Composition - Positioning the Subject

When setting up a portrait, one of your first considerations is how to position the subject within the available space, whether it be a clean white background, a blur of colour or a detailed environment. A lot of photographers talk about finding the light and putting the subject into it, as though the rest of the picture will somehow follow. Steve Shipman has never subscribed to that. For him, the priority is finding an interesting or unusual situation. Once this is established, you can make it work by experimenting with framing and composition to achieve a balance and harmony between the subject and the background.

Here are some of the things that Steve says we should experiment with:-

• The Rule of Thirds (something we covered at college last week)
• Going in close
• Stepping back
• Precision framing
• Lines and shapes
• Depth of field
• Colour
• Unusual angles
• Movement
• Family groups

I will look to experiment with some of these over the coming weeks.