4.21. Emphasizing What Matters

Say you are at the scene of the greatest photographic opportunity of your lifetime. Without the ability to create a compositional structure, you will lose the opportunity and walk away without a striking photo. Similarly, elegance in composition alone-without significance or meaning-is banal.

Learn the basics of formal composition and how to apply them to scenes that inspire you. As you become more experienced, experiment with ways to make the structural foundation of your photos uniquely yours.