This is the third part in a series of tips looking at the “rules” of photographic composition.

While these “rules” are by no means exhaustive or compulsory, learning how to use them will help make your images more aesthetically pleasing and help you move from taking “snapshots” to more professional-looking photographs.

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Seeking out Foreground Interest while composing your photograph can make the difference between taking a holiday “snap” and capturing a dramatic landscape.

Foreground interest can give your images more depth, by leading the eye throughout the entire scene.You can use anything close at hand: some rocks, a fallen log, a hedge, some meadow wildflowers – items that are in harmony with the view you are capturing and give context to the scene work best.

Sometimes you may have to hunt around a little, change your viewpoint slightly – look to see if you can crouch down or move a few paces to the side to find a feature you can make use of.

Traditionally, using an SLR, you would use a wide lens and a small aperture such as f/16 or f/22 to keep the entire scene in sharp focus from the nearest stone to the furthest mountain. With your creative compact, make sure you are not zoomed in at all and use f/8 in aperture priority mode, or use your camera’s Landscape mode if it has one.

However, using a shallow depth of field with the sharp focus on your foreground, leaving the landscape behind blurry and out of focus can also be a very effective and striking technique. For this you need a large aperture such as f/4.5.

Have a go and post a link to your photographs using Foreground Interest in our comments. Most of all, have fun!