The most important photographic equipment you can possess is your imagination.  You have to understand that we see differently than the camera.  Humans brains are elaborate and sophisticated filters.  Human brains block out non-essential information so that we can focus on what’s most important in front of us or sounds around us.

The camera has no such filtering system and shows everything.  Consequently we often imagine an image in our mind and find, after creating the image, the photograph is chaos.  Even when we create a great composition, we often find the image looks flat.  It looks nothing like what we saw in front of us or imagined to be the image.  I In a future article we will look at editing our digital negatives in Lightroom to make them more dimensional.  

There’s so many compositional tools we can use to create or construct our image.  Light direction, time of day, lines, curves, color, rule of thirds, focal length, depth of field, etc.  In future articles we will touch on many of these compositional tools.    

I refer to compositional ideas as tools rather than rules as I would prefer to use tools to create something than think about a rule that I would break.  Remember that there are no rules in photography, so experiment, try everything and anything.  Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.  “All things are photographable” - Gary Winogrand

Let’s look at three compositional tools to help us create stronger compositions.  Trip around the frame, convergence, and tool of thirds.

After you create your composition and just before you press the shutter release, take your eye on a trip around the frame.  Do a quick scan of the corners and sides of the frame.  Is there an odd branch or other object poking in the frame?  Can you slightly recompose the scene to remove the object?  Maybe you’ll remove it later in Lightroom with the Generative AI Remove tool.  If any elements are close to the edge or corner of the frame, consider giving them a bit of space.  Everyone likes a bit of space.

Look for any areas that are too bright or dark that might draw the eye to that part of the image.  If you have the sky in your image, what does that look like?  Does the sky help the composition?  If not, minimize the sky.

What objects are near the edge of the frame?  Did you intend those to be there?  Objects close to the edge of the frame carry more weight in the composition.   Do you have a large object half in the frame on the edge?  Like a tree trunk.  Does that help or hinder the composition?  Maybe you want more of the tree trunk or less.

Look for convergence of objects and subjects in the frame.  Are there any elements touching each other or close to a natural edge like the horizon?   Change your view just a bit to give those elements a bit of breathing room so they aren’t touching.

Finally consider using the Tool of Thirds aka Rule of Thirds.  You divide your frame into thirds vertically and horizontally and place objects near or on one of the third lines or at one of the cross points.  You can use this as a guide, but you don’t have to have objects/elements exactly on any of the lines.  Maybe somewhere in the vicinity is good enough.  Many mirrorless cameras give you the ability to enable tool of the thirds in the viewfinder and most cameras can enable tool of thirds in live view.  Horizons and other elements don’t have to be exactly on a line or cross point. Just somewhere in the area.  Generally I prefer not to have an object in the bullseye although a single flower is a good example where a bullseye location might be good.  No rules, no fear.  Experiment and go out and photograph.