The ability to see is a skill that takes time and practice to master. With enough practice, you can hone your ability to see into a sharp skill. You'll soon find yourself looking and seeing automatically, noticing photographs throughout your daily life whether there's a camera in your hands or not.

The Skeleton of Your Photograph

I want you to learn to see what the makeup of your photograph is. Imagine that a photograph is like the human body. You see the skin, but underneath is a framework of bones, the skeleton, giving it shape. A photograph is built the same way. If you break it down you find that it is built of little more than lines and shapes.

This break down of the photograph can be imagined as a line drawing, like a doodle on a napkin. And how concise and visually dynamic your photograph's underlying "doodle," the better. You want the skeleton of your photograph to be visually graceful and playful.

Practice looking at the world in this simplistic way, just lines and shapes. As you arrange those shapes into pleasing arrangements, your photographs will improve dramatically.

Through the Viewfinder

The important time to use this new way of looking is not only when you're looking at a print or a photograph on the screen, but when you're looking through your camera's viewfinder. Break the scene down into its most basic form and see if you've got it right. If there are elements that distract or don't need to be there, change your composition.

Are the shapes in the image existing in their own space? For example, is there a pole or other distracting element directly behind your subject's head? If so, change your position.

Are the lines in the image working effectively? Lines in an image often serve as "trails" for the viewer's eyes and you can use lines to lead the viewer to what you consider important in the image.

Are shapes and lines colliding in a bad way? Or are they balanced and working together?

Slightly Left, Up, Right, Down

In any of the above cases, where something isn't quite right, the answer is often just a slight movement away. Just about any photograph can be improved upon. Often all it takes is to move the camera slightly left, right, up, or down. Or take a step forward or back.

It's easy to notice what you should have done once you're looking at a print. But by then it's too late to really fix the image. The real skill to master is to make those small adjustments when you're composing the image, before you expose the frame.

Slow Down

All of the things I'm talking about here are going to require you to slow down. Especially as you learn to see. You need to take the time to look over your image and think about how it looks. And you need to do that before you even think about pressing the shutter button.

Your photograph has a skeleton of lines and shapes. And how you choose to arrange those elements determines the overall strength of your composition.