class by cornell watson

Composing the world you see

Your guide to creating dope ass photo compositions.

In Composing The World You See, we’re going to build, stretch, challenge, and flex your composition muscles to consistently create your new favorite photos. Learn, see and use leading lines, shapes, negative space, repetition and a sense of humor to master composition and create compelling and unique photos.

I'm interested
Black clock with white hands showing 3:00. 
COURSE LENGTH

3 weeks

A close-up of a black electronic device with a display and buttons. 
class start date

9th Mar 2026

A blank, rectangular, black price tag with a small circular hole at the top left corner. 
INVESTMENT

$300 / $350

Independent / Guided

People sitting and waiting at a bus stop, with a barred glass structure and an urban background with buildings and smokestacks, in black and white.
A gold-colored graphic 
cornell watson

Composition is the sauce to creating art and the key to consistency. Think of your favorite song? Favorite movie? Favorite book? Favorite photo? What do all these favorites have in common…?


You may be surprised to find it’s probably composition. Composition is the sauce for creating art and the key to making it sticky.

If your recurring anxiety nightmare is showing up to shoot and not being sure how to compose what you see, this class is your creative lifeline. Composition won’t cure your anxiety (that’s between you and your therapist), but having composition be second-nature will def make you feel like you actually know what you’re doing when you press the shutter.

Your biggest worry won’t be “Is this a good photo?”, it’ll be “Did I leave my camera at home again?”

In this three week class you will learn to have more control over your photos by recognizing and playing with different elements of composition. It will build, stretch, challenge, and flex your composition muscles to enable you to consistently create your next favorite photos.

A group of four people, including two young children, a man, and a woman, enjoying time together outdoors on a wooden deck. The man is smiling and has a child on his shoulders, another child is hugging him, and the other child is playing with a toy. 
cornell watson
register for a Guided seat
register for aN independent seat
Join waitlist

    • Why composition is one of the most important facets of photography

    • To identify and use compositional elements to strengthen your photo

    • How to create focal points with color, light, contrast, and depth-of-field

    • The pros and cons of the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, and other rules

    • How to create effective layers in your photos

    • The impact of lens choice on your compositions

    • To see and use lines, shapes, and repetition

    • How to utilize perspective to create unique photos

    • Balance and space

    • Lightroom overlays and how they can help guide your crops

    • To self-critique and cull for composition

  • This three-week online interactive class will include:

    • Daily interaction and discussion with Cornell on the lessons

    • Video lessons to supplement each of the written lessons

    • Exercises to help you explore compositions through digital and non-digital mediums

    • Two main assignments that explore composition with video-recorded feedback

    • Studies of compositions by renowned artists old and new

  • Access to a DSLR or mirrorless camera and a good understanding of manual controls

    Experience using Lightroom

  • Interactive classes are held online and registration opens seasonally.

    Guided students can participate fully in class, by asking questions, submitting assignments, and getting personalized feedback from your teacher.

    Independent students have full access to class content and can participate in class discussions —they just don’t get teacher critique and feedback on images or assignments.

“Cornell is a brilliant teacher whose unbridled enthusiasm for "seeing” composition is infectious. Three months since I took the class, and I can attest to the fact that I now see the world in a whole new way and my composition is better for it!”

kathleen
A pixelated pattern with black, light blue, olive green, and white blocks. 
MEET THE TEACHER
A man with glasses, an afro hairstyle, and a beard smiling and giving a thumbs-up with both hands in front of a wooden background.

Cornell

Watson

What up, fam?! I’m Cornell Watson, a dope-ass Black photographer based in Durham, North Carolina.

It’s low-key surreal writing this bio as a teacher for Illuminate. When I picked up my first camera years ago, I found myself taking courses here.  Since then, I’ve photographed national ad campaigns for companies such as T-Mobile and I frequently contribute as a freelancer for national publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.  I’ve learned so much on this visual storytelling journey, and I’m excited to share and inspire.  

There was a time when one of my biggest fears was showing up with my camera and not being able to create anything I’d be satisfied with.  What’s changed since then is that I have more control over my photos by being able to recognize and play with the different elements of composition.  Now my anxiety is less about making good photos and more about whether my joints will be sore the next day.

If you’re curious about what I’m doing when I’m not creating photos, being the best spouse in the world, or writing bio’s while my three-year-old daughter is coloring the walls with non-washable crayons, you can find me passed out from exhaustion on the living room couch.

See cornell's instagram
Visit cornell's website

Cornell’s work has appeared in national ad campaigns for companies like T-Mobile and in national publications such as the New York Times and Washington Post. Cornell was also the 2020 recipient of the Alexia Foundation grant for his award-winning photo series “Behind the Mask”

A gold-colored graphic 
Any questions?

Email your teacher directly here and they will get back to you.

Alumni Student?

We’d love to have you back! Email your teacher here and they will send you a link.

Registration opens January 7th

6pm EST

REMIND ME
Silhouettes of military personnel in uniform and a woman climbing stairs, set against a partly cloudy sky.
Five people waiting at a bus stop, with four sitting and one standing, in a black-and-white photo.
Silhouetted people behind a chain-link fence with smoke or fog, with the Washington Monument and leafless trees in the background.
Children and adults observing and pointing at various fish swimming in an aquarium tank.
Back of a man with white hair, dressed in a dark suit, standing behind a podium in a dark setting, with a bright light behind him.
Children protesting outside a mosque with signs that read 'Our Mosque' and 'Open Our Mosque', engaging with a woman in black attire holding a sign. The children are sitting in strollers and reaching out to the woman, with a fence and building in the
A black and white photo of four people in a room. One person is sitting at a table holding a newspaper titled 'The News Observer,' with a headline about protests in Raleigh. Two women and a man are standing behind the table, with the man holding a ri
A group of children and adults sitting behind metal barriers, with expressions of shock, surprise, or excitement during an event.
A group of five people sitting against a brick wall. On the left is an elderly man with a hat, sitting on a chair with his hands clasped in front of his face. To the right are three women and a young girl, seated on chairs or the ground, engaged in c
People laughing and enjoying a nightlife scene with a man in a wheelchair, woman leaning forward, and another woman with braided hair, all smiling.
A family walking on a suburban sidewalk with children, one sleeping in a stroller, and other kids with bikes and scooters.
A joyful man with three children playing on a backyard deck, with a house in the background
Two young girls hugging and smiling with their eyes closed, in front of a wall with graffiti art including a smiling face and the words 'RESIST'.
A diverse family of adults and children sitting around a dining table in a bright room with large windows and greenery outside. They are eating and socializing.
A girl looking out of a window while sitting on the windowsill, and two people, a woman and a man, lying on a bed, smiling and talking to each other.
A joyful Black man with a batik waistband shirt is sitting on a wooden deck outside his house, surrounded by three young Black children. One child is on his shoulders laughing, another is playing with a toy car, and a third is sitting on his lap, all
A family of four with a small dog standing outdoors between two glass buildings under a clear blue sky. The adults and children are smiling and enjoying each other’s company, with one child wearing a cute animal hoodie and another wearing a red hat.
A woman stands outside a bathroom door holding a towel, while a man kneels next to a bathtub and a child relaxes with a towel in a nearby room.
Children and adults in line, some wearing masks, waiting by a fire truck, holding American flags on a sunny day.
Silhouettes of three people and one horse at a livestock pen outdoors, with a cliff and sky in the background.
A woman and a young child with curly hair leaning against a white wall in a brightly lit hallway. The woman is sitting on the wooden floor, supporting the child who is standing and leaning with one hand on the wall, both looking at the camera.
People waiting outside a restaurant or café, some wearing face masks, with a woman sitting on a park bench and children nearby, in an urban setting with cobblestone pavement.
A woman brushes her teeth in front of a mirror while a man and two young girls also brush their teeth behind her. The man has long hair and glasses, one girl is brushing with a pink toothbrush, and a young girl with a dark floral dress is looking int
Two young girls hugging and smiling, with a woman holding a child in the background. The setting appears to be indoors with a chalkboard and graffiti-style text on the wall.

What other students had to say

Cornell Watson’s deep dive into composition is energetic and vibrant instruction on how to use composition to elevate the storytelling in our images. It was interesting and exhilarating to communicate and share with artists from different parts of the world and who are on different levels of their craft. 

kay

Cornell’s knowledge, joy and generosity are far exceeding any expectation. It has been a privilege to learn from such a humble talent. Lessons learnt are so subtle yet so powerful, my favorite kind of traits. It was an honor to learn from Cornell I wish the class was longer as I just can’t get enough. Thank you Cornell for so much!

monique
A light shape at the bottom right.

The concepts were clearly explained and examples to further our understanding was given. I very much appreciated the diverse artists that Cornell presented because it helped me to dive deeper into my “why” and learn about artists and their work that deserve so much more honor, reference, and respect. I enjoyed the zoom sessions and Cornell provided a warm and welcoming environment for questions and self-expression. I will definitely recommend this course to other photographers.

tiara
A gold-colored graphic
Check out more class reviews
A gold-colored graphic

More classes you might like

A woman standing inside a room near a window with sunlight streaming through, creating rays of light and a bright glow. 
the magic of light with summer murdock

A field guide to understanding the best of the light around you. The Magic of Light will push you to slow down, open your eyes and really SEE the light around you with fresh eyes and capture it in your camera.

A split image with a grassy field at the bottom and a foggy sky above, with a color palette bar on the right showing shades of light blue, gray, and green.
A woman holding a baby smiling in a kitchen, with a man washing dishes at the sink nearby. 
layers of love with iris Hu

Master the four key elements to create storytelling images: light, environmental elements, connections, and compositions. Allowing you to confidently navigate both in-home and outdoor locations, creating artistic and meaningful images for client and personal work.

Learn free

A person standing outdoors at night with lightning in the background.

Access our library of mini classes for free today.

access free classes here