Should Diagonals Enter the Image from the Corner?
There is often much debate as to whether or not diagonal elements of a composition should enter the frame from one of the corners. As the images below show, I strongly believe that they should. Your compositions will be more interesting and more powerful.
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| This image of a Great Blue Heron with nesting material was created with the handheld Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS 50D. ISO 400. 1/1000 sec. at f/8. Central sensor AI Servo AF. At the moment of capture the sensor was not on the subject but the focus held. Note that I composed the image so that the heron's breast angled into the frame from the lower right corner. The DO lenses are great when working from small watercraft as I was here. |
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| Same bird, similar composition, different light. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS 1D MIII. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/80 sec. at f/5.6. It is important to use the RGB histogram when creating silhouettes to avoid burning the RED channel. |
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I tend to agree with you Art. I seem to recall reading that the point of entry or exit of a photo should not be in the corners but I have found the opposite to be true more often than not.
The silhouette photo above has a very calm feeling to it. Thank you for sharing it.