Play by the rules
See the way that the elephant has all this room in front of him into which to move.
This photo of a squirrel illustrates the "tic-tac-toe" principle perfectly.
1. Active space
Keep the interest inside the photograph by leaving enough open space on the side that the animal faces. If an animal is leaving the picture, the viewer’s gaze will also leave the image. This applies to full body shots as well as head portraits.
So, if the animal appears to be on the move, leave space for it to “move” into.
2. The rule of thirds
We all know the game of noughts and crosses, or tic-tac-toe. Imagine the grid of this game on top of your image, and put the rule of thirds into practice.
Don’t put the horizon in the middle; decide if the ground or the sky is more interesting and align the horizon with one of the imaginary horizontal lines.
Put your focal point into an area where a vertical and a horizontal line intersect, rather than in the centre of the picture.
3. Lines and curves
Diagonal lines are more interesting to look at than vertical or horizontal ones, so find ways to incorporate them in your pictures when you are in the field.
An S-curve is also a psychologically pleasing shape, like a meandering river, a winding road or the outline of the waist and hip of a human figure. It lends a sensual feel to an image.
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