The less control you have over a shooting situation, the more valuable it is to have an idea of what may happen next. Though largely irrelevant in studio work and other kinds of constructed photography, it is hugely important in reportage. Anticipation is a skill that goes much deeper than photography, and draws mainly on observation and a knowledge of behavior. Using it for photography gives it a particular edge, because the aim is not just to work out how a situation might unfold and how a person may react, but how the results will work graphically. The example opposite, from a cattle camp in southern Sudan, shows this combination. The aim is always to translate the event into an organized image. As Henri Cartier-Bresson put it, "To take photographs means to recognize simultaneously and within a fraction of a second both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning."

Therefore, there are two strands to anticipation. One is concerned with behavior and action, and also the way in which things move across the field of view and the light changes. This can be honed by staying focused and attentive, and by practice. The other strand is graphic, predicting how shapes, lines, and all the other elements that we saw in Chapters 3 through 5 will shift and come together in the frame, and the way to improve this is to keep in mind as many types of successful image composition as possible the repertoire...