This month has seen the start of our Picture Frames Express Photo Competition so in honour of that we thought we would start a new series of blog posts offering tips and advice on taking great photos to hopefully give you some inspiration.

Part One – Composition

When taking a photo, the composition refers to the placement of elements within the image to put together the most visually pleasing image possible. There are many factors that have an impact on the composition of a photo such as positioning, lighting, colour, perspective and contrast. Professional photographers will take all these factors into account when taking their photographs but there are some tips that people can take on board no matter whether they do photography as a hobby or just use their cameras on family outings. Here’s a look at composition tips that will help you create great photos to display proudly in a picture frame.

Lines that occur naturally can help create direction in your photos.

Different directions give different feelings, for example slanting lines imply movement, curved lines are calming and converging lines create the sense of distance.

Repeating items create a sense of rhythm and this can be broken by an odd or missed element.

To create more interesting compositions consider using the rule of thirds. This means imagining guidelines over the image and positioning elements where the lines cross and not in the centre. Find out more about the rule of thirds.

Your eyes are drawn to what is in focus in an image. Most cameras have auto-focus which focuses on what is in the centre of the frame but this can be changed to focus away from the centre.

Zooming plays an important part in composition with zooming in allowing you to isolate certain elements and zooming out capturing the whole view. Make sure to utilise the optical zoom and not digital zoom on your camera as digital zoom can reduce the quality of your photo.

The main ‘global photographic event of the year’ shortlist has now been announced.

The Sony World Photography Awards has gained interest from budding photographers everywhere.  The 2012 competition opened on the 1st June 2011 and closed on the 12th January 2012.  The judging process takes place during January and the shortlist announced on the 2nd February.

There are several categories to choose from, so there is plenty of scope to practice and aim to take the best picture possible. This year has seen worldwide interest and with over 112,000 entries from over 171 countries it is no wonder it takes a while to sift through the entries.

The winners of the 10 individual and diverse categories are announced at the gala event which is held in London this April.  There might be a budding photographer within all of us and if you enjoy the process of the taking photographs there is the opportunity to enter for the 2013 competition.

Even if you decide on another year, why not still frame your photographs in a stylish picture frame for all your friends and family to see. Who knows next year your photo might make the shortlist…and you have those summer holidays to practice.

Photo credit: MarchieCTID