Balanced composition

Informal balance gives uneven or unequal balance in the picture. When you have a large object in the picture it should be counter-balanced with a smaller object or objects to make a good layout.

Imagine a seesaw with a 5-year-old boy on one side and his Father on the other. The balance will be uneven as the father is larger and will make the seesaw heavier. Now the boy will be high in the air and the Father will be on the ground.

Now, in a photo scene, if you have a large tree on the right side of the picture frame then you must try to balance it with a smaller object such as a house, a small tree or even the figure of a person on the other side of the picture. The ways you balance the objects in your picture frame will determine the success or failure of the photo. You will have to resort to the use of different types of lenses in order to create the balance you require.

A very wide angle lens can create unbalanced composition very easily by taking the objects in front of the lens up close. The front objects will appear very large in the picture frame while the rear or distant objects will appear smaller even though they are actually larger still.

One way to create unequal balance is to find a position that will cause one object to appear larger or smaller because of the angle you took the shot. When you are out creating photographs be sure to keep these rules about balance in mind and try to incorporate them.

Smack in the centre is a definite no, no in good photo-composition rules. With the main subject right smack in the centre of the picture area it is called a Bull's Eye composition. Avoid this at all times, unless you have a definite reason for doing so. When the main subject is in the center of the picture frame the eye will go in to the picture and stay in the center of the frame looking at the main subject and will not move around in the picture to see and enjoy any other items in the image. now, the eye will get tired very fast and lose interest in the photo.

The purpose in taking photographs is to have people look at them, enjoy them, and talk about them. When they cannot get interested in a photograph they will not bother to look at it. It's best to always have the main subject off-centre in the image. Just a little off-centre it will improve the picture's composition.

Balanced composition

Informal balance gives uneven or unequal balance in the picture. When you have a large object in the picture it should be counter-balanced with a smaller object or objects to make a good layout.

Imagine a seesaw with a 5-year-old boy on one side and his Father on the other. The balance will be uneven as the father is larger and will make the seesaw heavier. Now the boy will be high in the air and the Father will be on the ground.

Now, in a photo scene, if you have a large tree on the right side of the picture frame then you must try to balance it with a smaller object such as a house, a small tree or even the figure of a person on the other side of the picture. The ways you balance the objects in your picture frame will determine the success or failure of the photo. You will have to resort to the use of different types of lenses in order to create the balance you require.

A very wide angle lens can create unbalanced composition very easily by taking the objects in front of the lens up close. The front objects will appear very large in the picture frame while the rear or distant objects will appear smaller even though they are actually larger still.

One way to create unequal balance is to find a position that will cause one object to appear larger or smaller because of the angle you took the shot. When you are out creating photographs be sure to keep these rules about balance in mind and try to incorporate them.

Smack in the centre is a definite no, no in good photo-composition rules. With the main subject right smack in the centre of the picture area it is called a Bull's Eye composition. Avoid this at all times, unless you have a definite reason for doing so. When the main subject is in the center of the picture frame the eye will go in to the picture and stay in the center of the frame looking at the main subject and will not move around in the picture to see and enjoy any other items in the image. now, the eye will get tired very fast and lose interest in the photo.

The purpose in taking photographs is to have people look at them, enjoy them, and talk about them. When they cannot get interested in a photograph they will not bother to look at it. It's best to always have the main subject off-centre in the image. Just a little off-centre it will improve the picture's composition.

Photoshop retouching

Adobe Photoshop as well as other image editing software have revolutionised photographic retouching. Recent advances in digital image manipulation now allow for unlimited possibilities in the area of improving photographs through retouching. Which types of improvements are possible by retouching photographs with Photoshop software?

Skin blemishes like acne or scars can easily be removed using the retouching tools available in Adobe Photoshop software. One can learn these Photoshop techniques in no time. Next, damage to prints can be restored - the benefits of digital imaging for restoring old damaged or worn out photographs are one of the best reasons to learn Photoshop software.

When an old photograph is scanned it can be retouched to remove tears in the paper or water marks or blemishes. One can also restore colours that have faded. When you have retouched your image and it is like new again it will last because digital images do not deteriorate over time.

Another problem is closed eyes - this is one of the most common problems with groups. One finally gets the entire family together for a family photograph only to find that one or two people have closed their eyelids. This is not a problem for a skilled user of Photoshop software. One can easily open eyes and no-one will ever be aware.

Unwanted subjects can be easily removed. You can remove blemishes in Adobe Photoshop and another common use of Photoshop’s retouching capabilities involves removing unwanted people or objects in the image. People can be forever removed from photographs quickly and easily if you know how. Thorough retouching photographs has never been easier than it is now. Editing software applications have made it a breeze to open closed eyes, remove blemishes and scars, change colours, restore old damaged photographs and remove unwanted objects and backgrounds.

Fully understanding file formats and knowing the correct one to use will save you a great deal of time. A few file formats should only be used for web images, where others are ideal to get the perfect printout. This is a list of the most popular ones and the file formats:

JPEG stands for Joint Photography Expert Group, and is a file format based on a data-compression system. It can reduces file size to as little as ten percent of the original size without any great loss to the image quality or colours. It'ss an ideal format for web work.

With JPEGs you can control the quality standard by selecting different settings to save in. When the image is needed for large reproduction work a large setting of 9 or 10 should be used. When the image is for web use only use a setting of 3 or 4 or 5.

GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format - it is also a compression format and is special designed for use in the web world. It consists of a standard set of 216 colours and is suitable for photography because of the loss to image quality and resolution.

TIFF stands for Tag Image File Format and is the best choice for images that are going to be reproduced as prints or enlargements. It can be compressed, but takes forever when trying to open it.

PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics and is mainly used for web work. Some people say that this will become the standard for web images - replacing GIF.