The Art of Photo Composition
44mGeneral2022-11-30
Authors

Tracey Clark
Photographer, Author, Speaker, Instructor
Course details
Have you ever been excited about taking a picture, only to find yourself disappointed by the results? Practice and failure may be necessary to the learning process. But that doesn’t make them any more fun. In this course, instructor Tracey Clark takes you through the basics of visual composition to enlarge your understanding of how they all work in context.
Explore common elements such as lines, curves, shapes, texture, balance, repetition, pattern, positive and negative space, contrast, depth of field, and color. Tracey goes over your options for compositional tools, such as focal points, creative crops, and subject placement, as well as techniques for breaking apart a composition and stripping it back to its most essential parts, from choosing color schemes to cropping images, dividing frames, and shifting your aesthetic approach. By the end of this course, you’ll be ready to grab your camera and start practicing, one shot at a time, until you’re excited by the results.
Explore common elements such as lines, curves, shapes, texture, balance, repetition, pattern, positive and negative space, contrast, depth of field, and color. Tracey goes over your options for compositional tools, such as focal points, creative crops, and subject placement, as well as techniques for breaking apart a composition and stripping it back to its most essential parts, from choosing color schemes to cropping images, dividing frames, and shifting your aesthetic approach. By the end of this course, you’ll be ready to grab your camera and start practicing, one shot at a time, until you’re excited by the results.
Skills covered
Art CompositionAnalog PhotographyPhotographyAnimation and IllustrationOne-Off
Concepts
0. Introduction
- 01 - The art of composition
- 02 - Creative composition challenge
1. The Big Picture of Composition
- 03 - Defining composition
- 04 - Identifying the elements of art
- 05 - Identifying the principles of art
2. A Few Compositional Precursors
- 06 - Being aware of the role light plays
- 07 - Getting into observation mode
- 08 - Understanding the science of seeing
3. The Elements and Principles in Action
- 09 - Considering subject placement and focal points
- 10 - Using positive and negative space
- 11 - Finding balance and the relationship between elements
- 12 - Getting aligned with dividing lines
- 13 - Implementing a variety of lines
- 14 - Textures for visual interest
4. Emotion, Mood, and Storytelling
- 15 - Making a visual and emotional impact
- 16 - Exploring color, value, contrast, and tone
- 17 - Getting creative with cropping
- 18 - Emotions in portraiture
- 19 - Using frames in your frames
5. Implementing Creative Composition Practices
- 20 - Practicing creative composition
Conclusion
- 21 - Living composition curious