DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

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

May 22, 2022 by John Aldred Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

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.

You might find that you’ve heard these “rules” before, but it sometimes helps to see the same guidelines explained multiple different ways in order to see a perspective you might not have come across before. And whether you consciously follow them in your own work or not, I’ll be a lot of what you’ve shot lives up to some of these.

  • 00:00 – Why Framing and Composition Are Important
  • 00:43 – The Most Important RULE – Editor’s note: Not surprisingly, the Rule of Thirds
  • 02:57 – Using Lines to Direct Your Viewers’ Eyes
  • 03:50 – Finding Balance
  • 05:30 – Symmetry
  • 06:15 – How to Achieve Depth
  • 07:24 – Finding A Frame Within A Frame
  • 08:11 – Subject Emphasis

The great thing about composition, no matter how you feel about its “rules”, is that it’s the one thing you can really work on and practise without having to buy any new gear or spend any money. These are the kinds of things you can do with any camera, even your phone and no matter how good you think your composition is, there are almost always ways in which you can learn to improve and adapt your existing approach to help you tackle new subjects.

And if you’re new to photography or filmmaking and just starting to figure out your composition, these guidelines are good ones to learn. Once you understand them and how they work, you can more easily understand how to break them to make your shot even more effective than it otherwise would have been.

What compositional code do you live by?

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Why does bad framing work? Looking beyond the rules of composition Five composition rules of filmmaking, and how to break them There is no way to break compositional rules, only move to more advanced rules Forget the “rules” of composition and learn to use your intuition

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: cinematography, composition, filmmaking, Kellan Reck

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« The world’s first camera that could shoot MPEG-4 back in 1999 was basically a vlogging camera
Why don’t all cameras have fully articulating flippy out LCDs? »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Canon shows off a new fold-out 180/360 VR camera at Photonext 2023
  • Extortionists using facebook photos to create AI nudes says FBI
  • Netflix Australia is recruiting for its first Unit Photography Bootcamp
  • Artist takes on Adobe with lifetime creative software suite Abode
  • Instagram actively promoting paedophile networks via its algorithm

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy