The Camera Composition Playbook: Photography Composition in 60 Visual Rules

Photos feel flat, cluttered or off-balance, and it is hard to say why. This colour guide gives you 60 composition rules you can see, try and check.

Every rule takes four pages: the idea in one sentence, two side-by-side pictures that show it (a weaker frame and a stronger one), and a 10-minute exercise with a clear finish line. Each rule also tells you when to break it.

What is inside:

60 composition rules in 8 parts: Foundations, Placement, Lines and shapes, Depth, Space and framing, Light and color, Story and viewpoint, and Rhythm and flow.

A field log after each part, so you can record the shot you took and what worked.

A "Breaking the rules" chapter with eight real situations where breaking a rule works.

A 36-page review chapter, the ten-photo weekend challenge. Each photo has a brief, a refresher on its three rules and a review page with a score, plus a contact sheet and a scorecard.

A cheat sheet, a problem-first index (flat, cluttered, boring, off-balance) and a glossary.

Works with any camera or phone. There are no camera settings, gear lists or editing tutorials, only composition.

Free preview: a sample chapter (Part 2 and Rule 9, the rule of thirds) is attached to this listing.

Format: English colour PDF, 325 pages, 6 x 9 inch fixed-layout pages with linked contents and bookmarks. It reads best on a tablet or a computer. On a phone the whole page fits the screen but the text is small, so zoom in to read.

About the pictures: the example images in this book are AI-generated photorealistic images, not real photographs. They are made to show each rule clearly. They are teaching illustrations and do not prove that a rule will work on your own camera. The text was written with AI assistance and edited by the author, Omar Kamal Hosney. The book says all of this inside and credits how it was made.