What is Composition?
Composition in simple terms means a few rules you should follow
(see below pic)
Composition could be the difference between an award winning picture and a rather dull one, it is important to know with photography that there are certain guidelines you must follow, like the rule of thirds.
The rule of thirds is how objects are set up in your viewfinder, so you're not just snapping anything you can see, you are constantly thinking to yourself, how can i make this look as pleasing to the eye as possible.
As you can see, there is a grid dividing the picture up, this grid aids photographers into how objects should be placed within the picture.
You can see the focal point being the light house, is beautiful brushed to the side, leaving empty space on the opposite side of the picture, now psychologically this is very pleasing to the eye.
If the lighthouse was bang on in the centre of the image, do you reckon it would have the same simple pleasing effect, would it almost seem dull, or distracting? you decide.
It's possible you may still be wondering why it is so important to place things in certain orders when snapping, but you will begin to realize that the objects are usually placed neatly within the rule of thirds, creating a nice finish.
Have you realized anything else?
It is common for people to feel that the more action going on in a scene, the better!
Well you're wrong, when we see pictures, our brain picks out what we like, and when we see pictures with a lot of action in them, we tend to loose sense as there is simply to much action going on in one frame, so we don't know where to start.
(See the picture below)
Do you feel there is too much action in this picture, does the picture as a whole look less attractive than the pictures above? you decide.
Photographers know that the simpler their shot, the bigger the impact.
Although action shots can be okay from time to time, you will find that these shots are artistically captured using the rule of thirds.
So next time you take a picture, bare in mind these considerations:
Take a shot which has less going on, for instance avoid taking a picture of your object with a noisy background, this will distract viewers from the focal point and result in an overall dull photograph.
Take into account the rule of thirds, think about how spacious objects are in your viewfinder, and how they will look to the eye.
Here are some ammeter shots with rule of thirds applied, yes there is a bit of background noise on one of them.