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Photographs shouldn't send the person looking at them on a hunting expedition. As interesting as your subject is to you, you don't want viewers puzzling over what's the most important part of the image or perhaps conducting a vote by secret ballot to see who has successfully guessed your intent. Every picture should have a single, strong center of interest. You want to narrow your subject matter: Rather than include everything of interest in a photo, choose one main subject. Then find secondary objects in the picture that are also interesting (giving the photo depth and richness) but that are still clearly subordinate to the main subject.
Narrowing your subject matter
Narrowing your subject matter means eliminating everything from your photo that doesn't belong there and concentrating on fewer objects that can form an interesting composition.
Find something in the photograph that the viewer's eye should focus on, thus forming a center of interest. Your center of interest is usually a person, a group, or the object you're seeking to highlight. Some aspect of your photo should jump out and grab your viewers' attention. Figure 1 shows photos of the same goose taken from the same distance, but with a clear center of interest in the second shot.
Figure 1: To avoid spoiling a shot with secondary geese in the background (left), wait until they move on (right) for a better composition.
Choosing one main subject
You can use several compositional techniques to ensure that the main subject you've selected is, in fact, the center of interest. Here's a quick checklist to follow:
- Make sure that your center of interest is the most prominent object in the picture. You might think of Aunt Mary as a worthy photo subject, but if she's standing next to a '60s-era minibus with a psychedelic paint job, she might not even be noticed. Large, distinctive, highly unusual, or controversial objects are likely to take on a life of their own and seize the focus of attention in your photograph.
- See that the center of interest is either the brightest object in the photo or at least is not overpowered by a brighter object. Gaudy colors or bright shapes in the background distract viewers from your main subject. Some elements — such as spotlights at a rock concert — become part of the environment and aren't necessarily distracting. Other parts of a photo — such as a bright sail on a boat — can interfere with your carefully planned composition.
- Make sure that your composition has only one center of interest. Other things in a photo can be interesting, but they must clearly be subsidiary to the main center of interest. A child seated on the floor playing with a puppy would be interesting. However, other puppies in the photo should be watching or vying for the child's interest. Figure 2 shows a photo of some flowers that is colorful, but there's no real center of interest in the photo, although the clump of blossoms at right do attract the eye in its frantic search for something to focus on.
Figure 2: This is a bad photo because it has no true center of interest.
- Avoid always placing the center of interest in the exact center of the photograph. There are many occasions when it's okay to center your subject, such as for close-ups or portraits. But most of the time, you want to move the important subject to either side and a little toward the top or bottom of the frame. Don't take "center" literally in all cases. Refer to Figure 1, shown previously, for an example of a center of interest moved to one side but still somewhat centrally located.
Using secondary subjects
Having more than one center of interest is confusing. If you really have several things of importance in a single picture, consider taking several separate photos of each and using them to tell a story. Or, group them together to form a single, new center of interest.
However, you can (and should, in many cases) include secondary points of interest that give the photograph depth and richness. A portrait of a child should concentrate on the child's face, but a favorite toy can speak volumes about what this youngster likes to do. A rock singer on stage can command your attention, but a view showing the adoring fans in the front row tells the viewer how popular the performer is.
Successful secondary subjects are clearly subordinate to your main center of interest. You can indicate what's secondary in your image through location, brightness, or even degree of sharpness.
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