Hi everybody, welcome to Episode 12 of the photography explained podcast. in this episode, why is composition so important?

I’m your host Rick and each week I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes without the irrelevant details.

My aim is to explain things in just enough detail to help us with your photography and no more.

Now in the last episode, I went a bit rogue and I spoke on for way beyond the 10 minutes planned. I had an idea that I’d just make the explanation bit 10 minutes and have all the bits around it because I think I was beginning to find myself as a bit of a natural broadcaster.

No more of that – this episode will be no more than 10 minutes long. I’ve learned from my mistake, I need to stick to my plan. So yep, I will be asking for 10 minutes of your time and no more.

So why is composition so important?

For me, this is a fundamental question and more important than all the other stuff that goes on. Let’s start by looking at what composition is in photography. Hopefully, I’ll be able to say that word by the end of the episode.

The composition of a photograph is important as it determines the success or otherwise of a photograph. Composition is the arranging of the elements in an image to provide the viewer with an aesthetically pleasing viewing experience.

Yes, I wrote that down. But that’s my own words. It’s not a Google definition (it might be now!). That’s just what I think composition is. And please bear in mind, I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. So hopefully I’ve got that one about right.

You can listen to the episode here

Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!

What does this actually mean?

Well, for me, the most important thing in photography is composition. This is after all what viewers of your photos are actually looking at. And if you think about it like that, nothing else matters quite literally (an excellent song by Metallica). Of course, you have to get the technical stuff sorted.

But if your composition is rubbish, all that technical stuff is irrelevant.

You might have the best camera the best lens the best, this that and the other. But if your compositions are rubbish, your photos are rubbish, it is that simple and that harsh.

That’s why I want to talk about composition so early on in my series of photography explained podcast episodes.

In the next episode, I’m going to tell you all about the rules of composition. But in this episode, I’m just gonna talk in general terms about the basics of composition giving you some things to start thinking about.

This isn’t an exhaustive list. This is just what came off the top of my head, which you might have worked out from previous episodes isn’t always a good thing.

What’s the photo of?

Actually, what are you taking a photo of? Why are you taking the photo?

That’s why I like to use a tripod because it makes taking a photo a deliberate act of getting my tripod out before pointing my camera at something.

What’s the story you’re trying to tell?

Now I know this sounds a bit artsy-fartsy. But at the end of the day, a photograph should be telling a story, telling the viewer something, giving people information about something that they find interesting and pleasing.

What is the main subject?

Sometimes it’s very easy to take a photo that doesn’t have a main subject. If you don’t have a main subject, what you end up doing, as the person looking at the photo is looking all over the place – you don’t know what you’re looking at.

And if people are looking all over the place in a photo, then they’re probably not going to look at it for very long.

In social media terms, you’ll get less than a second of short scrolling with no thumbs up. See I’m still down with the kids. Think about what you include in a composition.

What’s in the photo?

How do they relate to each other, which leads me on to possibly a more important thing?

Think about what you’re going to exclude from a composition.

This is something that I work on quite a lot. I find out what it is I want to photograph. And then I look at the bits around the edges, things I don’t want in there, try and simplify it down. Now this takes a lot of practice, which is why on a number of occasions, I said this

The number one way to improve your photography is to get out and take photos.

And of course, look at them afterwards. But yeah, thinking about what to exclude – it’s important and it’s a really good exercise to go back over photographs you’ve taken and ask yourself one simple question. What do I like about this photo, and what do I not like about this photo?

I said before cluttered photos are not appealing or interesting. People just don’t like them. I don’t like them. You probably don’t like them. We just generally don’t like cluttered photos.

Next bullet point on my long list, which is not that long, don’t worry, I’ve only got 10 minutes anyway. So, I’m just going to be a little bit quicker.

Less is more.

I say that about lots of things. Less is more, or somebody, I’ll say his name – Pat Flynn – said, if it was simple, what would it look like? Love that – I’m trying to apply that to everything in my business. Less is more.

Now the three elements in a composition, which are the foreground, middle ground, and background, these are hopefully self-explanatory. And if you align these three elements correctly, you will jump straight to my next bullet point.

Add depth to a photo.

I’ve got some great photos, sorry, I shouldn’t say I have got some great photos when I took them. I got some photos that demonstrate this really well on my website Photos of Santorini. Not a shameless plug (ok it is), but there is one in particular a picture on the caldera where I’ve got the depth. I just love it.

It’s not often I say that about my photos, because I don’t think I’m that good. Next point

Check the edges.

Check the edges. See what there is there? Is there a TV aerial, someone’s arm, part of a human, half a cat, or anything? Check the edges, yes, you can remove them in Photoshop afterwards. But if you can recompose so the edges don’t have these things in there, that’s much better and saves you more time (and keeps the “get it right in camera” club happy).

And it’s a good discipline to get into.

The lightest part.

Now it’s human nature that our eyes are drawn to the lightest part of a photo. That being the case, I have a very deliberate thing that I do, which I will tell you about in the next episode, where I use this principle, it’s just one of those things to use the fact that the eye is drawn to the lightest part of a photo.

If the lightest part is off to the top left, that’s where the eye is drawn, and you’re not going to create a great photo. Next point

All of the above.

Does that work in a podcast? Everything I’ve said so far relates to the taking of photos. Now it’s very important that you think about these things when you have taken a photo. But afterwards, check the compositions on your computer. Have a look at them. See what you think – I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, it’s a really great tip.

What do you like about an image?

Or more importantly

What do you not like about an image?

What would you take out?

Cropping.

Cropping is a very powerful tool (note for future episode). Cropping is where you take the picture, and you crop out bits around the edges, and you focus on one part of a photo. Now my technique which has evolved over the years means I don’t crop images at all.

This is something that was pointed out to me in a portfolio review. I didn’t even know I was doing this – I was just filling the frame.

Now this is something for a future episode. But I want to make the point when I’m talking about cropping here – don’t be afraid of taking something out of a photo if it improves your composition.

Quick recap

So to recap, a good composition provides an image that is pleasing to the viewer and gives interest that makes the viewer look at the photo unexplored.

What do I do?

Well, I spend a lot of time working on compositions these days, I’ve realised how important it is and all the other stuff, well thankfully, I’ve got that all down now (the technical side that is), so I don’t need to worry about it.

I have a style of my own – check out my website Rick McEvoy Photography and you can see my style and the photos I take. I tend to use 17mm on 95% of my architectural photography and construction photography images, something that has evolved over time.

Talking of time, I’m running out of it.

So that’s how my compositional style has evolved.

But more on that in future episodes, I just want to get you thinking about composition because, to me, it’s one of the most important things in photography.

Next episode

Talking of which, in the next episode I ask – what are the rules of photography?

So thank you very much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please leave a nice review and rating wherever you get your podcasts from. Please subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. And if you could tell everyone you know about my podcast that would be great too.

Also, check out my website Rick McEvoy Photography where you can find out more about me and my photography work. Last thing for now, if there is a photography thing you want me to explain, let me know I will add it to my list and when I will explain it I will give you a shout-out.

I’ve been Rick McEvoy. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.

OK – that was the podcast episode.

Want to know more?

Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.

And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.

Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.

Let me send you stuff

I send out a weekly email to my subscribers. It is my take on one photography thing, plus what I have been writing and talking about. Just fill in the box and you can get my weekly photographic musings straight to your inbox. Which is nice.

And finally a little bit about me

Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.

Thank you

Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).

Cheers from me Rick