A photographer must use every aspect of the camera, lighting, subject, and creativity in order to get a perfect picture. Like a musician who arranges notes on a page, a photographer arranges the picture in such a way as to grab the viewer's attention and fully explains the situation. The following guidelines are made to help you get the most out of your pictures.

• SIMPLICITY - Tell just one story. Pick out the subject you want to photograph, and make sure that is all you show. Don't leave any doubt about what the viewer is supposed to look at.

• FILL THE FRAME - Look carefully out to the edges of the viewfinder to see if you are including anything which is unnecessary (or cutting off something which is needed).

• TEXTURE - Look for pictures here which accentuate the weaver in fabric of someone's clothing or sweat, tears, or rain on a person's face.

• FRAMING - Take the picture from a spot which lets you use other objects or people to make a frame around your subject. This will make people look at your subject longer. But make sure that the frame isn't so big that it distracts from the main object.

• CONTROLLED BACKGROUND - Nothing in the background should distract from the main subject. Move around to pick the best shooting angle to hide distractions, or make sure the background is out of focus.

• DEPTH - Give your picture a life-like feel by creating a three- dimensional effect, showing a distinct foreground, middle ground and background.

 

• COMPARISON AND CONTRAST - People are drawn to look more closely at pictures which show subjects with striking similarities or differences.

• UNIQUE ANGLE - Showing the world from a viewpoint not usually seen will cause people to stop and linger over this new insight.

• RULE OF THIRDS - Imagine a tic-tac-toe board in your view finder, and locate the main subject off-center, usually at one of the places where the line meet. Allow for a feeling of implied motion by leaving more space in front of the picture's action than behind it.