If you’d like to remain firmly in the point-and-shoot casual photography crowd, you can comfortably skip any discussion of composition that’s the process (most call it an art) of aligning your subject and compensating for the available light at your location. Composition isn’t a requirement for simple snapshots, but if you’re going to create true visual art, you need the time to prepare your subject, your viewing angle, and your lighting. In fact, what if I told you that composing a shot can result in less cropping and editing time on your computer and that you’ll end up taking better photographs? If you follow the tips that I provide in this section, I can just about guarantee that you’ll discover at least one FRP in every set of images that you download! (FRP, coined by a favorite instructor that I had in journalism school, means First-Rate Photo the kind of photograph that you’ll be proud to display on your wall.) The example photographs in this article are taken from my personal FRP collection. And despite what you might have heard about composing photographs, it only takes a few seconds before each shot to make a difference. Take it from me with practice, you’ll compose your shots automatically.

The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is the foundation of good composition for most photographers. Applying this guideline helps draw the eye toward multiple subjects or to the focus of interest while maintaining balance within the frame. To use the Rule of Thirds, simply split the frame in your viewfinder into nine equal areas, “Time Tunnel.” Align your subject(s) and the surroundings (where possible) along either  -  A line crossing the frame or  -  One of the intersections where two lines meet The Rule of Thirds works exceptionally well when taking photographs of landscapes or architecture. This photograph, “View from Hoover Dam,” uses the rule to draw the viewer’s eye along the river until it disappears around the bend. That’s all there is to it. If you take a moment to examine the composition of the photographs in your favorite magazines, you’ll see this time-tested classic rule followed over and over.

The Rule of Asymmetry

The second rule of composition often used in photography, the Rule of Asymmetry, presents the subject against a number of minor subjects as well as the background. Asymmetrical composition revolves around a relationship that you build between the major subject and either one or more minor subjects or the background itself. Following this rule, you merge different combinations of the three basic shapes the square, the circle, and the triangle to form a new outline or contour. I find that an asymmetrical composition works better when you feature a sharp contrast level between light and dark elements or between strong color patterns and shadows.

Using lighting creatively

Before I finish this quick tour through photo composition, turn your attention to lighting. Virtually every digital camera made these days has an automatic flash feature, and this is usually a good thing to use. However, if your camera allows you to disable the flash, you’ll take better photographs in many different situations. Here’s a list of exposure do’s and don’ts for those who want to compose with light:

-  Do make use of existing light when possible, if you can disable your camera’s flash. Natural lighting can really make the photo.

-  Don’t attempt to photograph your subject through a sheet of glass or plastic if you’re using a flash. Also, don’t pose your subject against a reflective background you’ll create hotspots or flash reflections.

-  Do use a tripod (or brace your camera if possible) when taking photographs without flash (which requires a longer exposure time to capture the image).

-  Don’t use a flash if your subject is illuminated internally or with spotlights, such as a neon sign or a statue at night.

-  Do use an image editor such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro to enhance the contrast for underexposed shots. You can also change the hue and saturation levels for the colors in a photograph with your image editor.

Organizing Your Pictures

If you’d rather not stare at a meaningless collection of filenames, here are some tricks that you can use to help you locate a photograph that you stored on your hard drive or a CD-ROM full of images. First, organize your photos into folders based on the date, location, or subject of your photographs. Also, use the long filename support in Windows XP to better describe your photograph. After all, it’s easier to visualize Goats Grazing Outside Nepalese Village.jpg than nepgoats.jpg. To take your organization a step further, use an image-cataloging program such as Media Center Pro from Jasc Software (www.jasc.com). This great application not only handles images but sound files and video clips as well. The contents of your photo collection are shown as thumbnails (small images), making it easier to spot the photograph that you’re looking for. Plus, Media Center Pro can create a slide show from your images, and you can export pictures to the Web with the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) pages that the program creates. At $30 for the downloadable version, Media Center Pro is an invaluable tool for any amateur (or professional) photographer.

Downloading Your Images

Before you launch into the downloading process, make sure you’ve taken care of those dull prerequisites:  -  Make sure that you’ve installed any software that came with your digital camera or card reader; this ensures that any USB or FireWire drivers are installed before you connect.  -  Connect the cable that came with your camera (or your external card reader) to the corresponding port on your PC . . . which is very likely your PC’s USB port. If you’re using a card reader, eject the memory card from your camera and load it into the slot in the card reader (as shown in the card reader’s documentation).  -  If you’re connecting your digital camera directly to your PC and it has an AC adapter, make sure that you plug the camera into the AC adapter first; this can save you an hour of recharge time! Although most digital cameras come with their own software, Windows XP has its own built-in wizard for downloading images. (If your camera comes with its own downloading software, it’s a better idea to use that program instead, but at least Windows XP can likely do the job alone in a pinch.) If your camera or card reader is supported within Windows XP (check the manufacturer’s Web site or the specifications on the side of the box) and you’re not using your camera or card reader’s software, you’ll see the Scanner and Camera Wizard screen when you plug in the USB cable from your camera. To complete the download process using the wizard, follow these steps:

1. In the welcome wizard screen, click Next to advance to the second screen. By default, the wizard copies all the images from your camera.

2. To leave an image on the camera without transferring it to your PC, click the check box next to the image to clear it. Click the Clear All button to deselect all the images, which comes in handy when you just want to select one or two pictures to download.

3. To rotate an image, click the desired photograph to highlight it and then click either of the rotation buttons below the thumbnails.

4. After you select the images that you want to transfer and you rotate any shots that need attention, click Next to continue.

5. In the next wizard window, type a descriptive name and then choose a destination folder or drive where the images will be saved.

• Name: Windows XP uses this name as the basis for the image. In this example, the filenames will be Fun Photos 001.jpg, Fun Photos 002.jpg, and so on.

• Destination: If you want to use a location that you’ve used before, click the drop-down list box, and the wizard displays it. To choose a new location, click the Browse button, navigate to the desired spot on your system, and then click OK.

6. To delete the images from your camera after they’ve been successfully transferred to your PC, select the Delete Pictures from My Device after Copying Them check box.

7. Click Next to begin the transfer.

8. After the images have been transferred, you can choose to publish them to a Web site that you choose or to order prints of your photographs from a photo printing Web site. If you simply want to transfer the photographs, select the Nothing radio button.

9. After you make this choice, click Next. 10.In the final wizard screen that appears, click the Finish button to return to Windows XP, and then unplug your camera from your PC.