The importance of composition in photographs

In a follow-up to his series on why your camera doesn’t matter, Ken Rockwell has written a nice piece on one of the reaons why - composition.  Most people spend too much time (myself included) on trying to get the exposure correct and think about what they’re actually shooting later.  I read Ken’s article today and it reminded me that the difference between great photographs and average ones are really in the composition itself.  Start off with a badly framed picture and there’s not alot you can do to fix it.

Let me show you what I mean.  Below are 2 photos I took in Bonaire.  Neither are particularly great, but one is definitely more compelling.  They’re both are of the same palm tree, but both have very different compositions.

This was the 1st picture of the day.  It was just before sunrise when the sky’s colors change by the minute.  I had my flashlight out and noticed how vibrant the coconuts when I lit them.  When I saw it, the story was the coconuts but also the gorgeous sky.  I just used the palm tree itself as a backdrop to help frame the real story.  So I metered the sky since I wanted that exposed correctly, and then turned on the flash for fill.  I then framed the photo where I was very closed and allowed the palms to completely fill the frame.  I also turned the camera for perspective.  Voila.  Again, not great, but you can see a very purposeful shot.  Now, had I been smarter, I would have changed my angle even more to eliminate the small bush o the left that adds nothing to the picture.  I could crop it out in photoshop but that would cut into the coconuts to do so and look like I was cutting off what I found so interesting.

Fast forward to this picture.  This was taken about 5 minutes after the 1st.  Sky was a little bluer and I wanted to capture the palm tree itself with the hotel in the background.  I stood further back so the fill light from the flash didn’t light up the coconuts as much.  The sky while pretty doesn’t do anything for you.   So as you look at this one, what’s important?  Was it the building, the tree, the sky, the coconuts?  It’s ok and captured the moment, but there’s nothing else.  I could have processed the image in Photoshop to make certain portions stand out, but that takes time and does little on the composition.

I hope this helps a bit.  It’s certainly a focus for me and something I hope to improve on.  I always try to remind myself, what’s the story you’re trying to tell before you push the button.