A fun way to learn about composition

Composition is (in my opinion) one of the most important aspects of a good photograph. 

Recently I went to an Ansel Adams exhibition at a local museum. Exhibits of his work are always inspiring and it’s incredible to see his work in person.

Create your own landscape

My favorite part of this one in particular though? An interactive “Create an Ansel Adams Landscape” section. On two walls there were two main framed mostly empty scenes. In between these scenes, there was an area that contained magnetic elements of an Ansel Adams photograph. Skies, trees, mountains, rocks and grass.

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The instructions (besides play, which I’ve added in my own head at this point):

Using your artistic eye, create a black and white landscape using the variety of magnetic nature elements and land formations.

Take inspiration from the Ansel Adams photos around you and think about how you can play with perspective and lighting.

Then, of course, you’re invited to take a photograph and share it on social media using the museum’s hashtag.

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Our own compositions and teaching with this method

So, my friend and I created our own compositions using the pieces provided. We ended up deciding we would crop the vertical image because we didn’t have enough pieces to make it work quite as well as the horizontal.  

I kept thinking as I was doing this, what a great way to teach kids about composition. Place pieces and talk about if it works where it is or if moving it somewhere else would look and ‘feel’ better. 

But why limit it to kids? You can do this at home or at your next camera club meeting. Grab some magazines and cut out elements to create your own scenes. Or, draw and cut out your own. This wouldn’t have to be limited to landscapes either. You could use people to learn about portrait compositions or random things to create still-life competitions. As I always say, the only limit is your imagination.