Post 495: Composition 14. Go Into the Light, Attracting Attention

Composition 14. Go Into the Light, Attracting Attention

This is Part 14 of my series on Composition

The use of light and shadow is operating procedure in nearly all artwork isn't it? Gosh, that reminded me of a song I hadn't thought about for years - 'Me and My Shadow'...Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr...anyway, I digress.

If you have light, there is a shadow. It's how you use both in photos and art that can make the piece go from ho-hum to spectacular. Our eyes are drawn to the light - very naturally. The use of the contrast of the two in so many ways can add and make the drama stronger. 

The time of day is an important part of the composition as well as the season of the year which affects the type or cast of light, the angles, the sharpness, the tonal contrasts and the differences between the midday, the morning sunrise and the evening sunsets.

Artificial and/or natural light use can be made even more interesting when they are combined.

Always be aware of the position of the light source is. Your subject and your subject's shadow must follow through when you want something to look realistic.

Playing with the contrasts that can occur with light and shadow can make artwork really pop when you make the contrast the focal point.

 

 

Photo by Justin Luebke on Unsplash  

 

Photo by Darren Richardson on Unsplash 

 

Photo by mirna rivalta on Unsplash 

 

"How to Build Better Composition by Using Light" Stefen Baumann

 

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This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

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@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

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Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.

Post 493: Composition 13. Aesthetically Pleasing? Straighten Your Lines!

Composition 13. Aesthetically Pleasing? Straighten Your Lines!

This is Part 13 of my series on Composition

Ever look at a painting or a photo and the water on the horizon is crooked? Doesn't it feel like the water should be dripping off the image? What should be straight, be straight about it. Use your level, a ruler, or for goodness sake painter's tape.

 

Photo by Ruth H Curtis on Unsplash 

See the difference in the photos? Its very slight but the top one the horizon isn't quite horizontally straight.

 

Be careful with architectural images and especially multiple lines, where you might select on as the main focus as in a building with columns. Straighten one line at least, or its painfully obvious the perspective is off.

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This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

Like my content? Follow my Blog in the top right navigation!

_________________________

Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.

Post 488: Composition 12. Find the Best Orientation

Composition 12. Find the Best Orientation

This is Part 12 of my series on Composition

Find the best orientation to design your artwork. 

When you use a printer or take a photograph, you decide between portrait and landscape. When framing your artwork, portraits usually hang vertically and landscapes usually hang horizontally. But there is more to the decision than that.

In photography, finding the best orientation is a bit simpler decision than on canvas as your options do not necessarily have to be made right there. You can easily take shots of your subject by holding the camera horizontally and then taking the photo again, vertically. Then figure out your best shot(s) later.

 

Portrait 

Portraits are most often taken with the camera held vertically, or there are a good many vertical elements in the shot that are best captured to see the height, vertically.

 

Photo by Damon Lam on Unsplash 

 

This photograph just wouldn't be right if it was horizontal, correct?

 

Landscape

Holding the camera for that landscape image is typically with the camera being held horizontally. There are usually a lot of horizontal elements in your subject like mountains. 

 

Photo by Majestic Lukas on Unsplash 

 I don't think this photograph would have the same feeling to it at all if it was vertical. The emotion of it would be lost. What do you think?

 

Panorama

Panorama can be horizontal or vertical, just find what will work best, or more interesting for your subject.

Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratio is defined as, "An aspect ratio is the dimensions of an image expressed in a ratio form. You determine the aspect ratio by comparing an image’s width and height, then writing it as a width:height ratio (such as 3:2 or 4:5)." - Digital Photography School

In even simpler terms, the aspect ratio is the size of the image taken by the camera.

A good read is Shutterstock - A Guide to Common Aspect Ratios

When finding the best orientation and aspect ratio for your image, print, or artwork, you will determine how the subject(s) or the scene will be captured on the it. It is the decision to figure out what size of canvas and will it be horizontal or vertical to best display.

This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

Like my content? Follow my Blog in the top right navigation!

_________________________

Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.

Post 484: Composition Part 11. Depth of Field

Composition Part 11. Depth of Field

This is Part 11 of my series on Composition

Depth of field is described as the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that give an image judged to be in focus in a camera or that appears acceptably sharp. In other words, how much of the image will be in focus.

Shallow Depth of Field

Usually the subject is the only thing in focus, is sharp, while the background is blurred, or not in focus at all.

Deep Depth of Field

The image is pretty much in focus from the foreground to the background. 
 
Although this may seem to point solely at photographers and the photos they take, it is also part of composition on how you might set up your design for a painting as well. To better understand the depth of field, this video will help.

Aperture & Depth of Field made EASY - Photography Course 5/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdxKl5np9KE

Chris Bray Photography

 

Photo by Dmitry Nor on Unsplash - quite literally, depth of field

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This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

Like my content? Follow my Blog in the top right navigation!

_________________________

Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.

Post 483: Composition Part 10. Element Relationships and Complements

Composition Part 10. Element Relationships and Complements

This is Part 10 of my series on Composition

There are complementary design elements as well as there are complementary colors. 

With complementary colors, we know that they are opposite of each other on the color wheel. Artists can enhance a design making great color decisions with the use of these opposites - on purpose color clashing. Elements can be made to seen brighter if opposite colors are positioned next to each other. 

The elements in the design can have interesting relationships in many ways; colors can clash, there can be size discrepancies, and there can be a feeling of tension. Other elements may add humor or a deeper meaning - which is a way to get people to stop and study the art to try to figure out what or why the artist did what they did in the piece - which is always good, right?

 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash 

 

Art Fundamentals: Color Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpbMGbQxX90

Swatches

Go forth and color clash!

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This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

Like my content? Follow my Blog in the top right navigation!

_________________________

Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.

Post 480: Composition 9. Movement Flow from Left to Right

Composition 9. Movement Flow from Left to Right

This is Part 9 of my series on Composition

This one sort of throws me because as a speaking English person here in the USA, we read text from left to right. But there are other languages that do not read that way. So my question would be would this "rule" apply to them?

The rule says to compose your photo from left to right similar to the way we read our text and to even flip your image if needed, as long as there isn't any text printed on it. This is especially suggested for action and wildlife images. And you should leave some blank space to the right of the action so that there is room for the person, animal, whatever has room to move into and doesn't fall off the edge.

 

Photo by Mieke Campbell on Unsplash 

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This is part 9 of a 21 part series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

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@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

Like my content? Follow my Blog in the top right navigation!

_________________________

Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.

Post 479: Composition Part 8. Golden Rule Placement of Your Main Subject

Composition Part 8. Golden Rule Placement of Your Main Subject

This is Part 8 of 21 of my series on Composition

According to the National Geographic Society, the Golden Ratio "is a unique mathematical relationship. Two numbers are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the numbers (a b) divided by the larger number (a) is equal to the ratio of the larger number divided by the smaller number (a/b). The golden ratio is about 1.618, and represented by the Greek letter phi."- National Geographic.org

Ok. There is that. Looks like algebra to me. So what does it mean? Read the whole page on the link above to get a bit of understanding (?) and good luck...

The basics of it is that it is a naturally occurring and aesthetically pleasing to the eye way to configure the most balanced composition of order to your design. It is sort of a variation on the Rule of Thirds, using spacing, and blank spacing using the ratio. The thought in practice example is the spirals of a seashell spiraling out. 

Some variations on the theme are:

• Golden Rule
• Golden Spiral
• Golden Mean
• Golden Triangle 
• Golden Rectangle 
• Golden Ratio
  

Painters, photographers and designers have been using this composition rule for years, knowingly and unknowingly. Our eyes are just tickled silly when we see it.

 

Photo by SARAH GRANGER on Unsplash 

Photo by Ludde Lorentz on Unsplash 

Photo by Laura Gilchrist on Unsplash

Do you use this technique in your work or will you start now?

More suggested reading on Art Ignition about the Golden Ratio.

This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

Like my content? Follow my Blog in the top right navigation!

_________________________

Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.

Post 477: Composition Part 7. Use of Subject Focus Filling the Frame

Composition Part 7. Use of Subject Focus Filling the Frame

This is Part 7 of 21 of my series on Composition

Another composition trick or tip is to bring your subject into the foreground with the full focus on really zeroing or zooming in on the subject so the he/she/it fills the frame in a purposeful way. It could mean that some cropping happens to take out unnecessary background "noise", perhaps too much extra sky above or the street/water below, and/or buildings on the sides. 

Bring your subject closer by filling the frame tighter to focus on that subject. Here is a photo I took of the Belmont Bay Marina, Occoquan, VA in 2020 to try to give you an example although the actual focused "subject" is debatable...

I cut out my shadow and a lot of the big blue sky, really tightened up the photo above. Maybe looking at the images of the gazebo at Belmont Bay is a better example (below).

The original picture above

The original picture zoomed in but still a lot of sky, tree, foreground.

The original picture zoomed in more - now the focus is really on the gazebo and a good part of the 'nonsense' is cropped out. Get the picture? (pun intended)

Try zooming in on your design to fill the frame, or canvas with your next composition.

By the way, this is the painting I did of the Belmont Bay Marina at Occoquan, Virginia that day, although it was more about the Marina than a focus in on something. You can see the gazebo to the right in the distance.

 

"Belmont Bay Marina, Occoquan, Virginia" by Donna Liguria, Acrylic 16x20

This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

Like my content? Follow my Blog in the top right navigation!

_________________________

Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.

Post 474: Composition Part 6. The Use of Repeated Elements, Patterns

Composition Part 6. The Use of Repeated Elements, Patterns

Part 6 of 21 of my series on Composition

We humans just love looking at and for patterns and repetitions wherever we can find them. Compositions can be made quite powerful using color, shapes, lighting, and other options with repeated elements. When composing your art, you may only need to shift to the left or right, up or down to change the perspective of the pattern but in photography especially, look for variations in your angle to capture the patterns and repetitions.

There is a symmetry in repetition that is very powerful when captured correctly. Repetitions can occur naturally or be man-made. It is said that man-made repetitions are easier to spot than the ones made by nature. Sometimes you need to zoom in to see the patterns, but often, they are there.

The human eye sees these patterns and repetitions and tries to process them. To group them, to count them - it's what we do. We like order.

Photo by Chris Curry on Unsplash

Types of Repetitive Patterns:

• Color Repetition
• Shapes
• Opposing Patterns
• Abstract Patterns 
• Organic Patterns
  

A few notes on repetition and pattern:

• Element repetition creates a pattern.
  
• Repetition patterns cannot exist without at least three repetitions - more is better, odd numbers are best.
  
• Try zooming in on the repetition and fill the frame (or canvas)
• Or try to break the pattern, with either some extra space, or an unexpected pop of color 
• Architectural images lend themselves easily to patterns.

Here is a good article on Patterns and Repetition in Composition for more info on this subject. On this subject. On this subject.

This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission

Like my content? Follow my Blog in the top right navigation!

_________________________

Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

 *I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.