Incorrect 'head room' is a frequent compositional problem and it really annoys me. This is exactly the picture you get when you ask a stranger to take a shot of your family on vacation. I guess having your face in the center of the picture is better than having your head cut off, but for more reasons than I care to get into it makes for a horrible composition:
In high school I used to work at a cable station and got hours of composition practice doing television production. Almost all the same principles apply to photography, and they can even make your images have a more narrative / cinematic look to them.
The principle of headroom is simple: In any composition involving people there should only be a small amount of open frame above the subject’s heads.
The amount of space to leave should be relative to your shot size ( wider shot = more head room, tighter shot = less. )
In head shots and close up portraits it’s actually the convention to cut off the top of the subjects head slightly.
Like any convention in photography there are exceptions but there isn’t much you can do when experimenting with headroom. If you’re going to violate the convention make it intentional. I do it with my fashion and wedding work when I see an opportunity.
Generally you need either another subject to occupy all that space or at least something visually appealing. Clear blue skies are boring but dramatic clouds work out great. I like the atmosphere of the open headroom because it humbles the subject and shows more of the setting.
great article, dude.
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