your neck. He handed each of us one. A fashion accessory it was not, but it was a clever idea. That slide mount had a rectangle cut out from it in the exact aspect ratio as 35mm film (3:2). The idea was that you could hold the plastic up to your eye to help with pre-visualizing compositions without the burden of carrying your camera.

By wandering around a potential shooting location unencumbered by your camera and tripod, you’re more likely to find interesting compositions. Hold the slide mount close to your eye and it’s a wide-angle view, hold it at arm’s length and it’s a telephoto angle of view.

Wandering the neighborhood with my rectangle, a plastic slide mount.

Learning to See: Compositional Tips and Tricks