A few days ago I was asked to give some advice on someone else’s photography assignment relating to architectural photography. The theme was ‘Extraordinary out of the Ordinary’, using compositional techniques such as two thirds rule, diagonal approach, balance of negative and positive space, and colour. Here’s the content of the email I sent out (with more explanation here).

Finding the extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary

Use compositional techniques to give a fresh view of an otherwise ordinary image. As an example to illustrate this, people see things usually at eye level and sometimes shooting up or down can give a fresh look. Many times we go about our daily routine just looking straight, at eye level. Going to work and back, we see blank faces, posters, ads, building entrances, steps (hopefully), etc. Perhaps once awhile we need to change our perspective a bit and enjoy the view, the breathtaking grandeur of skyscrapers for instance. Or even the interior of a building. This was the premise for a series of pictures taken in New York I’ve entitled Looking Up.

Diagonal approach refers to lines in the composition. Three basic elements are diagonal lines, leading lines and curves. Diagonal lines are more dynamic compared to verticals and horizontal. Use lines to draw the viewer to a certain part of an image. My examples have a lot of diagonal lines.

Colour is used to draw attention to a particular subject, for eg, a red umbrella in front of a mostly gray building. See example 02….the reflection of the building draws attention easily since the rest of the image appears monochromatic.

Two-thirds rule/rules of thirds. To make the image more interesting, compose the subject at the side and not in the middle of the frame. If you imagine the scene to have 2 lines running across or along it, place the subject on one of the lines. The idea is not to have the subject dead-center of the image.

Negative and positive space. Negative space is space around an image while positive space is actual the subject itself. Use negative spaces well, too much or too little can affect the image drastically. Example of negative space can be the sky, landscape, etc while positive space is the building itself.

Technical details. Images shot with Voigtlander Bessa-R rangefinder, Hellar 15mm lens, Kodak Ektachrome slides. Conversion to B&W done in Photoshop.