Picture composition (1)

There is no complete set of rules for picture composition although there are a number of commonly-held views about well composed shots. If you freeze the playback of a programme at any point, you should see a still frame that looks good.

Know your monitor

Please make sure the monitor you are using to look at shots has been properly set up. Some monitors are over-scanned or under-scanned. Many show incorrect colours and a surprising number of television studios do not set up the brightness and contrast of monitors accurately.

Rule of thirds

Probably the best known starting point for composing a shot. If you divide the screen into thirds and place objects of interest at the intersection points then the image will usually ...

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