When I first began to take photography seriously, I tried in vain to take beautiful portraits of my daughters. I knew within a week of trying and failing to get my kids to sit still long enough for me to get my settings right that portraiture — no matter how much I loved it — just didn’t suit me at that time in my life. I had to work with what I had — kids and dogs in motion and the general chaos of everyday life.
When I discovered that documentary photography was my passion, I took hundreds (OK, probably thousands) of images in any given week in the hope a few would be decent. Some were, but most weren’t. Gradually, through trial, error and education, I became familiar with a few key techniques that aid in making a compelling documentary image. There are two methods, however, that I’ve found to be most effective in creating order in an otherwise uncontrolled image: micro-composing, made popular by world-renowned National Geographic photographer Sam Abell, and layering.
Micro-composing largely tends to flatten an image, while layering creates depth. Micro-composing, through employment of a narrow aperture, asks the viewer to study all of the elements of the frame equally; the narrow aperture avoids drawing the viewer’s eye into one specific point of focus. Layering, conversely, is most often used to draw the viewer’s eye to the most important aspect of the image. (But don’t overthink the differences — an image can be both micro-composed and layered.)
Many photographers find they may micro-compose and layer intuitively, but practicing and incorporating both methods into your everyday photography is a great way to train your eye to be more intentional about what is allowed, or not, within the frame. These techniques can be practiced anywhere and with anyone — on the street, in the home, at a neighborhood get-together, or your daughter’s gymnastics competition.
4 Keys to micro-composing
1. Shoot narrow. Of course, the focal length makes a difference, but as a general rule, at a wide angle (24-35mm), use an aperture above f/8, and shooting even narrower on a longer focal length lens will suffice.
2. Shoot through the moment. In a complicated or busy scene, shoot through the action to ensure the most important aspect of each element or subject is in clear view and dominating its own space within the frame. You’ll likely shoot several bursts, but I don’t consider this to be “spraying and praying,” but, rather, an intentional effort to get what you need. Sometimes the image you envisioned never comes together, and it’s okay to let it go.
3. Shoot with subjects or elements on multiple planes. That is, fore-, mid-, and background. The key is to avoid interaction between elements on the different planes. For example, foreground elements ideally should not touch, interact, or overlap with mid- or background elements.
4. Compose and wait. In quieter moments, compose your frame with the background in mind first, and then wait for a worthy subject to enter to complete the frame.
3 Elements in layering
1. Shoot at a wider aperture. On a wide-angle lens, shoot below f/4; above a 50mm, shoot up to f/6. Also, use other elements, people, or objects in the frame to draw the viewer’s eye to the most important aspect of the image.
2. Employ “bookends.” Most, though not all, layered images have elements at the outer-most edge of the frame that entice the viewer to look further inside the frame without drifting into less important elements. If you’re shooting at a wide angle, you’ll need to get close to your subjects.
3. The point of focus is most often not in the foreground. Layering requires using elements other than the subject of the photograph, or a wide aperture, or both, to direct the viewer’s eye to your focal point. These visual guides are usually in the fore- or mid-ground of the frame.
Photos by Bonnie Carrender
This article was originally published in the May/June 2018 issue of Click Magazine.
