3. Creative Composition

Colby Coombs climbing an ice ridge on the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska.

Good photography combines two elements: technical expertise and artistic vision. Every photographer has a mix of these elements. Without one or the other your photos would suffer. Imagine photographing a kayaker paddling off a 70-foot waterfall. You need to know how fast your shutter speed should be, what aperture will give you sufficient depth of field, and how to set the maximum shooting frame rate on your camera. These are technical aspects of the shoot, and have to be properly set or you will miss some images.

On the other hand, how are you going to compose the kayaker and waterfall? Are you going to shoot wide to capture more of the environment, or tight to show the gripping details? Where is the kayaker going to be in the frame? Are you going to shoot vertical or horizontal? These are compositional questions that are also critical for the image to succeed.