When you think of composition in photography, what are the first things that come to mind? Rule of thirds. Fill the Frame. Leading lines. Depth. Repetition. If you are really educated, you may also think of perspective, angles, and color.

The world of artistic composition actually includes quite a bit more than you may think. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Just like with the basic rules of composition, you can train your eye to identify the other principles of composition, making your photos more dynamic than you thought possible.

Learning advanced composition is simpler than you may think. You only need to focus on one word: Geometry.

Yes. That course that you took in High School actually can have great influence on your photographic composition. In fact, many artists can subconsciously identify the shapes through a viewfinder, but they wouldn’t necessarily realize it unless pointed out by someone else.

While you may not look through your viewfinder and say to yourself “I should use a polygon for this image”, you may be surprised by how the use of those shapes help your photographs make sense visually. In this image, the Polygon is created by flowers in the foreground – and also a contrast between the light and dark areas.

Squares make excellent frames, and also provide incredible interest with repetition. With this image, the square is in the very middle of the frame, created by the chairs and my subject. Squares are also a part of the background with the books and bookshelves.

Arches have the similar natural motion of circles, but these may be more a part of the background than a complete shape in itself. The heart shape of the hands in the background create 3 arches – which also frame the flower itself.