Thanks for watching! If you have any questions about these 5 composition techniques, please let me know in the comments below. I really hope they help you improve your photography. Want more content like this? Don't forget to like 👍 this video and subscribe to my channel to help me reach 10,000 subscribers! ✊ Download your copy of my new eBook ➡ gallagher-photo.com/learn

I read some of the comments here and I don’t think they’re warranted. I really liked this video of techniques that while some may be familiar with, this does a great job of clearly explaining them and gives a good reminder to keep them in mind when going out to shoot. It’s easy to say you know these things but harder to actually put to practice in the fraction of a second you have before taking a photo and this is a great reminder. Thank you for the video!

Hyper critical "photographers" in the 1970s and early 1980s completely turned me off photography, cameras, and anything to do with photography. For example, I knew several people who won awards decades ago for photos they took, and they were merciless in their criticism of me not copying them. Their photos were bland, uninspired, rote, forgettable. Only two years ago did I decide to try photography as a hobby again, in part because a couple of the extremely toxic people I knew had recently died. I'm glad the dictator "photographer" type seems to have fallen out of favour, and glad to find this channel. Your channel is gentle, nurturing, and encouraging. Thank you for sharing your advice and tips, and for helping me realize my instincts were / are good and I have a good eye. If anyone else has been turned off a perfectly good hobby or profession by dreadful people, please reconsider it. Photography has brought me a surprising amount of secret pleasure over the past two years. I may never show my photos publicly, but I'm extremely pleased with them. And, when I find a new rental home and unpack my stuff in storage, I'll be printing some of my best photos and framing them to hang on my walls.

This is great. Thank you! Even pros and experts need a refresh sometimes. It’s always good to get down to basics!!

Many thanks Sean for sharing these very helpful tips.

Thank you a lot for visiting Cambodia 🇰🇭

I've used most of those techniques before watching this video. Thanks for the additional ideas.

very interesting composition advise, now they are no secret anymore😊 thanks for sharing!

Love it. Thsnks.

Thanks a lot for this. Really enjoyed it.

Excellent advice! Thank you Sean!

I am a amateur and liked the suggestions. I will definitely try during my next outing.

Thanks Ford this video I NEEDED IT!!

Thank you ! I already use most all of these techniques but I realized something else that was so obvious I was overlooking that you didn't include in this !

Thank you so much for these tips Sean. Can’t wait to put all these into continuous practice. Appreciate the effort and examples provided 🙏🏽

Thanks for another great video.

Another great video Sean, thanks!

Very very helpful! Thank you so much!

No surprises but the best explanation of using these compositions I have seen. Brilliant photos too. Thanks for sharing. I certainly learnt from your video.

I'm watching from Cambodia 😊

Point #1 is very insightful 👏

Gracias

One of my favorites videos about composition. Great video!! Thank you.👏

很棒

Thank you Sean, very helpful hints 😊

Thanks for the lessons... very helpful

Thank you so much for these tips and ideas, it will help us more to improve our photography and video skills

Interesting 👌

Salute and respect from Ontario, Canada! Saw this video on our TV and decided to come over my desktop to leave a comment. While two points of interest is easy to follow, multiple points can be difficult. As a hobbyists, I would now try to focus on two points of interest, frame within the frame, and layering. Thank you for sharing and challenging hobbyists and professionals to go beyond our comfort zone.

Another good one

Hi Sean! The silhouettes in this video are beautiful indeed! Hope you can make a video to the viewers on how to take them! Keep up the good work

The photo @ 2:35 is incredible. its like a mirror'd image of the subjects almost. really cool

Thank You! I will try to use these composition techniques while shooting my next photographs.

Thank you so much for this video. A lot of useful information for photographers. ❤❤❤

thanks You Sean!. I like your explanation make it simple to understand and try out the techniques.

Very good VDO ,fine, clearly ,and not too long. I love it.Thank you!

It is a useful video, Sean. Thank you for helping me uplifting my photography technique.

In most photography groups, there will always a few old/senior photographers who will underline the importance of "a point of interest". I often use "multiple points of interests" to annoy them :D

You deserve way more views! Thanks for that great video. Those tips are invaluable! 😊

Informative

subscribing and saving this video

I just saw your video for the first and joined your channel. Terrific ideas for creative photos.

Thanks Sean. I have seen some of these techniques before, however for a beginner these are advanced techniques. I love your photographs, and as a National Geographic Photographer you had to produce images that were acceptable to the editor and I find that interesting that this is techniques used by a National Geographic photographer. Some viewers may have missed your point, that practice of these techniques will improve our photographs. To me this group of techniques are a great reminder to not forget them.

Very helpful advice Sean, thank you so much! Sounds simple and logical in theory, but is demanding in practice. Especially if the points of interest are moving around 😅 Many beginners and amateurs not only focus of only one subject, but also tend to isolate it from its environment, producing quite boring, although technical perfect images. What is their main concern. Your advice remembers me of a code of practice I learned from National Geographic photographer Sam Abell who used to say: Compose the scene, then wait. Kind regards from Switzerland.

I’m always impressed with the use of selective focus in some of my favorite images. Such as shooting through a frame, reflections, near and far subjects. There doesn’t seem to be a definite standard and sometimes the compelling point of the image is out of focus or affected by motion blur. Exploration of this would be very interesting. Thanks for this video. I’ll subscribe now.

Great video thank you for reassuring me I am doing something right 😅 frame within a frame

I just discovered your videos and as an amateur photographer I want to thank you for sharing your knowledge and skills. I have a photography club in our 55+ community and will be recommending that they take a look at your KZfaq channel.

Thanks, this is very useful! My early efforts were a confusing mess, so I gravitated to having a single clear subject. But now you mention it, I can see that the use of two or more points of interest is indeed one of the distinctive habits of famous or "real" photographers. Now the challenge is, how to include more than one, without it turning into a confusing mess again. Oh boy ... !

❤love the shoots man!!

Thanks a lot i didn't know about that

Interesting

Thanks Sean, I off out now to get practicing....what apature are you using for them shots, f8?

I love these techniques! Been shooting for decades now and I love short videos like these. Just found your channel. Subscribed.

Good job

I have reviewed some of your prominent videos; very good to see someone who knows what he is talking about. Very well done. Perhaps it would be helpful to create a video in which you discuss more in detail re your editing process.

Thanks for visiting Cambodia

Hello I’m your fan in Cambodia ❤

easy to understand information, I appreciate that you get right to the point! Curious about the title page 'No rule of thirds'....there was no mention of the 'rule' either for or against

Great tips, thanks. I applied the reflection technique in August 2023 when doing bearwatching in eastern Finland. I was in a hide looking westward. In front of my hide there was a pond surrounded by taiga forest in U-form. So the trees already had beautiful reflections on the water surface. Then a brown-bear appeared an walked along the shore. Perfect. I filmed different clips: total with bear, reflection and forest in the background. Then I focused only on the reflection of the bear, having to zoom in strongly. And finally I had the luck to film two bears close to each other (further away from the pond, so no reflection, that would be to much luck, right). Best wishes.

Great advise, I find shooting through glass quite tricky. Any tips ?

The photo u took in jakarta @2:27 reminds me of Goodfellas when Tommy was explaining his mom's painting to Jimmy & Henry 😁

Thank you for the walkthrough, Sean. :) 'Smashed the Subscribe button. ;) :D

thank u remainder old technique

For me, the Best Composition Technique is Juxtaposition. Use it not only for visual impact but for story telling.

Last year, quite by accident, I was in position for a shot that had a four way reflection. It was odd looking to say the least.

Hey Sean, could you elaborate a bit on your Whatsapp community please. Great video, love it.

Love your channel, appreciate the effort you put in and the knowledge that you share sir. But as a student of photography can I ask if having more points of interest will make a picture look too busy, or is there some geometry involved or am I just too green? Thank you in advance.

Best thing about these techniques is no state-of-the-art camera with a 50 megapixel sensor is required for a better picture. The most important photographic equipment is the imagination of the person holding the camera.

I'm a new subscriber. This is my second video and I see I have so much to learn! I really appreciate your eye. And thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom too!. Have you mentioned what focal length you primarily use for street, is it the 35mm? Is it the 50? Or do you use zoom lenses? Respect...

Some nice tips. Another tip would getting rid of the bright light or reflection just left of your head. It competes with you talking.

There's another technique for framing. You can use the natural landscape for framing if you're doing something away from civilization. Like areas where water and land meet. Or where rocks cut off part of the sky. They're harder to come by, but pretty neat when it does.

One of the functions I add to single element images is offsetting near the rule of thirds crossing points... I never put the focus of the image right on the rule of thirds crossing points... The eye wants to go to those points and if the object of the photo is at that point the eye has no where to go after that... using your suggestions makes the eye do even more... Keeping the eye moving makes any image more interesting to the viewer... They have to see something else and then something more than that, and more again... Their eyes have to keep moving...

I am interested to see that many movies and television series still use the rule of thirds and leading lines to compose their shots.

Hello from Cambodia. What year did you visit Cambodia?

Can you brief how you captured the 7:43 frame. I tried to learn it many times, but failed. Please explain

Very good compositional ideas. The third idea - multiple points of interest - is a bit tricky and can rather easily mis-fire. The scene becomes too congested and the viewer is left bewildered, wondering what he or she should be looking at. Most seasoned photographers recommend the opposite - keep things simple. On the other hand, there are quite a few old very impressive, very busy photos around.

I have subscribed but there is no link to download the ebook. Could you double check?

Really interesting techniques. Needs some time to master it I think, but so good to have it in mind! Thank you. But one thing made me a bit uncomfortable: These multiple hops while you are explaning the techniques. I found it disturbing.

I have a question about signature on your photos. Is it important? Is it unprofessional?

💙💙💙💙🙏🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍👍👍

Thank you for not talking about wide open aparture bokeh isolation creamy background bs. Shooting in layers and mpoi is very challenging especially in dynamic scenes. Alex Webb made millions of horrible images I guess, no one will ever see. And even in static scenes you first have to read your frame from the farest to be nearest, from the edges to the center, take car of the light, geometry, possible distraction, color contrast and all that stuff at once. It can be SO frustrating to return home with not a single baller photo at all.

I've heard that... as a professional photographer thing😂😂😂 so many times that's crazy

The photo at 7:12 is really beautiful, I just don't understand how you were able to take it without getting in trouble with the girl's parents. I just can't think of a way of getting photos like that, even without children in it, without getting punched. Am I overthinking it?

No rule of thirds? sure, sure... Have you actually looked at your own photos? Most of them follow the rule of thirds. But some good tips here anyway.

So with the image of the two boys walking opposite directions. the eye was immediately drawn to the bright red vehicle at the top left. The two boys were largely irrelevant because of it.

I really like your channel but these cliche "secret' lessons are a bit off putting. every no-name KZfaqr does it. You have such a vast knowledge & experience would love to see more in the field hands on videos. or more on the pro level that not many talk about. thank you very much

Best thing is to learn about composition, work with them intentionally and later forget about them.

I want to be a photographer. But i can't buy a Camera 😔

Two points in the composition are very difficult to use. Most professional photographers use them wrong. And they don't even know it. Having two points in a composition, they usually cannot be equivalent. One must dominate. The gaze must be guided around the photo. Otherwise, confusion is created. The exception is when they are literally equally important, interacting with each other, when one is subtracted, the photo loses its meaning. Most photographers use two points as two points and that's it. There are an awful lot of videos on YT where (even on big channels) they brag about such photos, and they are clearly badly constructed. That's why it is necessary to emphasize the importance of scaling the importance of objects.

Get a copy of 'The painter's Secret Geometry' to go beyond simplistic 'pop' notions about composition.

That doesn't convince me. Maybe for special images it might work with multiple subjects, but in general most photos - and the viewer - can only handle two.

I wanna share with you 1 secret, white balance !

Did he blink in this video?

I appreciate the advice and the intention, but "frame within a frame" and "reflections" are very basic tecniques. An advanced tecnique would be "kerning groups of objects or people" like in typographic design, or composing strictly with color, no BW for a while, learning composition from abstract painting (Cy Twombly among others) in terms of negative space and abstract shapes.

A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound A buck or a yen A buck or a pound. Is all that makes the world go around That clinking, clanking sound Can make the world go 'round

Your window frame of the man in the boat, in my opinion doesn't really work for one reason... the "frame" in the frame on the top right is cut off. All I can look at is the cut off frame. I can't even see the boat because my eye is drawn to a cut off frame and that is all I want to look at. Maybe if you stood on your tippy toes. What you leave out of the frame is just as important as what you leave in the frame. Literally. Maybe if you used a wider lens and then cropped in so that you have the same perspective. Its always better to have more "information" of the scene than you actually need to have more leeway when you get back home. As most times, you cannot go back and recreate the same atmosphere or conditions.

One thing this video does particularly well is that it does present a good sequential progression for the student to follow, for a more methodical approach to improvement. But this really only shows three compositional techniques, and not really advanced. They're beginner to intermediate. There's really no Earth shattering revelations here. I think there is a lost opportunity to really present ADVANCED composition, though compound application. The video shows examples of compound techniques, but doesn't point it out. Whether two or five points of interest, it's really the same principle. The only difference is degree, so they would have been better to treat as one topic. Most of the layering examples are really just framing. And several of the examples using reflections could be said to be framing (like the motorbike in the mirror). This is where advanced composition really takes flight--by being able to accomplish multiple compositional techniques at the same time, and/or by employing creative means to execute those techniques. This is seen most prominently in the examples using multiple points/subjects. The one photo at 4:05 with six people shows that volume itself makes for a poor compositional tool, as it's by far the most boring photo shown. The photo itself fails to say anything about the subjects other than the fact that they exist. Multiple subjects/points really only makes for a meaningful compositional tool if those objects are themselves arranged in a meaningful way. And we see that done well in the other examples. The photo of the tree and calf and boy shows multiple points of interest, but there is also a subtle leading line in the sand, and the elements arrange to create an optical inference of that leading line continuing. This arrangement, more than the mere fact that there are multiple points, makes for an advanced composition. In the photo with the boat, tree, bird, and poll, the primary subject (the boat) is effectively framed by the remaining elements. Compare to the examples of more explicit framing (like the literal window frame in a wall).

I don’t like some of your layer’s technique such as the one with lots of tree branches in front of the river, too many things to look at.

Composition is overrated. Don’t overthink it.

Surprising if not appalling to listen to someone talking about composition and not understanding the difference between composition and content. Not that the advice is bad, it is just misplaced and shows a total lack of understanding of what composition really is. As for the pro part, it is just a delusional notion. Strictly speaking, a pro is someone who sells photographs whether they are good or mediocre does not matter as long as they satisfy the customer. plus, being a pro in one area (making an image and selling it) does not make one an expert in aesthetics, vocabulary, communication and pedagogy... and it shows here. Point by point: #1 and 2: adding more elements to your image, is just adding complexity and story telling to your image. It is an improvement on "unary" images (with only one element) BUT it has strictly nothing to do with composition which is how the elements are organised in the frame (to generate meaning and aesthetics). In fact #1 and #2 could be summarised in "try to have more than one point of interest within your frame and generate MEANING/FEELING with them." #3: frame in the frame, is just a trick. Without generating meaning it is just a gimmick to focus the viewer's attention to ONE element, what is in the frame. The frame has to be related to what is in the frame in the frame. And again this says nothing of its positioning in the frame (which is what composition is about). #4: "Reflections" !!??!! Since when reflections are a compositional technique? It is just a visual element, composition has to do with how and where they are located in the frame. This is nonsense in terms of composition #5: Layering: again this has little to do with compositon (the organisation of the "layers"). It is just an extension of #1 and #2 applied to depth in a photograph, or rather adding different planes, having a relationship/an interaction between them that generate MEANING. So this again has more to do with content than composition. Please out of responsibility toward yourself and your au🍔dience, get some advice, help and better information (just look up the definition of words in a dictionary or watch some good (informed with expertise) KZfaq channels on the subject). You have to realise that it is easier to improve a clean slate than having to first clean it of its rubbish before you can teach it about composition and there is a lot of detritus accumulated in this video.