Focus on Disney World – Rockin' Roller Coaster

In my last tip I talked about deciding whether to orient your pictures either vertically or horizontally. Take a look at this photo of the guitar outside of the Rockin’ Roller Coaster at MGM Studios. Is this a vertical or horizontal composition?

That was actually a trick question – it’s neither! If you look closely you will see that the building behind the guitar appears to be slanted, but trust me, it wasn’t. It was my camera that was slanted. Sometimes, an unusual angle is better suited to your subject.

I wanted this photo to have a very specific look. The subject of the photo was the guitar and I wanted to emphasize the size of it. When I composed the shot I started out holding my camera vertically but then I tipped it to line up the guitar strings with the left edge of my viewfinder. I had to move both the camera and myself around quite a bit to get just the right angle. I wanted to get some of the piano keys in the photo but not the railing that is in front of them. I wanted the name of the coaster to show in the photo and I wanted the neck and strings to extend beyond the edge of the photo, near the corner, but not centered on it.

It took a little effort to get everything just right but it was worth it because I am happy with how it turned out in the end. Try taking some of your photos at different angles. You may end up with some interesting results.