Composition Essentials for Outdoor Photography

Class Preview

Master composition basics that you can use as guidelines in your outdoor photography and learn when you can break those rules to develop your own creative vision.

Composition Basics

Composition is the arrangement of subjects within your image. How you arrange the things that construct your photograph has a lot to do with how well the photo turns out. Composition basics are designed to be guidelines to assist you in the organization of your framing. After watching this session, you’ll be able to construct quality images based on your knowledge of the composition guidelines.

Break the Rules

While composition rules and guidelines are helpful, it’s also important to be able to express yourself creatively as a photography. Remember, compositional rules aren’t set in stone. This session will show you when to break the rules and how to see good compositions that go beyond the standard guidelines.

Long Lens Compositions

Did you know that your lens selection has everything to do with how your composition will look? It’s true. This session will teach you what a telephoto lens will do to the elements that are within your frame as well as how a telephoto lens will impact your outdoor photography compositions.

Wide-Angle Lens Compositions

Just as a telephoto lens will affect how your photos look, a wide-angle lens will also distort the frame to give a specific look. Based on the technology of a wide-angle lens, your compositions will be adjusted significantly. After watching this session, you’ll be able to know what the composition benefits are of using a wide-angle lens.

Framing Wildlife

Wildlife photography needs proper composition as well. The only challenge with wildlife photography is that your subjects are unpredictable and constantly moving. This session will show you how to adapt to your subjects while framing them properly in your wildlife photography.

Advanced Compositions

It’s always interesting to see where composition will lead you. For some, they like to stay within the guidelines. Others are more rebellious and like to break the rules of compositions. No matter where you go, you will start seeing more advanced lines and shapes throughout the frame. This session will take you through advanced ideas to get you started.

Lightroom Tips for Better Compositions

Compositions don’t stop in the field. You can actually fine-tune your outdoor photography compositions in post-processing. Lightroom is probably the most popular post-processing software for outdoor photographers. This session will show you how to finalize your professional compositions to take them to the next level.

Meet Your Expert

Learn more about David Johnston.