Producing those pictures is no magic trick; good photography is a science you can learn

In this series, I break down the formulas and methods I’ve developed over my nearly 20 years in the industry so that anyone — whether you’re an amateur photography buff with your first DSLR, still holding on to your point-and-shoot, or a mom using your phone’s camera — can create frame-worthy photos. Let’s get started.

Any image is comprised of several elements. We can group them into two broad categories: composition and subject. To the uninitiated, the two are inseparable. But if you want to create fabulous photography, you need to be able to peel them away from each other and assess them individually.

So what’s the difference between composition and subject? Look at these images below.

It’s easy to figure out the subject of these pictures: in the first, it’s an adorable little girl — my daughter, Elisheva — and the second is a bride’s wedding gown. The subjects have nothing in common. However, they do share a very similar composition. Can you spot it?

If you want to get all jargon-y about it, you can define “composition” as the underlying geometric structure of an image. Or you can skip the jargon and just think of it as the shapes and lines encoded beneath the subject.

Take another look at those two images. Can you spot the triangular composition that they share?

It takes practice to train your eye to pierce through an image’s “outer trappings” (the subject) to see the underlying shapes and lines that form the foundation of the image (composition), but it’s the first key to crafting impactful images.

But where does this understanding leave us — the avid and intrepid amateur photographers snapping away, taking precious pics of our kids and grandkids?

Being aware of composition can help you set up better photos. For example, triangles have a dynamic energy to them. So if you position your child with her hands on her hips, creating a triangle, you’ll have an energized image.

If you want to create an image with a more relaxed, passive feel, you can have your subject hold her arms in a way that creates a circular shape.