In a group, in private, remotely or live:

The (famous) rule of thirds.

Simply place the subject, or another striking element of the image, in one third of the frame. This method of composition makes the photograph more dynamic.

A very strict example of the use of the rule of thirds.

Lines of force.

The lines can be horizontal, oblique or curved. Each type of line leaves a different impression on the reader of the image: "dynamism" for oblique lines; "calm and stability" for horizontal lines; "softness" for curved lines.

Example of lines of force (1)
Example of lines of force (2)

The subject's environment.

A minimalist setting or a blurred, uncluttered background will highlight the main subject of the image. On the other hand, a busy, sharp background will help blend the subject into the composition, making it less obvious.


A clean but uncluttered background; the subject is highlighted.
A busy but blurred background; the subject is highlighted.

Look for natural frames.

This is not one of the "big rules" of composition, but it is extremely effective nonetheless! It simply consists of framing your subject within a frame present in your environment. This trick, in addition to creating a particular aesthetic, will also highlight the subject. Here are two examples:

Example of natural frame (1)
Example of natural frame (2)

Light can drastically change the emotion of your image. It can make a subject seem more intense, scary, relaxing, etc. But understanding and reading light is a challenge. Essentially, a "successful" light ambiance photograph will be the result of:

Good observation/analysis of the environment by the photographer.

The photographer's ability to transcribe this light onto the image; thanks to the camera's settings.

Ultimately, it is down to the photographer to locate the light which will refine the subject of the photograph; even if the light itself makes up the principal subject of the image.

Here are some examples of light that make for aesthetic photographs.

Shadows cast on a surface. Particular attention should be paid to the shadows of dusk and dawn.

✅ JPEG vs RAW

JPEG and RAW are the types of files used to save your photo. JPEG is a compressed file that leaves little room for retouching the exposure. RAW will offer a raw, uncompressed image, allowing for more in-depth retouching of the shot. Go to your camera settings to choose between the two.

✅ White balance

Don’t neglect the white balance setting! This determines the dominant hue, or its absence, in your image.
Does a yellowish or bluish image sound familiar to you? This is the result of a bad white balance! You can adjust the white balance either by selecting a "preset" (adapted to a certain light environment), or manually.
Examples of "bad" white balances.

✅ Histograms

The histogram is extremely useful. Use it to check the exposure of an image to make sure that it is neither too dark nor too light.
Although a little scary and convoluted at first glance, this graph is actually quite simple to read. Displaying the histogram of an image is usually child's play, and can be done with a single button.
The histograms of a correctly exposed image and an image that is too dark.

✅ The P mode

When looking at your camera for the first time, you can't miss the different shooting modes: manual, A/Av, S/Tv, and the P mode. This last mode is best suited for a beginner wishing to get out of automatic. It allows one to manually control the sensitivity (expressed in ISO), whilst the camera automatically decides the aperture value and the speed.
Did that sound like complete gibberish? Don't worry, we'll come back to the aperture and speed later!
Increasing sensitivity causes "digital noise" to appear.

Landscape.

Yosemite Valley, 1934 © Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams is without doubt one of the most famous landscape photographers. He was a fervent environmentalist who wanted to capture the wild beauty of nature and encourage the general public to protect it.

Portrait.

Brent Booth, 21 years old, Des Moines, Iowa, $30, circa 1991 © Philip Lorca diCorcia
Philip Lorca diCorcia is an American photographer, born in 1953 in Connecticut. He is considered one of the most brilliant portrait photographers of his generation. His photographs combine elements of the documentary style with those of the fictional image.

diCorcia used to pay his models, often met by chance on the street. Thanks to the title of this photograph, we learn that Brent Booth was paid $30.

Architecture.

Silber-Gelatine Abzüge, 1965-1992 © Bernd and Hilla Becher
In the early 1960s, the photography couple Bernd and Hilla Becher began a rigorous architectural inventory of European industrial buildings.

They documented the functional constructions of industrial sites objectively and head-on: silos, mine shafts, blast furnaces, gasometers and water towers.

Street Photography.

USA, New York City, Man walking in Wall Street area. September 18th, 2001. © Bruce Gilden / Magnum Photos
Bruce Gilden is certainly one of the greatest representatives of street photography.

Without even a word, and at less than two metres from his subject, he freezes his characters with a big flash.

Capturing movement is an important skill to have. If you want to ‘freeze’ a fast moving object, or make your images more dynamic, you need to know about the shutter speed.

Like aperture and sensitivity, shutter speed affects the exposure of an image by bringing more or less light to the sensor.

The shutter controls the passage of light, and remains open for the necessary amount of time for a good exposure of the image. While only a few fractions of a second will be needed to expose an image of a bright subject, several seconds (or even minutes) will be required for a dark subject.

Beyond the influence on the exposure, the shutter speed will also have a significant effect on the aesthetics of the image. A slow shutter speed will allow one to record the movements of a subject in the form of a blurred "trail". A fast shutter speed, on the other hand, will freeze a moving subject precisely and clearly.

Here are some examples of images whose aesthetics depend mainly on the shutter speed used:

To freeze a drop of water in suspension, a fast shutter speed is required.

To capture the subject in focus, a fast speed was used.

It takes several seconds to record the trails left by car headlights.

The shutter was left open for a few seconds to create this effect.

To capture the rotation of the earth, a shutter speed of a few minutes may be sufficient. If you want to try slow or fast speed shooting, you will need to use the "speed priority" mode (S or Tv mode). You can then choose speeds ranging from 1/8000 of a second to 30 seconds!

You’ve probably heard of these terms before. But what actually is aperture and depth of field?

To understand how aperture works and how it affects an image, let's look at the human body, specifically our eyes. Hopefully you remember some high-school biology, because we are about to get a little scientific!

The pupil of our eye has the capacity to reduce or increase its aperture to let more or less light through to our retina. The "pupillary reflex" allows our eye to regulate the influx of light to either limit glare or maximise our perception in a dark environment.

When it comes to photography, the aperture works in the same way as our pupil. Effectively, a part called the diaphragm can vary its aperture to control the amount of light reaching the sensor (photosensitive surface - which records the light). Therefore, the aperture is a crucial parameter in image exposure.

The diaphragm of a lens; small blades are used to open or reduce the aperture.

But what about the depth of field?

Well, the variation of the aperture will also lead to a change in the depth of field. In other words, the plane of sharpness will be more or less deep, and the blur outside this plane will be more or less pronounced. Have a look at the images below to see what we mean.

The smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field.