Understanding how to compose images beyond basic rules like thirds is vital for elevating your photography. It helps you tell more compelling visual stories and makes your photos stand out.
Coming to you from Benjamin Jaworskyj - Simply Learn Photography, this practical video explains advanced composition strategies centered around the rule-of-thirds grid, focusing specifically on its four intersection points. Jaworskyj demonstrates precisely how slight adjustments in camera positioning—often just centimeters—can drastically alter your image’s feel. He uses a church as a subject, placing it at different intersection points and clearly illustrating how each position shifts the viewer’s perspective. The key takeaway here is the emphasis on intentionality; instead of merely capturing what's in front of you, deliberate positioning makes your photographs more engaging. Jaworskyj's method is especially helpful if you're aiming for greater creativity in your shots without resorting to complicated technical tricks.
Jaworskyj further explores applying these techniques to portraits, recommending that you position your subject’s eyes or face on these intersection points to achieve balanced and aesthetically pleasing results. He emphasizes how the same grid can improve vertical and horizontal alignments, helping keep horizons level and your images stable. Another valuable insight is his strategy for layering visual interest, particularly in landscape photography. By placing an interesting object like a rock or flower in the foreground on one crossing point and your main subject in the background at another, you create depth and intrigue. This layering approach draws the viewer deeper into your photograph, encouraging exploration rather than just passive observation.
The video goes even deeper by combining multiple compositional strategies into a single frame. Jaworskyj shows how thoughtfully positioning yourself can line up multiple points of interest across the grid, creating complex yet harmonious compositions. He cleverly uses roads, curves, and architectural features as leading lines, guiding viewers smoothly through the frame. Importantly, he touches upon a concept called the "safety zone," emphasizing the grid’s use in preventing accidental cropping during post-processing. He also connects these ideas to other established compositional methods, such as the golden ratio, demonstrating practical overlap between theories. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Jaworskyj.
