Simplification is a great tool for creating photographs with artistic quality – it stays away from unnecessary/obvious things and helps the image not to be “busy”.

I was searching various blogs and forums about how to simplify photographs. Most of the blogs and articles says the following two things

1. Zoom in/ Crop
2. Use Shallow deapth of field

A third advise seen some places is to use low shutter speed, if it is photograph of a lake, sea, etc. But I am not photographing water.

The above two advises, does not add any artistic value, when I see the images. They just include few things – but they don’t look simple albeit the fact that they have fewer elements.

Apart from these trivial advises, what are the composition techniques/guidelines that will help to create simplified photographs?

Note: As you know the word "simple" and "simplified" are pretty much different, when it comes to design and composition.

Simplification is a great tool for creating photographs with artistic quality – it stays away from unnecessary/obvious things and helps the image not to be “busy”.

I was searching various blogs and forums about how to simplify photographs. Most of the blogs and articles say the following two things:

1. Zoom in/ Crop
2. Use Shallow depth of field

A third tip seen some places is to use low shutter speed, if it is photograph of a lake, sea, etc. But I am not photographing water.

The above two pieces of advice do not add any artistic value, when I see the images. They just include fewer things – but they don’t look simple, albeit the fact that they have fewer elements.

Apart from these trivial bits of advice, what are the composition techniques/guidelines that will help to create simplified photographs?

Note: As you know the word "simple" and "simplified" are pretty much different, when it comes to design and composition.