Digital Photography Techniques

The rule of thirds is the idea that a photograph is most visually pleasing when the subjects are composed along imaginary lines, which divide the image into thirds horizontally and vertically. This technique allows the image to appear complex but not too busy, and also balances the image without making it seem static.

The most important part of the rule of thirds is that your main subject is not in the centre of your photograph. An off centre subject can create a sense of direction and give your image dynamics which you wouldn’t achieve without the rule of thirds. There are times where you will feel the need to break the rule, especially when attempting to achieve a sense of symmetry in your photograph. I strongly suggest that you establish what you want to emphasise in the image before sticking rigidly to any rule.

Extended Depth  of Field

Depth of field is a photography technique widely used by photographers to choose a specific focal point in the image, whereas our eyes automatically achieve the perfect focus on any given object. The photographer must decide whether they would prefer to portray the image in a way which draws attention to one main subject by ensuring that this is the only object in focus, or wish to portray all the subjects in focus. There is a middle ground to these two extremes - the photographer could use multiple exposures to create a photograph which has many focal points, creating an image with less noise and more sharpness throughout.

Extreme Field of View

When we take in a scene, we are able to see much further than a camera lens due to our peripheral vision. To achieve this same scene in a single photograph, the photographer could take several different shots and stitch them together. This technique has only become possible since the invention of digital photography. The user would combine the images together digitally, creating one single photograph comprising of many single exposures. This creates a much sharper and detailed photograph than would be possible by using a wide angle lens and using one exposure. However, the photographer must take perspective into account when aligning the images, as several individual images put together like a jigsaw will not create the same perspective as one single shot.

Wide Angle Lenses

In theme with the technique above, a wide angle lens can achieve extremely powerful images which exaggerate depth and relative size. It is an extremely difficult lens to master as it has a couple of unique features, such as enabling the image to encompass a wide or panoramic view, and it has a close focusing distance. To emphasise relative size it is essential that the photographer gets close to the subject. Another important tip is to be aware of barrel distortion as this can cause straight lines to seem bulged when they don’t pass through the centre of the image.