Focus on Disney World - Composition

Most of us take a lot of snapshots when we are on vacation – quick photos of our traveling companions standing in front of their favorite attractions. We’re happy when we catch them with their eyes open or a smile on their face. Then we get home and realize that all of our photos look pretty much the same: there’s Barb and the kids in front of the castle”¦ there’s Barb and the kids in front of Morocco”¦ that’s the kids with Barb in front of Star Tours”¦ oh, there’s me and the kids in front of Expedition Everest”¦ hmmm, what’s that”¦ I can’t quite tell, but it must be Barb and the kids!

Have you ever looked at some people’s vacation photos and felt like you could just walk right into the picture, almost as if you were there yourself? How is it that some pictures are so fun and interesting to look at? Some people seem to have a real knack for taking great photos. Well, you don’t have to be a professional photographer or have any fancy equipment to take photos that stand out from the typical tourist shots. People who take good photos just know how to compose them in a way that makes them interesting for others to view. There are people for whom this comes naturally, but for most of us it’s a simple matter of knowing a few composition techniques.

Over the next few weeks I’ll show you how, with very little effort, you can take photos that look like they were taken by a pro. You won’t necessarily want to use these tips on every photo you take. After all, those fuzzy, crooked pix of droopy-eyed relatives in front of Tower of Terror make us smile! But it is fun to experiment and it doesn’t hurt to have a few tricks up your sleeve to mix things up a bit.

Quick Tip: Although there are many techniques for composing a photo, there is no right or wrong way to do it. Don’t get too caught up in trying to follow the rules of composition. The photo above was taken at the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot last May. I didn’t use any particular technique to take it. All I did to compose this shot was move around, looking through my viewfinder until I liked what I saw. I wanted to capture the contrast between the circles created by the flower pots and the stripes created by the light in the water. When I got those two things lined up in a way that was pleasing to my eye, I snapped the photo.