1. Focal Element
Most important of all — to have one clear element of interest.
Natural Focal Elements:
- High contrast
- Saturation
- Camera Focus
- Motion
- Faces or Figures
- Depth
- Linear or overlapping shapes
- Atmosphere perspective
Focal Element influencers:
- Guiding Lines
- Framing (vignetting or natural framing)
- Geometry Shapes
2. Structure
— the organization of elements based on a rule
- Rule of Thirds
- Golden Ratio
- Pyramid
- Symmetry
- Full Frame
3. Balance
— ensuring that the visual “weight” of the image is balanced, which includes
- Size
- High contrast
- Saturation
- Faces
- Figures
References
I went through a dozen tutorials on youtube and ArtStation, these three are by far the best at explaining composition systematically:
- Understanding Composition by Blender Guru: easy and systematic explanation
- Understanding Composition by Modern Day James: complementary explanation
- Practical Composition by Stéphane Wootha Richard: actually doing the do, this guy has crazy color senses
