8 | LANDSCAPES
Get the lowdown on an essential element of classic landscape photography, with Mark Bauer and Ross Hoddinott
There are a few lucky people who have a ‘natural eye’ for a picture –but for the rest of us, composition is a skill that has to be learned. The good news is that your compositional ability will improve quickly as you gain experience, and the process will soon become instinctive. In the meantime, however, there are a number of ‘rules’ we can follow to help us get to grips with effective composition. Of course, as with all rules, they are best applied judiciously.
1 The rule of thirds
The basic goal of a composition is to achieve a balance between the elements in the frame. One tried-and-tested method of doing this is to arrange those elements according to the rule of thirds. Imagine a grid overlaying your viewfinder, dividing it into thirds horizontally and vertically.
Now compose the elements in the scene according to the lines on the grid. The obvious starting point is to place the horizon on one of the dividing lines. In many photographs, the frame will be divided into two thirds land and one third sky; if the sky is dramatic, reversing these proportions gives a better result.
Having decided where to place the horizon, you can organise the other points of interest. A composition will often benefit from having a strong focal point, and the points where horizontal and vertical lines intersect in the rule-of-thirds grid are particularly powerful places to put such a point of interest.
Many cameras have a custom function that superimposes a rule-of-thirds grid in the viewfinder, or on the review screen in Live View mode. This grid can be a valuable compositional aid for beginners.
2 The golden section
The rule of thirds works well, but it’s actually a simplified version of a proportion known as the golden ratio – or, when it applies to a rectangle, the golden section. In theory, the golden section should provide an even more harmonious division of the frame. Used in art and architecture for centuries – da Vinci’s works are full of examples – the golden section also occurs frequently in nature. There is even research that suggests our brains are hard-wired to respond positively to images and objects that demonstrate this proportion.
To understand the golden ratio, imagine three lines: A, B, and C. The golden ratio states that line C is proportional to line B as line B is proportional to line A. Expressed mathematically, the proportion is approximately 1:1.618; lines C and B differ in length by a ratio of 1:1.618, and lines B and A differ by the same ratio. Within a 35mm frame, the basic principle is this: if you divide the frame into two rectangles, t
