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Identity

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This is about colours, fonts, consistency, a style, a way of talking to people…

I immediately decided to just use my favourite colour for my branding, a kind of teal. I then went on https://coolors.co/ and started playing around with combinations. This was a reasonably long process and I had a LOT of variations. In the end settling on a kind of wild mix of teal, yellow, purple, green and white. Was it logical? No. Did I care? Not really. I didn’t want it to look like I’d stolen it from somewhere else. I wanted it to be fun and a bit quirky. I wish I still had all the variations but eventually I deleted them. 

Often now, it’s just the teal/yellow/white combo in use. But I feel so bored locked into only 3 colours so sometimes the others get to come out. 😂

I spent some time with Erin and Tarryn from Pet Biz Creatives trying to come up with a name. This was one of the hardest parts but I think it’s MUCH easier if you’re just doing photography. Just use your own name. I talked about this in a branding lesson somewhere too. 

Since my brand was always so wrapped up in me, I knew immediately that it couldn’t really take itself too seriously. If I tried to do things seriously and professionally, I would never get anything done. 

So this kind of culture of relaxed anti-perfectionism came out of that, and in everything I do: my captions, blog posts, mailing list emails, I try and write in my voice (I love writing and used to write novels for fun so copywriting isn’t a hard task for me in terms of voice… more in terms of “I don’t wanna!”) so that I can joke around a bit, or sound sincere, or open up, or let you experience  a bit of my world. 

We also picked the fonts, and made the logo: based on Journey, which is probably due for an upgrade but that’s something I don’t have the energy for. 

For me, brand identity is something that starts with the superficial: colours, an aesthetic, fonts, a feeling…

And develops into something much deeper. How you embody that aesthetic. Is your brand identity fun and carefree? Ok, how do you show up like that in your copy, in your captions, in your stories, in your videos?

Less so now because life is a bit boring, but in the past people would reply to my stories saying how much Journey cheered them up, or how my sense of humour about something made them laugh. This was building my brand identity (whether I realised it or not at the time!

Below are some things I found from back in the day. 

Emily Abrahams Photography Branding Ideas

Inspawration branding notes

I don’t have a heap of notes from when Inspawration was in its creation stage. I think I moved so quickly from photography to giving tips and teaching that I barely had time to think about it – and the brands were so intertwined at the beginning that I wasn’t even thinking of them being something separate… until I was.

This is the earliest note I could find where I was starting to think about them as two separate businesses and trying to figure out a name.

Again, have a look at what’s changed and what hasn’t! 

Honestly, the more I’ve done this, the more I believe that what you need, your style, your ideas, the things you’ll end up doing are all there already. You just mightn’t realise it yet.

Notes from creating inspawration:

Mission statement. WHY do I do what I do? 

We all have phones and cameras, and the convenience of being able to snap a quick picture of our pets means we have so many opportunities to capture memories. But I want to help people take photos of their pets that are more impactful, something they can really cherish in years to come. I do this because I have so many photos of my dogs now, that it’s hard to choose which ones to get printed! But if I look at the photos of my old dog, there’s so much I wish I’d known about settings and composition and light. The photos are fine and I cherish them… but they aren’t AMAZING. I see people’s photos on Facebook and know that with just a few small changes, they could have photos that are really special.

For people who already have a grasp of the basic concepts, either semi-pro photographers or hobby enthusiasts, I want to take their photography to the next level, to help them find their style and create art, to inspire them to create and explore and play with their images, and for them to therefore be able to bring that gift to THEIR clients. I am so inspired by photography, by turning a photo into something more, and I want to share that with people. I want people to make work they’re proud of, and for us to all work together to support one another and build each other up, rather than seeing It as a competition

Next is an email I wrote back to Erin & Tarryn after they had brainstormed and sent through a HUGE list of names for me. Beneath that are a bunch of my own name ideas/preferences/things I was considering as contenders.

Chasing Wonder

Fetching Light

Canine creatives

Initial name thoughts:

Great list! I think it’s great as a guide to start getting a feel for what I like or am drawn to, and what I’m not..

Initial thoughts:

Insititution to me is like a “mental institution” – mad house or like… “the institution of marriage” 😬😅

Other ideas:

Collective

Club? (This shouldn’t have the “free” connotation since you often have to pay to join a club)

I like “School” or even “Learning”

I like the term “Learning Journey” a lot, even in terms of the courses. Instead of referring to them as courses on the site, I could use that, as I’m really into the idea of a growth mindset when learning…

I think from the list, I’m much more drawn to not pun names (even though I LOVE puns, I feel like they’re a bit “tacky” for a brand name? And though I want to be “fun” it’s maybe more like “whimsical” fun? If that makes sense? So some of my favourite names have been Chasing Wonder, Canine Creatives (doesn’t work if it’s more of a pet focus though I guess), and ones that I came up with a while ago which were Fetching Light, Journey Wild (doesn’t work for this project but I’m keeping it in my back pocket cos I love it so much). The idea of joy/happiness/wonder/light are some of my favourite things (Journey’s registered name is “n’Joy the Journey”.) and I guess it gives a sense of that “whimsical” kind of name. I wrote down Fetchworthy once, which I think is cute. And “Snouts and Tails” in terms of the idea of making heads or tails of photography, but snouts make me think of pigs 😂 Wet Nose Wonders from your list is cute too (it’s that kind of whimsical thing again).

I wonder about some ideas around “Bright Eyes” even? Eyes are the window to the soul and all that, and there’s such a focus on the eye in pet photography.

The other thing I think could be interesting is using bright/light or something somehow… one thing that’s quite distinctive/well known about my photos is my “pretty sparkly lights” as people tell me 😂. Obviously not suggesting “Pretty sparkle light photography school” but the use of light is super important to me (and can also fit that kind of whimsical idea). Can we turn “bokeh” into a pun? 😬 I also like Tails/tales play on words too.

Something like: “Wagging Tails & Wet Noses” is cute… we could possibly do something with the idea of two things, eg., “Muddy paws, Bright eyes” but… better than that, cos it doesn’t roll off the tongue 😂 If it’s any help, Journey has a Spotty Snout/nose and legs (naughty spots) and Loki has perfect triangle ears.

Things like Teach a Dog New Tricks is fun from a “learning” perspective but I would think it’s a dog behaviour school, instead of photography, same as dog ate my homework… I guess if it’s going to be a sort of saying or a pun, there should be a photographic element maybe? Something like “Pets in Focus”? “Pets Exposed” (ahahaha sounds like a scandal).

Rule of 3 could also be interesting maybe? Eg: “Sit, Stay, Snap”? But I’ve never liked “snap” as the photography part given negative connotations with dogs biting.

Definitely could have it more pet related than specifically dogs – I think confining it to the niche of dogs only is too narrow, I would like people interested in cats and horses to join. So maybe this will help, but also, if we’re adding the “Pet Photography School” (or whatever afterward) the name itself could be a bit whimsical and photography related without necessarily being specifically pet related I guess?

You mentioned on the Loom about being able to branch out into in-person courses and this is 100% my intention, to do quite a few in-person workshops around Europe and even back in Aus when I go to visit family.

Re: the boys’ names in the name, I’m not so wedded to this idea. I don’t know if there’s a way to get both in (especially Loki) without it being weird. But you did give me an idea for some monthly member’s bonus session with “Professor Loki” so I’m just gonna jot that down for future use. Not sure what it will be yet but it sounds bloody cute.

 

Ideas:

Something to do with Guide/GPS/Map, eg., Journey/adventure/learning theme…

Group/Community/Pack/Club

“Snouts and Tails” eg., making heads & tails of photography

An Acronym? Eg., LEAP – Learn w/ Emily Abrahams Photography

BarkFully

BarkPack

Licks & Snaps

Journey Pack

Wild….??

Lick, Snap, Grow

Spots and Snouts

…United?

Tails United?

Journey Wild

Canine Clan

Wag Pak

BetterWag

Fetchworthy

Snap & Wag?

Flash, Snap, Woof

Joy of the Journey

Joy in the Journey

Critter Collective

Lead me to wonder

Photography Is a Journey

Something about light.. chasing light

FETCHING LIGHT

Leading to Light

Lead into Light

Journey The Light Fantastic

Journey Club

Pets B-Okeh

Inspawration (I’m actually not sure why this is on this list, I must have added it after the fact because as soon as I had this name I was 99% sure it was the right one)

Inspawration in Focus

Illumi-nation (“nation” as in the membership thing)

Paws Illuminated

Paws in art?

Captivate Create

What the Snoot

Creaturivity

Snoot & Spots.

Paws to Focus

Pawsibility

Light Journey

Bright Journey

Journey Bright

Pixajourney

 

Random words/feelings/ideas

Journey

Learning

Photography

Create

Art

Joy

Positive

Play

Light

Eyes

Focus

Magic

Fun, but not cutesy

Sophisticated but not sterile

About the brand:
Teaching people to delve into their art and their photography in a way that encourages exploration while also telling a story with the photos

Story

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Erin spoke to us about a few questions relating to story. Finding your why, where your dream leads, who the person behind the brand is, what’s your greater purpose. 

The story of Inspawration started when I saw someone taking not-very good photos as a pet photographer, and thinking “I could take better photos than that” 😅 but this isn’t the story that gets shared to the public. 

I consider story to be something that is STILL evolving and being refined. I think it’s easy to start our story as: “We don’t have enough time with our pets and I want to capture their memories forever.” 

This was a BIG part of Inspawration’s story message at the beginning, when we were all in lockdown. I wanted YOU to capture their memory forever. This was the main “story” for the first year or so.

About 6 months ago, I shifted the story slightly. To regret about not capturing great photos of my Aussie shepherd, not knowing what I was doing wrong… also, to you (the customer) being frustrated about not being able to capture the photos you imagine in your head. This message resonated with a LOT of people. 

And now I’m shifting the story slightly again, to a story about chasing dreams. That quiet dream of becoming a pet photographer, and giving you the tools, skills and knowledge to make that dream a reality – at least for the Learning Journey. For Fundamentals, the above message about capturing the photos you imagine remains. This shift in story is somewhat financially driven. After all, people who want to earn money, will spend money. But also I think it allows me to serve more people. Pet owners who want nicer photos can sign up for PPF. Aspiring professionals can sign up for the LJ. And those who want more… well, I have something in the works for that. 😉 

And then there’s the story of ME. A LOT of my brand has been built on my personality, my chaotic energy, on being relaxed and personable, and my two boys help with this as well. I think as many people sign up because they like and trust me, as they do because I make nice photos. Do not underestimate the power of you.

 

Here are some  notes I wrote at the very beginning of my Photography business journey… before Inspawration was a blip on the horizon:

Why: Why do you do what you do. Why is a purpose or a belief. It’s the reason the organisation exists. Not about making money.

Need to go deeper to stand apart from the crowd and get out client

 

Your why is a value or belief that you stand by. It’s a mission that moves you. It’s the reason you get out of bed in the morning.

 

Something like…

I am passionate about people seeing moments and appreciating them, finding the beauty in them, capturing those times and sharing them, seeing the joy that sharing them can bring. Maybe it’s capturing the goofy, cheeky awkwardness of a puppy, immortalising that time that’s so brief… or maybe it’s those absolutely incredibly special moments between a senior dog and their owner, a time where they get to be special, and cherished, and loved, and when the person looks back at those photos in years, they can remember that bond and that relationship, remember the way that dog looked when he smiled, or how he bounded through the grass toward them. I want people to see how special their dogs are, to hold on to that moment, and find the joy in it. I also want to make something special with the owners and their dogs, inspired by my adventures with my own dog and how much that influenced me, and by one of my first clients, who took their pugs on something of an adventure to get the photos we took – I want them to look at those photos and see not only the personality of their dogs, but a memory of the time we spent making those photos. 

 

One was the “adventure” with the client – all of us going through the location, maybe taking a walk, doing what we need to do to get the shots, trying new things, really making an experience of the whole thing… but also, puppy photos and senior dogs. I haven’t done any end of life shoots, but I can imagine that would be incredibly special too… and I think it comes back to wanting to find the beauty in and appreciate the moments we’re given – I did this huge trip around Europe these past 2 years with Loki, living in the van, seeing the most incredible scenery, and it really taught me how important it is to find beauty, and to be grateful for the fact that we’re here, with our dogs, that we can go out and get photos and capture those moments… and puppies grow up so quickly, blink and they’re an adult dog, but there’s something so special about building that relationship with them, seeing their personalities develop… and senior dogs… I had to leave my senior dog at home in Australia with my aunt… and I left him knowing I wouldn’t be there for the end of his life (though he’s still going strong at 16!!) but that breaks my heart, and I wish so badly that I’d gotten a million photos of him before I left, or got someone to take photos of the two of us (I cry writing this actually, is how deep it hits) and I so want to be able to give that gift to other people with their senior dogs…

 

 

5 words that describe my personality

Independent, creative, bubbly/friendly, down to earth, humorous

 

5 words to describe my work

Bright, natural, light, colourful, a touch of fantasy/whimsical

 

5 words to describe work that moves me:

Soft, beautiful colours, sharp/engaging, candid/personality, artistic, natural with light/scenery

 

Area of branding:

 

Light, colour, a touch of fantasy/whimsical, personality/humour 

 

What else can I infuse into my brand?
Dog training, travelling and beautiful scenery, anything sweet! And coffee. A lot of coffee.

 

Colours:
Teal & Brown?

Teal & white?

Can you see how much of that story and the ideas I was already putting down on paper have carried over to what I do now? 

I’ll talk more about the branding process in the “Identity” part.

I think a lot of these thoughts were driven by Simon Sinek.

Inspawration Connect

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Note: Inspawration Connect has recently undergone some small cosmetic changes. Nothing huge, but the navigation may not match up exactly with the instructions below. I’ll be updating these ASAP but you should still be able to join and find your way to where you need to go!

Click here to join Inspawration Connect

Our community is a HUGE part of being in the Inspawration family. The positivity, support, helpful feedback and celebration is unlike anything you’ll find in any Facebook group.

Inspawration Connect, vs. Private Group: Learning Community

Inspawration Connect is made up of two parts. In Pet Photography Fundamentals, you have access to Inspawration Connect, which can be seen by other PPF members, and Learning Journey members.

Then there’s the Learning Community,  which is where my Learning Journey members hang out. 

The only real difference is that in the LC, we often post quite in-depth educational posts relating to topics and lessons found in the Learning Journey, and the community is a bit more established there, since PPF is still new at the time of writing. That being said, any LJ member can comment on your posts in Connect, so they’ll still be there for feedback, advice and guidance, and us as well of course!

 

How to Join

Just click this link!

You will need to set up an account, as the website and Connect aren’t linked. I strongly suggest you use the same password as you do for the website, though!

How to post in Connect

Accessing the chat & other features

Take some time to explore the site! There’s plenty of useful and interesting features there and I’m sure they will be adding more.

We have a chat where you’re welcome to message others, or chat informally about anything.

Please note: Any questions that would be of interest to other students, eg., photography issues, software questions, questions about dogs, camera settings, gear, etc, should all be posted as a new post, and NOT messaged to me privately or written in the chat. It is not fair to other students if I answer general questions privately, as it deprives them of an opportunity to learn, and turns your membership into a one-to-one mentoring situation.  Questions about your specific membership, eg., billing, password issues, etc, or general website bugs or glitches can be messaged privately to me.

You will also find our live events listed in the Events section. You can RSVP to the events here, and get a reminder from MightyNetworks emailed to you before it starts. 

Make sure you check out the Featured Posts, have a look at the Welcome Checklist, and then introduce yourself!

Important note

Because Inspawration connect is on a subdomain of inspawrationphotography.com, some browsers get confused with the username/password situation, and will try and use your Learning Journey password to log in to Inspawration Connect. 

Therefore, I highly recommend you use the same username/email address and password across both parts of the site, to save yourself a lot of frustration of constantly entering the “wrong password” into Inspawration Connect.

Click here to join the community

Light Direction Quiz!

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Take a look at the photos below. See if you can work out where the main light source was. Some photos may have TWO sources of light, so keep an eye out for them!


Example 1

Shining directly on Journey from behind me/possibly slightly over my left shoulder.

Example 2

It was to camera right! It was a BIG area of open sky on a cloudy day.

On Journey’s left was the woods, which cast a lot of shadow and let no light through.

Example 3

It was to camera left, and slightly behind Journey

You can see how bright one side of his face is, and check out the direction of the shadow on the ground.

Example 4

It was pretty much directly overhead, maybe slightly more to camera left.

Example 5

It was behind and above Journey.

Example 6

It was almost directly behind me and quite overhead, probably just slightly over my left shoulder.

Example 7

Straight off to camera right.

Example 8

Very even lighting, more coming from camera left due to the flowery bush to camera right.

Example 9

Sun setting behind Loki, secondary light source camera right.

Example 10

Sun creating dappled highlights to camera left, probably slightly behind rather than directly to the side.

Example 11

Sun is directly above and behind Journey, just out of frame… secondary light source is behind me/slightly to camera left

Symmetry vs. Asymmetry

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The first and most obvious thing to decide is whether your image will be symmetrical / centered – with the dog straight in the middle, or asymmetrical, with the dog off to one side. 

When I’m talking about symmetry here, I don’t mean that both sides of the image will be identical – this is rather difficult in natural environments. More that the dog is more or less in the middle, without the balance of the image being to one side of the other.

There are a few reasons you might choose to do it one way or the other. Symmetrical photos are great with balanced, even backgrounds (eg., there isn’t one side that is very dark and one side and one very light side.), where the dog is quite perpendicular to the camera, looking directly into the lens. 

These photos tend to be powerful but not very dynamic, and quite safe. They can make for dramatic, strongly-connected images. Some examples of symmetrical/centred photos:

Asymmetry

Asymmetry is when the image is “off-centre”. There are two instances when you can use asymmetry.

  • One, where the dog is looking to the side instead of straight forward. You should give him “space to look into”.
  • The other is a little more tricky. The dog may be perfectly situated for a centred, symmetrical photo, but you compose it so that he is off to one side. This is quirky, a bit interesting, and should suit the mood. For example, I would not necessarily use a quirky off-centre photo with a very dark and intense mood (but again, rules are made to be broken). These can make use of elements or frames in the image (eg., tree trunks) where it wouldn’t make sense to have the tree in the middle of the mage.

Here are some examples of off-centre asymmetry where the dog COULD have been centred.

Action & Candids

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Candids & Action Photos

For the most part, candid photos and action photos still require us to be low to the ground so that we can get that soft for foreground in.

However if you are doing photos of say disc dogs or agility dogs or dogs who are kind of in the air you may then need to lift your camera higher in order to track them so you just follow them up as high as they go. 

So it really depends on the effect you’re going for. By seeing no ground and pointing the camera higher, they will have the sense of being higher… but sometimes having the ground gives us context as to their height!

The photos below are variations of “leaping” photos. For some, the drama comes from perceived height: they are so high we can’t even see the ground.

For a few others, the drama comes from seeing the ground and having that extra layer with the blurry foreground. We get more of a sense of their place in that space and how they’re moving through it. 

 

Otherwise in general we still need to be trying to keep a sense of the space and of the size of the dog and we can do that by being nice and low.

However we also need to be conscious of not cutting our dogs ears off or having them get too close to the top of the frame which can be quite a challenge in candid shots where they are moving around and you’re trying to track them. 

So just try and keep them more less in the centre of the frame. You may just need to lie on your belly so that you’re forced to stay down low.

Plenty of examples below of different kinds of movement or candid photos.

Head and Shoulders

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Head and shoulder portraits obviously don’t require you to be quite as low, but still aim to be no higher than the dog’s eye level – and this is possibly even lower than you would think! 

It’s still worth getting some foreground or surrounding foliage for context and to really place the dog in the scene. Finding a place where you can frame the photo with some leaves, flowers or other bushes can help create the depth we are aiming for in more “artistic” portraits.

Notice how all of these photos feel like you’re looking directly AT, or slightly up at the subject. We have a real sense of being on the dog’s level.

Zooming in… Zooming out

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Recently, I taught a one-to-one lesson in person with one of my Learning Journey students and we came across an interesting situation.

To note, I don’t ever use my zoom lens. I have one, but I don’t use it. But this student was using a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens – super common amongst pet photographers!

She had the lens zoomed in to 135-200mm which would also be my recommendation, and had the lens on a crop-factor body. So… suddenly, at 200mm, we have a huge amount of compression, and cropping of the scene.

Now, I’m a BIG fan of compression… but in these woods we’d found a couple of beautiful backlit areas with sparkly bokeh, and while we could get really cool rimlight around Journey, we were missing out on the charm of the location because of the compression of the scene! eg., We were only able to see a really tiny amount of the background because of how much it was ‘pulled toward us’.

But of course… we didn’t want to loose that narrow depth of field by simply zooming out to get more of the scene in in order to see the bokeh. If we did, all the leaves, grasses, and stuff in the foreground and background would be more in-focus, with more detail. Not what we necessarily want!

So I suggested to this student that she play with depth of field here. 

 

What we did:

I suggested my student zoom her lens OUT. Maybe all the way…. and then move HERSELF toward Journey. By zooming OUT, we have less compression, and more of the scene/background in the photo… but by moving CLOSE to Journey, we narrow up the depth of field again!

Below are the two different photos we got. Journey hasn’t moved, but the student has zoomed out and physically moved herself forward in the 2nd photo.

So this is just a reminder that if you are using a zoom lens, that although zooming all the way in gives you beautiful, soft backgrounds, and lovely compression, you can play with the zoom length and how close you are to the dog to include more of the scene in, if it’s beneficial to do so. 

Don’t feel like you always HAVE to be zoomed in – or you might be missing some pretty bokeh oportunities.

Times to NOT Get Low?

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There are a few different “image types” we want to consider when it comes to deciding how low or high to take our photos. In general, we should aim to be quite low – enough that we have a foreground layer of some description, however it may not be enough to apply a blanket rule to all images that one should simply “get down low.”

After all, we can be taking:

  • Portrait photos
  • Candids
  • Action
  • Head/shoulders
  • Puppy-dog-eyes/looking down from above
  • Dog on an object
  • Other creative options

And of course, the exact height and angle of our camera and photo will depend on the height and pose of the dog, the location we’re shooting in, whether there are bushes, leaves, flowers etc in the foreground, or if the space is more open. 

DSC02242-Edit-2
DSC02012-Edit

These images needed quite different considerations when it came to the height at which I held the camera. The image to the left needed me to be very low to get any kind of foreground to to the flat, open nature of the snow. The image to the right required me to be higher, and in fact to cut off much of the dog’s legs. To be any lower would have meant half an image full of dark grass, and probably the dog’s face covered by the sparkly tops of the grass. What I’m saying is that by making conscious choices about where we position our camera, our images will make more sense. 

And of course, the type of foreground you have in your image (whether bushy or open) is also a stylistic choice.

 

Puppy dog eyes/looking down from above

These photos work best with a wider-angle lens, unless you’re really tall – although I have taken them with my 85mm before, but then I’m usually standing on a stump or a hill.

They work best when you aren’t directly overhead of the dog but overhead enough that they’re looking up at you, with a good amount of catchlight in their eyes but not so much that it overwhelms the eye with the reflection of the sky and the trees above, making it turn completely white.

It will just take some experimentation and practise to find the perfect overhead angle for these types of shots.

In these photos, I don’t think it’s necessary to have context or foreground. They work best as the dog alone, though it doesn’t hurt to have some vaguely interesting ground colour/texture to add some visual interest.

Dog on a log/hill/bench/raised surface

A point to be careful of, is having the dog on some kind of raised surface – such as a log, bench, stump, rock and so on. If we get too low in this situation, the dog will have to look down to see us, which blocks the light from the sky from hitting their face (meaning their face is dark) and because of this, they also may not have catchlights in their eyes.

For these shots, you may want to treat them similar to head and shoulders photos – be at eye level to them, or slightly lower. You may not be able to get a foreground layer from the ground because then you’ll just be too low. Having something else in the foreground (leaves, the log itself, the slats of the park bench, bushes) can help add extra depth to your image.

If you are not used to shooting with a low perspective, you may need to be slightly lower than you think! But remember, we probably don’t want our dog looking down! If you want to get them towering over you for artistic effect, have them looking off to the side, or up (like watching a bird) to keep their faces and eyes bright and well lit.

In each of the examples below, I was either NOT on the ground/down extremely low… and/or, if I was, the dog was looking up or up and to the side.

Composition Rules and Guides

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There are a few compositional rules or guidelines within photography. If you use Lightroom, when you’re in the crop tool, you can press “O” on your keyboard to cycle through a variety of different compositional options!

The most well known of these is the “Rule of Thirds”

Rule of Thirds

This divides your image up into equal thirds. The idea is that you should position important elements (such as the eyes) of the image either along the horizontal or vertical grid lines, or, even better, on an intersecting point. 

I’ve found this can be a little bit hit and miss with dog photography, given the perspective at which we shoot, the size and height of our subjects and so on. I would definitely advise against squashing your dog into the frame just to get their eye on an intersecting point. 

You can also use rule of thirds for more landscape based photos, where one third might be the sky, another third might contain your subject and the “scene” and the lower third could be foreground.

Rule of thirds is a nice place to begin really thinking about composition because it’s pretty safe and well known, it’s generally easy to line our subjects up on one or another of the grid lines, and many cameras even have a rule of thirds grid-line overlay in their display, so you can compose the photo with the rule of thirds already in mind. 

Here are some examples.

Other Options

There are actually other grid options you can play with! You may find yourself getting creative if you explore some of these other grids. I haven’t used these grids very much, but have recently begun to play with them a bit to see how they could help me create more interesting images.

Diagonal

This grid is great when there are diagonal elements in the image. You can also use it along with the rule of thirds grid to see if there is some/any crossover (and if so, it should be a compositionally strong image!).

Triangle

This one seems like a fun and interesting option. The idea is to place points of interest within each of the triangles.

Press Shift + O on your keyboard to rotate the grid. 

Maybe something like this??

Golden Ratio

This is thought of as a more “advanced” version of the rule of thirds, but with more emphasis on the corners and less on the centre.

The idea is the same place interesting things on the grid lines or at intersecting points. It’s possible that when I’m breaking the rule of thirds rules, I’ve been accidentally using this grid. I’ll have to check that!

Golden Spiral

The golden spiral is a mathematical concept, created by making squares from Fibonacci numbers.

This doesn’t mean a lot for us. Suffice it to say that golden spirals and Fibonacci sequences are seen all throughout nature and classic art. 

For photography, the idea is that the most important or detailed parts of the image should be located at the smallest part of the coil, and the rest of the elements of the image should help lead the viewer toward that point. 

Since nature is made up of plenty of curves, we should be able to use this concept within our images. I would say many of us do, in the way that we (myself especially) darken areas and create the “flow” through the image. Remember back to the “Location and our photography goal” lesson, we looked at how a viewer might travel through our image? This is much the same! 

When I tried this overlay on many of my photos, the spiral ended up somewhere over their nose or face. I’m not sure how “perfect” you need to be with this, or if it should lead to the face in general, rather than the eyes specifically.

I like this example especially, as the bushes at the bottom of the frame perfectly follow the line, you reach the dark edge of the photo so travel back across, reading the dark edge behind Journey, so are brought back into his face again, exactly as I had wanted, but without realising the spiral fit within it like this.

Leading Lines

It can be fun to experiment with “leading lines”. These are lines within the photo which lead the viewer’s eye to your dog. 

The most obvious example is train tracks, but this has been done to death, is often illegal, can be very dangerous, and is clichéd now. Please don’t use train tracks for leading lines. See what other lines you can find out and about. Can a tree trunk, branch, tree roots or fern frond lead the viewer to your subject? How about using a path? Are there other lines within nature, or urban landscapes which can be used to lead toward your dog?