5 Secrets to Great Photography Composition

Dear friend,

One of my great preoccupations in life is this:

What is the secret of great composition? How can I make greater photo compositions?

Some thoughts:

First sent on ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER (sample email)

1. Start with the human body

First of all, it seems the logical first step in studying composition is the human body and form. This means, study the proportions and philosophy of the human body.

For example one principle I learned:

There is no straight line in the human body.

Even the human spine; it is curved! Thus perhaps the secret to all composition is this:

Start with the human body and extrapolate it outwards.

2. Arabesque

There is a notion of the ‘arabesque’, which literally means “squiggly line”. Beautiful human shapes (feminine) tend to be curved. Curves are great because they suggest movement, dynamism, force, and life.

3. Thinking BEYOND the frame

This was a big takeaway I learned from teaching my last online workshop:

We must think of life BEYOND the frame!

The easy way I did this:

Import a photo into procreate, zoom out, then take a screenshot and then draw in imaginary life BEYOND and outside the frame.

4. More dynamism, more force, the better

In an ideal world the best composition has the most lines, the most curves, the most dynamic lines. The more repetition, shapes and forms, the better.

This also means having layers in your photos. Make it more three-dimensional!

The fun challenge in photography:

How can you take a two-dimensional photograph (the camera only has one eye), and make humans (we have two eyes) perceive three dimensions?

5. Great compositions give you a reason to live!

The biggest secret:

Great compositions inspire and motivate you to live more! To go outside more! To shoot more! To thrive more!

ERIC

FREE 4K Video ZIP File to learn composition

Download on Dropbox >

Download on Google Drive

Just recorded this hot off the digital oven.

The basic gist:

I shot some street photography of a guy crossing the road, in 4K on my Lumix camera, and I then took screen shots of the footage to teach composition.

Note:

My framing
The timing
When he crossed the street, how I tried to put him in the ultimate top left corner, to make him very small.
How I used the mail box as a layer to create a sense of depth in the photo.

Download the ZIP file for free here, and you can also share it and analyze the footage for yourself! All open source baby!

And yes, feel free to share the link or post the link to a friend or family member, whatever! The dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xj59qx8aga5m55w/Composition%204K%20ERIC%20KIM.zip?dl=0

New: Dynamic Photography Composition Workshop Online via ZOOM

I am super pumped to share my new and upcoming workshop based on principles of dynamic photography composition!

I had an insane amount of fun in my last two online photography workshops on creativity and decided to keep the ball rolling with this new one on Photography Composition. I truly believe it can be an epic opportunity for you to elevate your photography creativity to the next level.

You can learn more details here (Saturday, May 23rd, 2020, 12-2pm Eastern Time).