You’ll enhance a photo’s composition whenever you make sure to fill up its frame with your subject. To do this every time, sometimes you’ll need to use a zoom or a long lens, and sometimes you’ll need to step closer, but your pictures will speak more strongly, and your audience will know what they’re looking at.

To get good-looking photos, you need to respect the basic rules of composition while composing your shots. Good subject placement is one of these rules. Always think about the scene before you press the trigger—that way you can avoid problems such as objects in the picture touching each other or excess noise in the background. The better you position your subject, the more it will shine in your photo.

Get the hang of composition basics and start creating more aesthetic photos that are more pleasing to your audience. Observe these rules of composition to advance from just recording reality to doing real photography. Or deliberately violate some of them to make your work provocative. But make sure it’s clear that the reason why you’re breaking the rules is because you know the rules.

Photographing people and nature is a classic, but cities are very photogenic too. No matter whether you’re in your hometown or passing through a metropolis while on vacation, if you have a camera handy, you can refine your skill at capturing hidden and public beauty. Here are a few tips for your next urban photo safari.

Does it sound crazy to you to use a black-and-white preview in your camera instead of color? Try it anyway. This preview will keep your eyes more focused on composition, making it easier for you to notice compositional flaws. That enables you to fix composition errors on the spot, instead of crying over your ruined pictures at home on your computer.

The foundation of any good photo is composition. Use solid colors and surfaces to rid your photos of everything that doesn’t belong, everything that might distract your audience’s attention. Bring life to your pictures—and don’t underestimate the details. Read on for some tips on how to add life to your pictures. As well as what mistakes to avoid.

Advertising is likely the photographic field with the highest cashflow. Photobanks sell millions of photos of countless types each day. But in this article we won’t be discussing how to shoot for photobanks. Instead we’ll focus on the basics of composing commercial photos.

Just one snap, and I’m moving on. That’s how most photos’ stories end. Before they start, really. It’s a shame that most of us (including yours truly) don’t usually think about what we’re photographing. So I’d like inspire your thoughts on composing and more today by sharing some of mine—by telling how an idea became a photo.

There are many ways to approach photography. When something catches a beginner’s eye, they just point, and click. (What innocent bliss!) With experience, photographers start thinking about subject placement and the Golden Ratio. But have you ever thought about taking composition to the extreme, for example by shrinking the main subject until it’s almost invisible, or by practically eliminating the background? That’s minimalism. What do you get after that? Well, if you want to take a break from the sea of Christmas ornaments around you, read on.

It’s not so important what you photograph, and especially not what you use. It’s more important that you’re taking pictures. Take at least one picture daily—even if it’s with your phone. Practice composition, and watching your surroundings.