Composition is deciding what stays out of the frame. You don't need to memorise much, and these six ideas cover nearly every travel scene. Learn them well enough that you can break them on purpose.
1. Use the thirds
Put your subject or horizon on a third of the frame instead of dead centre. Turn on your grid and it becomes automatic. Break this rule when symmetry is the point, like a temple gate or a long corridor, and centre it exactly.
2. Fill the frame
Get close enough that the subject is obvious within a second. If a viewer has to ask what the photo is about, step forward. Break it when empty space is the story, such as a tiny figure on a huge dune.
3. Use leading lines
Roads, railings, rivers and alleyways pull the eye through a picture. Stand so that the line starts near a corner and heads towards your subject. Lines that lead out of the frame take your viewer with them.
4. Add depth
Place something in the foreground, your subject in the middle and a background behind them. A blurred shoulder, a doorway or a market stall can make a flat scene feel like a place you could walk into.
5. Frame within the frame
Windows, arches and hanging fabric naturally point at what's inside them. In old towns you'll find these on every street. Wait for someone to walk into the frame and you have a photo with a story.
6. Clean the edges
Before you press the shutter, run your eye around the border. Bins, cut-off heads, signs and a stray elbow ruin more photos than bad light does. Moving one step to the side usually fixes it.
A week of practice
Take one rule per day and shoot only that. Give yourself twenty frames on the same street. Then go through them in the evening and ask which one you'd show a friend, and why. Your eye improves faster when you review your work than when you read more about it.
Composition pairs with light, so read the 10 settings next. People are harder: always ask before photographing someone up close, and respect a no. More in the photography guide.