Anyone who’s ever joined a photography club knows that there are certain rules members must follow. These include when to arrive, when to leave, where to sit, who to listen to, who you should ignore, the list seems endless. Similarly, the first time you present your work for judging, you will encounter a variety of critiques: “too much white space,” “shouldn’t use black frames,” “too colorful.” “wrong f-stop,” “too sharp,” “too blurry.”
It’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget that the reason you became interested in photography was not to relive old elementary school experiences, but to genuinely enjoy art.
The important thing is not to get disillusioned because eventually you will develop your own style and pick and choose what ‘rules’ to follow for your content. Critics need to have a set of standard guidelines partly to help make sure judging is uniform and, uh, well, let’s just give them the benefit of the doubt and stop here.
One rule that I have found helpful is 2’s and 3’s or evens and odds. The idea is that an odd number of objects is aesthetically more pleasing to the viewer than an even number.
This means that groups of three create more balance to a picture than a group of two. Similarly, a portrait (one subject) is also very compelling. Like every rule, there are exceptions of course, so there is no need to add your mother in law to all those wedding couples-only photos just yet.
I was skeptical at first but believe the photo below shows the basic concept.
The three flowers seem more balanced and spread across the image more evenly than the duo counterpart. The two flowers are like a ‘bulls-eye’ and focus your attention directly to that spot without allowing you to explore other parts of the picture.
You might suggest adding more space between the two flowers but then this would create an image where your eyes would bounce back and forth between the flowers instead of taking in the whole scene.
Keep this ‘rule’ in mind and see how what great results you get! Soon you’ll be creating terrific looking shots and exploring fine art photography.
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