5 Ways to Get a Great Shot

In this photo, cars and people dot the foreground, the space shuttle Endeavour dominates the middle ground, and billboards create a grid in the background. Despite this chaos, the composition is symmetrical, using the shuttle’s shape to evenly divide the space and create balance. The shuttle is centered, with wings stretching almost all the way across the image. The lower half of the photo is mostly in shadow, directing the viewer’s eye up to the brighter subject—the shuttle. In the background, the advertisements become a framework of color. This geometric approach enabled the photographer to capture the massive space shuttle on its final journey, through the streets of Los Angeles.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Gabby Douglas soared into history when she became the first African-American gymnast to win a women’s individual all-around gold medal.

This photograph is stunning not only because of Douglas’s physical feat, but also because it emphasizes the athlete by gently blurring the chaotic background. Spectators and gymnastic equipment fill the composition. But the viewer’s eye is directed to the athlete because she appears in such great detail compared with everything behind her. 

The photograph was taken from slightly below the balance beam. This point of view gives the appearance that Douglas is jumping even higher into the air, adding drama and excitement to the composition.

Taken at Liberty State Park on September 11, 2012, this image marks the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. More than 700 New Jersey residents lost their lives on 9/11. Their names are etched on the walls of the park’s Empty Sky Memorial. The parallel walls point across New York Harbor to the place where the Twin Towers once stood. The edges of the walls act as leading lines, directing the viewer’s eye toward One World Trade Center, rising in the background. The names on the wall in the foreground are large but get smaller as they recede, encouraging the viewer’s focus to shift deeper into the composition.

After Barack Obama was re-elected president of the U.S. on November 6, 2012, he tweeted the image above with the caption “Four more years.” It quickly went viral and was liked, shared, and retweeted more than any other image in social-media history.

In addition to its historical significance, the image is also an outstanding example of photography’s rule of thirds. This means that an imaginary grid divides the image into thirds and the subject appears on one of the lines in the grid. Here, the first couple is located on the vertical line on the left. The President’s face and arm appear on the imaginary horizontal lines. Why do you think that this compositional technique creates a strong photograph?

Last October, Hurricane Sandy devastated communities on the East Coast, including Seaside Heights, NJ. After the storm, only part of this roller coaster remained above sea level. Taken from a helicopter, the image has an unexpected point of view. The high angle shows the vast sea, the land, and the sky above. The shoreline acts as a leading line, drawing the viewer’s eye along the beach to the distant horizon. The image also makes use of color, with soft blues and whites blending to create a monochromatic image. Which other rules discussed on these pages apply to this photograph?