Compositional Tip: Multiple focal points

Having a second focal point in your composition immediately affects its simplicity. As soon as another point of interest is introduced, it creates a sense of dynamism. The eye would be moving back and forth between the two.

Having two focal points within the same frame implies the presence of an invisible line that connects the two, and this line has a strong impact on the frame while relating to its other verticals and horizontals.

The strength of this line depends on the dominance of these two focal points, and on the recession of the background.

The direction of the line tends to move from the "stronger" point to the "weaker" and towards the one closest to an edge of the frame.

Photo by mikebaird

This relationship between two points in a frame, thus the strength of the line connecting them together, becomes weaker when more focal points are introduced into the frame, and also when the background increases in complexity.

Photo by Brandon Christopher Warren

Multiple focal points deliberately arranged would probably throw off the frame and simply insult the viewer’s intelligence. There’s no one rule to arranging multiple focal points within a frame, for every natural way of positioning would somehow yield an interesting arrangement.

The key is to create somewhat a structure between those points rather than thinking of rules on how to arrange them. This should come from a conscious decision of what and what not to include in the frame, as well as of what the photo is desired to convey and what it is about. Failing to do so would jeopardize the composition and leave it prone to fail as a result of one mis-incorporated point.

Multiple points in an image should have clear harmonious relations between them, rather than having them compete for focus. Those relations can even be more important than the points themselves.

Photo by Eduardo Amorim

The viewer’s eye should be allowed to move through related points or elements of a photo. This way a viewer is likely to stay on your photo longer rather than rolling their eyes and moving on, which could also happen with a photo with one dead-centered element, in which case the viewer would quickly make out the theme of the photo and move on.

Photo by MorBCN