Contained within this page are a few basic rules to aid composition. These are by no means a
'how to' guide, they will not apply to every scenario & will never replace having 'a good eye' for a picture. I do however hope that you can use them to get the best from your pictures & maybe gain more understanding of what makes an image pleasing to the eye.

1. Think

Lots of people will just point & shoot without really looking at the subject or scene they are shooting. They just see other people taking a picture & think that they must also capture it. How many times have you com back from a holiday to find that out of the 10 packs of film you have, there's really only a few great pictures in there that have captured the moment. Have you really chosen the best viewpoint & framed it up perfectly before firing the shutter. Before you take your shot, look around again, then re-check it in the viewfinder. Do you have anything creeping in at the edges of the frame for example?

2. The Rule of Thirds

If you can imagine a noughts & crosses grid across your frame (represented by the white lines in the diagram to the right). This would divide your viewfinder into thirds. Often pictures that catch your eye do not have the point of interest centred in the frame. Try off-setting your point of interest so that it would appear on the intersections of your imaginary grid (represented by the red circles. Like wise, place horizons in your landscapes off of the centre plane to gice yourself more sky or land. This breaks the symetry & allows you to explore the picture further when viewing. Imagine, if you take a walk in the park, you rarely look directly at the horizon

3. Leading the eye

Wherever possible, try using objects to 'lead the eye'. For exaple, a stone wall or hedgerow meandering across the landscape if composed correctly can be used to help guide a viewers eye through the picture. Try to compose the object so that it picks up in a corner of the frame and continues through one of your 'thirds' towards the horizon. This way we know where we must look when we view the final image and will find it easier to view.