Overview
LEFT TO RIGHT
Good for moving subjects, street photography, and portraits.
Left to Right is a composition technique that uses the placement of the subject on the left side of the frame, looking or moving toward the right, to create a sense of direction, movement, and storytelling. This approach leverages the natural tendency of viewers in cultures that read left to right, encouraging curiosity about what lies ahead of the subject. The composition introduces mystery and dynamism by focusing on the space in front of the subject. Position the main subject on the left side facing to the right of the scene.
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“Every great photograph
starts with mindful artistic composition.”
Left to Right
Overview
LEFT TO RIGHT
Good for moving subjects, street photography, and portraits.
Left to Right is a composition technique that uses the placement of the subject on the left side of the frame, looking or moving toward the right, to create a sense of direction, movement, and storytelling. This approach leverages the natural tendency of viewers in cultures that read left to right, encouraging curiosity about what lies ahead of the subject. The composition introduces mystery and dynamism by focusing on the space in front of the subject. Position the main subject on the left side facing to the right of the scene.
What it's good for
The Left to Right composition is excellent for creating storytelling and intrigue in photographs. It draws the viewer’s attention to the main subject while sparking curiosity about what lies beyond the frame. This technique adds a sense of movement and direction, making it particularly effective for portraits, street photography, and action shots. It also enhances the emotional engagement of the viewer, providing a narrative aspect to the image.
When to use it
This technique works best when the subject is looking, moving, or positioned toward the right side of the frame. It’s ideal for portrait photography, where the subject’s gaze can add depth to the image, and for action shots, like a cyclist riding across the scene or a runner in motion. Left to Right is also effective in street photography, capturing the natural movement of people or vehicles. In cultures that read from right to left, the direction can be reversed to align with the audience’s visual flow.
Steps to apply the artistic composition
Identify the Scene's Main Subject: Position the main subject on the left side of the frame, looking or moving toward the right.
Find Supporting Elements: Use the space on the right side of the frame to add context or balance to the composition, keeping it open to evoke curiosity.
Create Direction: Ensure the subject is oriented to face or move toward the right, guiding the viewer’s eyes naturally across the frame.
Leave Space in Front: Leave more space in front of the subject than behind to enhance the sense of movement or anticipation.
Consider Storytelling: Frame the subject in a way that suggests what they are looking at or moving toward to add a narrative element.
Adjust for Culture: In cultures that read from right to left, reverse the direction by placing the subject on the right side looking or moving left. You can flip the direction of the arrows.
Refine the Composition: Balance the main subject and the open space, ensuring the elements work together to create a cohesive and engaging scene.
NOTE: For cultures that read from right to left, tap the screen to reverse the direction of the arrows.
Left to Right
Video
In Depth Article
Left to Right
Everybody loves the traditional portrait of a person looking straight into the lens. It has serenity and style. It also seems that the subject is gazing straight into your eyes, which forms a connection with you. It’s a classic pose that will never go out of fashion. The only thing that improves a good portrait like this is giving it a sense of mystery.
Including a level of mystique in an image can be achieved in many ways, but we’ll make it happen by introducing direction and movement to your photos. Simply having the subject looking to the right side of the frame makes the viewer wonder what the subject is staring at. Being curious about what has caught their attention incorporates a storytelling aspect to the image. You can build upon this and strengthen the image by repositioning the subject.
Changing your angle, so the subject is on the left of the iPhone screen gives space on the right side of the image. When you move the subject away from the center of the photo, always have them looking towards the empty area, or the image will seem crowded and out of balance. The Wise Camera app on an iPhone makes this form of composition easy to achieve. Select the Left to Right rule and position your subject on the left, looking in the direction of the arrows. This will make your photo much more appealing to viewers. And when you have time, look through your online albums and find previously taken portraits that you’re not happy with. Our Wise Photos app helps you re-crop the photos to produce stunning images with clever composition.
Why Place Your Subject on the Left?
A commonly used marketing technique is to place essential features on the left of a photo, landing page, or magazine ad. People usually take a visual path through an image that starts at the left, moves to the right, then goes down and to the left again before heading back to the right. It’s called the Z Pattern, and in the western world, it mimics what we do when we read a block of text. Our brains have become hardwired to traverse from left to right when reading. We tend to scan a photo in this same pattern when looking at a photograph. Having someone situated on the left of an image is where our eyes are naturally drawn to before they journey through the rest of the picture.
In countries where people read from right to left, studies show the pattern of looking at an image is reversed to western eyes. Those who read Arabic and Hebrew script look to the right of an image and then make their way to the left. So a photographer in the Middle East would place their main subject on the right of the screen.
Another reason for having your subject look to the right is linked to advertising psychology. People from western cultures associate looking to the left as dealing with the past, while facing the right represents looking into the future. Based on the flow of time, this is commonly used in advertising to suggest how good your life will be when using the featured product. Looking to the future is more favorable than looking at the past, where you are moving away from.
You can appreciate the validity of this concept by imagining before and after pictures of a person on a diet. Which one will you put on the left, and which one goes on the right? Most people will place the image of the large person on the left and the slimmer version on the right because the ‘before’ image was in the past. Even a graph of a person’s weight loss always shows progress from left to right as they lose weight.
An Inclusive View Point
This article is written from the western point of view, so positioning a friend on the left side of an iPhone screen and having them look to the right is the first step in this artistic composition rule. But your subject doesn’t have to be static. You can add mystery to the shot by having them walking or running towards the right. This movement creates more questions in the mind of the viewer. Where are they going? What are they running towards? Are they running away from someone? Any image that sparks questions in the viewer’s mind is more appealing than a featureless photo and adding a sense of motion produces a dynamic element to any image.
Using the Left to Right composition tool isn’t limited to portraits. Street photography is ideal for incorporating the Left to Right rule as people rush to work or do their shopping. Some objects such as racing cars, sailboats, airplanes, and motorbikes have a distinct front and back. When photographing one of these vehicles, make sure it is placed to the left of the frame with its nose facing towards the right. And remember to include more space in front of it than behind.
Final Thoughts
The Left to Right composition rule is simple, but the more you think about it, you’ll realize how powerful it is. Use the Wise Camera app and Wise Photos app, and you’ll see an immediate improvement in your photographic composition. Having an image looking good and feeling right is the aim of any photographer. This rule makes that happen quickly and easily!
Artistic Composition Gallery
Storytelling with Artistic Composition
Photography, like any other art form, is deeply rooted in storytelling. Unlike music, movies, and books, which unfold their narratives over time, photography captures a single moment. Through artistic composition, we can guide the viewer's eye across the scene, effectively telling our story with an image.
Left to Right Storytelling Objectives
Anticipation | Forward momentum | Directional intention |
Left to Right creates directional narrative flow aligned with reading patterns. Position your main subject on the left side of the frame, facing or moving toward the right, to establish a natural starting point.
Empty space on the right becomes an important supporting element. This arrangement creates visual anticipation, suggesting movement, direction, or the subject's focus toward what lies ahead.
The amount of right-side space affects narrative tension. More space implies greater journey or possibility, while less space creates immediacy and connection between the subject and what they face.
This composition excels at implying future action or intent. Use it for stories that benefit from directional movement, where the subject's relationship with the space they face or move toward creates narrative anticipation and forward momentum.
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