Compose yourself

Staff · Issue 5, Feb 2002 · pp. 30–32

Products mentioned: Nikon F90X, Subal housing, YS50/30 flash, YS120 flash

How often have you seen a competition winning picture and thought to yourself ëIíve got one just like that!í, but then realised that whilst the subject may be the same yours maybe hasnít got quite the same impact? What is it that makes one shot a picture of a fish and another a competition winner? The answer is almost certainly in the composition of the image and if you are prepared to concentrate some of your efforts in this direction you can easily make a seemingly dull subject look much more striking. Most of us will have imitated the images of other photographers and perhaps without realising it applied some of the rules of composition. There are many books available on land photography which contain detailed descriptions of the rules of composition and how they need to be followed to produce a technically perfect and pleasing photograph. To begin with you may wish to apply these rul…