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Square crop compositions – They’re not just for Instagram

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It’s funny. These days, most people associate an image that’s cropped as a square as something that’s being done as a compromise for the benefit of social media – particularly Instagram. For the longest time, a square was the best format to use on Instagram because it’s all it would display, and it still is the most common crop today. On other social media, square became popular because it has the same dimensions whether the viewer holds their phone vertically or horizontally.

But square images have been around since long before Instagram or social media. In fact, they were around long before the Internet existed at all. And it has a very different psychological effect on the viewer than a vertical or horizontal orientation image. In this video, Mark Denney walks us through the square crop, how and why to use it and how you might want to use it to get better compositions.

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Use this Photoshop trick to make sure you have a subject in your shot

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Adobe Photoshop introduced the Subject Select feature in a 2018 update, but it’s more useful to us as photographers than we may have first thought. The ability to select a subject on command is a great feature that can help us with our creative vision, too.

The subject of a photograph is the most important feature. The subject guides our composition, exposure, lighting, and all other creative decisions. Our subject is the main focus of our scene, both figuratively and literally. It should be the sharpest point across the scene as well as being the obvious main feature our viewers are compelled to look at. We can use a simple trick in Adobe Photoshop to check whether our image has a subject. Here’s what to do:

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Try this one simple tip to drastically improve your landscape photography compositions

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It’s not unusual in landscape photography to put a lot of effort into the process of taking photographs, only to come home later and be disappointed when you download your images. You’ve probably researched your location in advance, got up before dawn, and hiked in the dark. You’ve reached your destination and now you’re just waiting for that golden light to hit your subject.

Doing all of these things will of course increase your chances of creating compelling images. However, there is still no guarantee. In this video, landscape photographer Mark Denney walks us through his thought process during an early morning landscape shoot and shares his best tip to improve your luck.

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These are the seven rules (guidelines) to cinematic framing and composition

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Composition is always such a hotly debated topic. There are so many “rules” (and sometimes a few that conflict with each other), but unless you want to start getting yourself obsessively wrapped up in those debates, you have to think of them more as guidelines. But they’re guidelines that we often see followed to great effect in many movies, TV shows, and photographs. Do you know why? Well, it’s because they often work.

In this video, Kellan Reck walks us through seven of what he considers to be the most important rules, tips and tricks to get a good cinematic looking shot. And while the video is geared towards filmmaking, much of what is said can be applied to photography, too.

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Seven beginner landscape photography composition mistakes you need to avoid

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We all make mistakes in photography, especially when we’re new to it and still learning. The sad thing is, no matter how long you choose to pursue photography and no matter how good you get, you’ll keep making mistakes. The important thing is that we are able to recognise them, acknowledge them and learn from them in order to keep improving.

That’s the focus of this video from Nigel Danson, who goes over seven compositional mistakes he often sees from beginners. And he’s not judging, because he admits he’s made these mistakes himself and provides examples of where he’s done it. But he also shows how he identified the problem and how he went about solving things.

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This simple composition advice will completely change your approach to taking photographs

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The best kind of advice is usually the simplest, like “when spending time with others put your phone away” and “soggy cereal is never as good as last night’s takeaway curry so have the curry for breakfast.” In this latest video, Mark Denney tells us the “best composition advice he’s ever heard” and follows up by saying that it’s so simple that he wished he’d known this earlier.

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How to break the rules like a pro and not like a beginner

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Do you enjoy sticking to rules or are you a bit of a rebel? Some rules are there to be broken and in my opinion, especially those rules in photography that we all know and love. But there’s the old adage “first learn the rules before breaking them” to take into account. This is what Daniel Inskeep of Mango Street explains in his latest video.

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How to create accidental Renaissance photos with light and composition

Hashtag #accidentalrenaissance has over 17,000 posts on Instagram. And even though it’s often a joke or a meme, I believe all of us have also seen some pretty amazing photos that look like Renaissance paintings. But what is it that makes them remind us of the works of master painters? Chroma says that composition and light are the keys. In this video, they break them down so you can take “accidental Renaissance” photos – on purpose.

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Forget the “rules” of composition and learn to use your intuition

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The “rules” of composition are always a hot and divisive topic. Some stick to them adamantly while others act like they don’t exist (or they don’t know any exist). The former can be difficult to break away from and the latter can be very freeing, allowing you to explore all kinds of composition ideas in your work.

In this video, Sean Tucker talks about going beyond the rules and how his photography has been guided mostly by intuition. He breaks down some of his own images and why they work. He covers a lot of topics that aren’t really mentioned at all in the usually accepted rules and how they can make the viewer feel when looking at an image.

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Improve your composition with these tips from a photographer who worked with Ansel Adams

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When it comes to composition, there are generally two schools of thought. The first is to strictly obey the “rules” they’ve read or been taught. The other is to simply go with your gut and what feels right. This video from Advancing Your Photography featuring photographer Huntington Witherill leans more towards the right.

While Huntington talks us through some very specific thoughts and processes, he says there’s no formula or list of things to do that will guarantee a good composition. Good composition is a strategy and a skill that is largely intuitive. Learning more “rules” isn’t going to make your composition any better.

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