This month’s photo blogging challenge, hosted by PJ at A-lil Hoohaa, marks the fifth year for the challenge. That’s quite a milestone in the blogosphere. It takes a lot of dedication to coordinate these blog hops. I’m happy he’s still hosting the challenge and appreciate his efforts. So, the photo challenge theme for March is, appropriately, Five.
I took a little different approach to the prompt this month. I know….. you all are shocked, aren’t you? Honestly, you should be used to it by now. 🙂 So, as I was saying…..I took a different approach this month and instead of each photo containing something representing five, I’m taking the prompt as the overarching theme for all my photos. And, I’m calling it…..
Five Elements of Composition in Photography
Of course there are many more than five, but five is all I need today. Personally. I think this is brilliant since this IS a photo challenge.
Element 1/5: Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is very common with a lot of photographers and designers. The frame is divided into nine equal rectangles, three across and three down as seen in my pic below. Instead of placing the objects of attention smack in the middle of the frame, objects are placed long one or more lines where they intersect. In this case, the flowers are concentrated in the left two thirds of the frame.
Element 2/5: Juxtaposition
What a funny word……juxtaposition. It’s explained as including two or more elements that either contrast or complement each other. This helps the photo tell a story. In this story, a sweet friend drew this mini mural at the end of our driveway on the very stressful day when Entrepreneur was to have another set of CT scans done to monitor the renal cell cancer spots in his lungs. The juxtaposition between the beauty and softness of the chalk and the hard reality of the concrete and asphalt tell the story that even in the middle of life’s harsh ugliness, there are reminders of beauty and love. At least it did for me.
Element 3/5: Golden Triangles
Much like the Rule of Thirds, Golden Triangle composition divides the photo with a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner. Two more lines from the remaining corners are drawn to meet the diagonal line at right angles. This divides the frame into triangles to help position elements. This type of composition creates “dynamic tension,” which adds to the interest of the photographed subject.
Element 4/5: Perspective or Viewpoint
Perspective or viewpoint means the relationships between objects in the photo. Objects in the foreground will seem larger than those in the background even though they may be close to the same size. This type of element also refers to the position of the camera. If the shot is taken with the camera low to the ground, you have what’s called a low perspective. And, if the shot is taken higher or above the image, you have what’s called a high perspective. This shot isn’t a great example, but I think you can see where the ultrasound photo in the front appears to be much larger in relation to the newborn and rest of the strip. Well, that’s what I was shooting for anyway.
Element 5/5: Fill the frame
Filling the frame means leaving little or no space around the subject. The focus is directed at the subject without any distractions, and highlights details that would probably be overlooked if the shot was taken from further back.
You may have figured out I did a neighbor’s maternity and newborn shoot this month…only about two weeks apart. To see how others celebrated PJ’s 5-year anniversary for this photo blogging challenge, blog hop on over to HERE on March 31st. What a perfect time to join in the fun as we begin year #6?!
