Compose your photos like the old masters

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

We probably all know that a good, well-considered composition makes your photo stronger. If you place the most important elements in the right place in your photo, you increase the chance of attracting the viewer's attention. But what is the right place, and how do you determine it?

People have an eye for certain proportions and compositions, often without realising it themselves. One of these proportions is the rule of thirds. Divide your photo into nine equal sections and place the elements you consider important on the lines created.

They do this by making these lines visible on their camera display, while others crop their photo afterwards in Photoshop/Lightroom. The most experienced photographers already have an eye for this and do not need any aids. They compose the image by feel.

The master painters and photographers of old were particularly skilled at this. Just look at the photo below by Henri Cartier-Bresson and see how he used the 'Rule of Thirds'. The faces of the two main subjects and the man's hand on the table are positioned exactly where they should be.

The rule of thirds is just one of many proportions you can use to compose your image. However, this method originated from another proportion that was already used in the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. They built, among other things, their temples according to this principle.

Buildings made using these specific proportions were considered more beautiful, but they were also stronger and could withstand greater forces. I am referring to the so-called 'Golden Ratio', or Fibonacci ratio (1: 1.618033988).

In 1611, the astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered what happens when a number from the Fibonacci sequence 0-1-1-2-3-5-8-13 is divided by the preceding number. The quotient is always 1.6. The further along the sequence, the more accurately you arrive at the Golden Number: 1.618033988….

This number, denoted by the Greek symbol Φ [phi], expresses the phenomenon of the “ideal proportion”. We can also use it in photography.

The golden ratio (ratio 1: 1.618033988) can be translated into a spiral shape. The areas of the segments in the spiral are numbers from the so-called Fibonacci sequence.

This spiral shape and golden ratio appear in all kinds of unexpected places, such as in the length of your finger bones, our ECG, the growth of rabbit and bee populations, spiral galaxies, nautilus shells, music, the human body, logos designed by design agencies, painting, and we could go on for quite a while.

The great masters of painting, such as Vermeer, Rembrandt and Dali, and famous photographers, such as Cartier-Bresson and Brassai, knew that applying this ratio would give their works greater strength and beauty.

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