Hmm.. Good image – what is that? Do you believe only people with expensive cameras can capture good memorable images? Or lucky travellers at exotic locations?

Often people try to believe that buying a more advanced (and expensive) camera will improve their images: you can often see compact camera owners dreaming of all the beautiful images they could take if they only owned the DSLR camera..

How wrong they are!

It is true that more advanced (and especially DSLR) cameras can give you more control on how the image is captured, but the one who takes the photo is always the photographer himself. It is his eye.

Think about it: if it was all about the camera then any camera owner would capture fantastic images. But do they?

Give some clay to the master and you will get a masterpiece.. and give some clay to me.. hmm.. well, it would look like.. kind of.. like.. umm… Suggestions? Anyone?!?

OK. Just give me a camera! : )

What do you think of this image? Do you like it? Do you think it was taken with a DSLR camera or with a compact camera?

It was actually taken with my mobile phone (Sony Ericsson K750i with a 2MP camera). My DSLR got broken that day (yes that can happen as well) and since I didn’t have any other camera with me and I was on a vacation (so of course I had to take some images), my mobile phone was a good enough choice. As you can see. The only real limitation was the storage space.

A good photographer visualizes the image before it is taken. He notices different colours, textures, lines, subjects. Of course a good photographer also possesses some other skills, like knowing the functions of the camera, considering the light, knowing the guidelines of composition etc.

There are some common attributes and simple guidelines that make the image more pleasant to the eyes. Whenever the eye looks at the image it looks for the most powerful point of interest.

So how do you achieve that?

Choose one prominent subject of the image

What does your image talk about? What does it show? What is its main subject? Why are you taking this image in the first place?

Plan ahead! You should have a good idea of what you want to show with your image before pressing the shutter release button.

Every good image should have only one prominent centre – subject that captures the attention of the eye. There can also be subordinate subjects, but they should never be stronger and more attractive to the eye than the main subject. They are only there to complement the main subject. Just like the novels usually have one main character, so should the image have one main subject.

Prominent subjects should be bigger, brighter, unusual, unique, vivid or in any other way distinctive to catch the attention.

Look at this image. What is the main subject? Why was this image taken? What is it trying to show?

O.K. You could say that the most prominent subject is the Orange County Sheriff boat – and only because it is red and its colour screams out for attention. But nevertheless the eye wonders around from boat to boat trying to find a prominent subject and that makes the image very weak. No story to tell there either.

What kind of image are you trying to capture?

After deciding about your main subject, the next question is how you want it portrayed.

Are you taking an image of a portrait, scenic, sports..? What are you trying to say? What are you trying to emphasize? Who is your audience?

Keep all this in mind when composing the image – you always do that through the viewfinder (or an LCD screen if using a compact camera). Decide what orientation you are going to choose (horizontal or vertical).

How you see the ‘image’ in front of you with your eyes and how your camera sees it are different: For example, a person sees a panoramic view, while the camera has a limited frame (ok, there are some panoramic cameras out there, but they are not a standard). Additionally, your eyes move and change what they look at all the time, therefore seeing more scenes in a fraction of a second, while a camera only captures one scene (depending on your position and composition).

Always try to visualize the image before taking the shot. Remember: always through the viewfinder! If you won’t, you will be disappointed later on with the result – it just won’t look the same as you saw it with your eyes.

Spot the subordinate subjects

OK. Now we are looking through the viewfinder. You see your main object. Look around: Is there anything else that could grab the attention of the eyes? People? Trash? Lamps? Signs? Anything bright? Anything growing out of someone’s head?

If there is – is it necessary that it is included in the image?

Simplify – As much as you can! Anything that is not important should not be on the image. Period.

Make sure the background is simple and neutral and doesn’t compete with the main subject. Concentrate on only one or few objects, lining them in an interesting composition.

The subordinate objects are there to make the image more interesting and richer, giving it more content.

However, whenever the subordinate subjects grabs the attention from the prominent subjects, either try to cut them off the image by changing the angle of viewing (come closer, change the perspective) or zooming in; or make them look darker and less sharp than the prominent subject. Some of this can also be done after the image is captured with an image editing software.

Remember the previous image? On this image I have only applied the crop to it. Looks any better? There are no boats interferring for attention with the main boat. It is quite obvious for the eye what is the prominent subject.

I have to point out though that what I have done above is wrong. You should never count on editing images on the computer afterwards. You could obviously do that (like I did) but with cropping inside the image editing program you lose pixels and quality. Always decide upon the prominent subject at the location and crop it using the zoom or by changing your position.

Here is an example of when subordinate subjects are appreciated. This is a scenic motif, where the mountains are the prominent subject, but you also offer eyes something familiar (cows) to rest on. It balances the image.

Similarly, you can use subordinate subjects with portraits where you include objects that describe the person and so enrich the image.

Don’t place the most prominent subject in the centre of the image

When I talk about the “centre of the image”, I don’t mean the subject should be placed in the centre (I have explained why not exhaustively in the article about the rule of thirds). It only means it is the most important subject of the image.

The butterfly is obviously here the prominant subject and the flower subordinate subject.

If you zoomed in and placed them on the side as the rule of thirds suggests, the image would look much better.

Guide the eyes

You want the eye to naturally travel to the prominent subject of the image and not wonder around aimlessly trying to find it. It should be obvious to the eye. As they say, good picture is eye-catching.

You can achieve this with the use of other subordinate subjects, imaginary lines, symmetry and patterns.

On this image I used road as a line which guides the eyes to the valley. Additionally, the mountain on the left draws a diagonal all the way down to the end of the valley. Notice where your eyes start to look at the image and where they stop.

Conclusion

Every good image should be clean, uncluttered; the centre of attention should be straight and obvious. Nothing should distract your eyes.

Therefore always:

• Decide what the image is about. Choose the prominant subject of the image.
• Look for subordinate subjects and cut them off the image if you think they don’t belong there. Remember: keep the image as simple as possible.
• Make sure the background doesn’t take the attention from the prominant subject.
• Don’t put the prominant subject in the centre of the image (sometimes you would want to do that, but very rarely).
• And try to guide the eyes to the prominant subject by using lines, symmetry, subordinate subjects or patterns.

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