Composition in Dog Photography

Photography composition you may not know: Rückenfigur

Exactly. You’ve heard of rule of thirds, framing, leading line, fill the frame & negative space, all the classics. All discussed, written & rewritten a bazillion times over, from physical books to blogs & beyond.  Except when we land on something like the rule of odds or Rückenfigur.  What the heck is Rückenfigur? Rückenfigur is German and literally translates as “back figure”.  Coined during the 19th century German Romanticism movement & popularized by landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich in the 1810-1820s. Though this timeframe wasn’t created in the early 1800s as examples of the main figure turned away from the […]

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Mastering Composition: Leading Lines in Dog Photography

One of the well known rules of composition is leading lines. Quite literally a line is the distance between two points. Simple.  In composition, leading lines can be simple or implied, man made or natural. Leading lines lead the viewer’s eye into scene, directing the gaze to land on the subject if done correctly. They can be straight, or curved or even diagonal.  In dog photography, leading lines are wonderful ways to highlight your subject – the dog!  First, learn how to see leading lines.  Step outside, sans dog and look. Your front sidewalk is a leading line, your driveway,

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From Straight to Curved: Playing with Lines in Dog Photography

Ever have one of those photography themes where you can’t think of a jazzy blog title?– Get in Line– On Line– On the Line– Lining Up– In the Lines Hmm… each feels a bit vague for the way a line can be a quintessential part of photography. Commonly found as a rule of composition in leading lines, these types of lines lead the eye of the viewer into & around the scene of the image, frequently landing on the subject. Done correctly they have huge impact, done poorly your viewer will miss the subject in your image or miss where

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5 Tips to Enhance Your Composition with Frames

Enhance your dog photography composition with these framing tips! First off, what is framing?  Framing, aka frame within a frame, is a method of composition that uses various elements in scene to create a frame around your subject. This creates a sense of depth and draws your viewer’s eye KA-POW right to the subject of your image! Sure you could go willy nilly and frame every subject but the best practice is to ask: Does this image benefit from having a frame around the subject? Does it make the composition stronger? If not, then pass on adding the frame.  Onward!

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Rule of Thirds | 52-Week Project Archive

The 52 Week Project is a blog circle with a theme for every week (which means we all link to each other, links are found at the end of the post). This week’s theme was the classic rule of composition Rule of Thirds. Set up like a tic tac toe board, rule of thirds is an imaginary grid that divides an image into thirds. Subjects that occupy a third, especially on line or point of the grid, have a stronger point of impact in drawing the viewer into the image. The rule of thirds grid looks like this: Additionally there

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