Wounded Soldier in a Deserted Camp, by Matthew Brady

Matthew Brady was a Civil War photographer who was hired by the United States government to photodocument the war. In the image shown here he uses some basic compositional strategies in the decisions he made while taking this photograph.

He uses the "rule of thirds" to arrange the composition. That is, he uses ratios of 1/3 to 2/3 in deciding where to place objects in the scene. You'll notice that the figures occupy the left third of the picture. He also has the individual on the left "walking into" the picture. The figure on the far left is facing into the frame rather than away from it because this helps to keep a viewer focused on the scene.

He also keeps his value range strong by paying attention to the darks and lights. The photograph has both black in its strongest form and white in its strongest value.