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Learn how to place your subjects or yourself as the photographer to create visual chaos in your art.

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Center-Subject Composition

Written by David Beckstead

One of the overall rules of composition is to move your subject off-center within the compositional frame. I will not dive too deeply into the “Rule of Thirds” in this article. This rule generally guides you to place your subject anywhere other than the square in the center of the frame. Keeping your subject off-center is generally a good rule for photographers that do not have the understanding to execute the exceptions to this rule.

There are many dramatic and exciting visual exceptions to this rule.

This article is about how to recognize center/subject composition when it does not work, and more importantly, how this compositional concept can work and what makes it sometimes stronger and more dramatic than simple off-center framing.

There are those who do not understand composition and place the subject repeatedly into the center because it 'appears' safe.

There are those who follow the “Rule of Thirds” religiously and create imagery that is good, but not powerful.

And there are a few that would rather break compositional rules successfully than follow them blindly. This is the style of photographers willing to take the risks and reap the rewards of powerful imagery. Creating powerful imagery gives you a strong foundation to be different from everyone else. Being different gives you the foundation to create strong financial opportunities.

It is generally said that “art is subjective”'. Yet it is generally known that the stronger your compositions are, the more you are worth.

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David Beckstead
		About the author:
		Current Author Promotion: Find out more about David's Current Worshop "Shoot With Beckstead" David Beckstead was named “The Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World” by American Photo magazine - March 2007 issue. David is truly a mountain man at heart! He has traveled to over 65 countries and almost every state in the US. He has hiked thousands of miles of backcountry, including above the base camp of Mt. Everest. He was one of the first registered trackers for Arizona Search and Rescue, worked for the US Forest Service for 12 summers as a Hotshot firefighter fighting fires around the US and Canada, all the while carrying a Nikon SLR with a 50 mm 1.8 lens. David is a fine art watercolor painter and lover of all things artistic.
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