Photographic Composition is what seperates generic point-and-shoot photography from actual planned and thought out photography. Without knowing how to properly compose a picture, you may have a SR4,500 camera complete with accessories, but will still be taking bland pictures.

A camera is a tool, and no matter how simple or complex a tool is, the effectiveness of this tool relies on the operator. For an example, let's use one of the simplest tools, a hammer. This hammer has the full ability to drive a nail perfectly straight without bending it or smashing your fingers in the process, but if you don't know what you're doing, you can end up with a disfigured nail and a disfigured thumb to boot. That nice shiny camera may be excellent at reproducing your photograph on a digital or film medium, but you may not be using the camera properly, or 'hitting the nail on the head' so to speak.

All good pictures start with a subject. Before taking a picture, decide what you want the primary subject or point of interest to be.

Generally, the picture should be taken in a way that makes the subject the first thing which is seen in the photograph. Your subject should be the primary point of focus and should be crisp and clear. Ideally, there should be nothing in the photograph that draws more attention than the subject itself.

If, for example, you were to photograph a beach scene with a lighthouse as your subject, and a viewer is more drawn to a sandcastle on the beach, you've done a poor job of making your subject clear.

Obviously, there can be, and many times are, multiple subjects in one photograph. In this case, the objective is to obtain harmony and balance between all subjects. Do you want them both to be equally attractive, do you want one to pop while the others are slightly more subtle? These are all questions which you must address, and plan accordingly.

When choosing a subject, don't look at the photograph as the photographer, look at it as another photographer critiquing your work.