OVERVIEW

Composition is essentially organization, the ordering of all the possible graphic elements inside the frame. This is basic design, and photography has the same fundamental needs in this respect as any other graphic art. The danger is the same also that detailing a technique on paper can lead to it being read as a dogmatic set of rules. It is especially important to treat basic design as a form of inquiry, an attitude of mind, and a summary of the resources available. It is not a quick fix.

There is a useful analogy with language. Using the frame, which we have just looked at, as the context or setting, design basics form the grammar, the graphic elements in the next chapter are the vocabulary, and the process, in the last chapter, is the syntax the way in which the forms in photography are put together, ultimately defining its nature.

The principles of design in photography are, to an extent, different from those in painting and illustration. For the most part there is no particular value in making these comparisons, but it is important to understand that there are objective principles of design; that is, they exist independently of individual taste. They explain why certain photographs create the impressions they do, and why particular ways of organizing the image have predictable effects.

The two most fundamental principles are contrast and balance. Contrast stresses the differences between graphic elements in a picture, whether it is contrast of tone, color, form, or whatever. Two...