Learning composition

[faberryman]

No need. He posted it again.

So which one is racist: tough guy Mr. T crying or Kermit the frog typing, or both?

 

[tedr1]

in response to the question by the original poster..............

composition is a complex subject and repays study, books have been written on the subject, I like learning from books, it is easy to switch back and forth quickly to review a topic, a book can be read anywhere, work at my own speed, usually it is well organized in terms of chapters and has an index and some have a glossary of technical terms.

Here are a few things to consider that have a big effect on the visual quality of a picture:

do I want the subject to fill all the frame or only part of it? which part?

what shape is the frame? rectangular upright (portrait)? rectangular sideways (landscape)? or square?

my subject is in the foreground, what objects are in the background? are they a distraction? (red things attract the eye very strongly, so do light things, dark and black things tend to recede and be less distracting)

if there are distracting objects in the background can I change where I stand so that they are less noticeable? (if my friend in the street seems to have a lamp post growing out of his head can I move sideways?)

there is blue sky with clouds in my picture do I want the clouds to look like clouds or do I mind if they turn all white without details? (pictures having both very bright things and dark things in them usually either can't show the details in the bright regions, or, if the bright regions show detail then there may be dark regions where there is no detail to be seen. Having both may be tricky. The answer to making this choice involves the deliberate adjustment of the camera exposure, which may not be possible in some (smartphone?) cameras.)

Learning composition can be done by making lots of pictures of the same subject with a slight variations in where I stand and how close I am. Later these are reviewed, perhaps even scrutinized closely, to see which ones are preferred. Eventually it may be possible to give an explanation for the preferences. Part of this process is being "wasteful" with pictures, make lots, and look at them all. If my "success rate" is 1% there are going to be ninety nine crummy pictures. Many photographers would be delighted to have 1% success rate. As a beginner the rate may only be 0.1% or less for a while, so make a lot of pictures.

One last thought. Although some types of pictures look OK small size (smartphone screen size) pictures the size of a book page can bring more viewing pleasure, and prints made from the best pictures that are hung on the wall are best of all. If you don't already have a PC, Mac, laptop or notebook to view pictures on see if you can acquire one.

Have fun!

 

[faberryman]

If you don't already have a PC, Mac, laptop or notebook to view pictures on see if you can acquire one.

And then cast the images to your large screen TV.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I think I am going to begin my "ignore jtk" experiment and see how much more enjoyable Photrio is without his clueless drivel.

Anyone else want to board that train? Lol.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I think I am going to begin my "ignore jtk" experiment and see how much more enjoyable Photrio is without his clueless drivel.

Anyone else want to board that train? Lol.

Done. Sent him nose-first into the kitty litter box (aka Ignore list).

 

[Sirius Glass]

I think I am going to begin my "ignore jtk" experiment and see how much more enjoyable Photrio is without his clueless drivel.

Anyone else want to board that train? Lol.

Done. Sent him nose-first into the kitty litter box (aka Ignore list).

That could be a positive move.

 

[warden]

I have a lot of interest in photography and even click some pics whenever I travel. But when I review the pics later, I will not be very happy the way my photos look. So I would like to know some good sources where I can learn composition.

Welcome to Photrio. About 80% of the threads are like this.

I second the recommendation of the Kodak books for beginners. If you don't mind spending a few dollars and enjoy learning from paper more than from the internet they're a great place to start.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

The cutout described will never go obsolete. There will be times that it will come in handy throughout your photography life. Use three different formats? Make a cutout for each. I also make it a point to watch old B&W movies. Every one that I watch offers examples of beautiful composition because those in charge of photography were experts on the subject. I sometime watch with the sound off so I can concentrate better. Violate the "rules" of composition? I know it can be done. Been doing B&W photography for over sixty years and I guess, before I'm done, I just might find an occasion to do it but don't bet on it. And if you think that studying another photographer's picture will make your work look like theirs, it won't. After years of studying Ansel Adams' work, my work still doesn't look like his.........Regards!

And I make my drawing/painting students use one. It is a fantastic tool. Probably the cheapest tool in your kit!

 

[cliveh]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=v...AUIESgE&biw=1920&bih=946#imgrc=zCa8qstXDrG0aM:

 

[jtk]

That could be a positive move.

I hope those gentlemen will enjoy their lives together and never have to deal with ideas different from their own again One of them actually seems to be a fine photographer (Photrio Media).

 

[removed account4]

Make a cutout in an old piece of matt board (black or white it doesn't matter) at the same aspect ratio as your camera's view finder. Walk around and compose with it. You can zoom in and out with it too. I make all my photography and art students do this. It's an excellent learning tool. I also teach them about the rule of thirds... that's good for beginners, too.

that cut out sounds like a great idea.. !
high school painting teacher taught us to squint our eyes when we looked at a scene
to drop out all the middle tones .. i don't paint, but i do that "trick" whenever i make a photograph ..
it helps me identify the flow of the contrast within the composition ...

 

[Sirius Glass]

Using over hanging branches or leaves can be used to frame a composition and give it depth.

 

[ME Super]

I may get some flack for this, what with the person I'm going to be quoting's reputation around here, but what the hay, I'm going to do it anyway.

Ken Rockwell has an interesting acronym for improving one's pictures. Here it is: FART for better photos.

• F - Feel the urge to take a picture. Most people jump from here straight to T and end up with mundane photos. I'm guilty of that sometimes myself.
• A - Ask yourself what makes you want to take the photo. Is it the cherry red tailfins on the car? Or maybe it's not the car at all, but the cute girl driving it, in which case you ask her out for coffee and save the photo for later.
• R - Refine - refine the composition to emphasize what made you want to take the photo. And finally...
• T - Take the photo.

Now having said all that, another smart person (my elementary thru high school art teacher) said "Drawing is about learning to see." Learn to see what's in your photos. Most of us have stereoscopic vision, which means that we see in 3 dimensions. We can perceive depth. One particular photo I took with my Stereo realist looks terribly bland as a 2-D photograph. So bad, in fact, that I almost didn't do the work needed in order to print it as a stereo pair. But once I did, and viewed it in the stereoscope, it seemed to spring off the paper and looked as good as a photo as it did in real life. Part of your visualization process may need to be to close one eye so you see the prospective photo in two dimensions instead of three.

Another thing I've found that improves the look of B&W photos (but has nothing to do with composition) is the use of filters. No, not filters in post with a digital camera, but filters that you put in front of the lens at the time you take the photo. On a sunny day, a red filter gives dramatic skies. A yellow filter under the same conditions gives the sky a natural looking shade of gray (well, as natural looking as B&W can be anyway). With no filter at all, my skies end up being a featureless white. There's way more to photography than just composition. Explore it all!

 

[Arklatexian]

Learning composition is like learning any language, you need to know and understand the basics. It may come natural or it may be hard but stick at it and you will have an understanding of what composition involves.

Will you be any good at it? Well that's like asking any English speaker (for example) are they a Shakespeare (or insert your own well known author).

If you enjoy the hobby of photography, then read/view composition and the work of the classic painting artists, Rembrant, da Vinci, Raphael, etc. (they are classic for a reason). There are rules for composition and yes they can be broken BUT you need to know and understand them FIRST before you break them and know why you are doing so (otherwise it's just an excuse for bad composition).

Look at the composition and work of famous photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams, Robert Capa, etc. You will learn as much by viewing works as reading about them (learning by osmosis). Look at photos from magazines like National Geographic, Life Magazine (online) etc

As Andrew O'Neill said above , make a cardboard cutout viewfinder. Bring it with you everywhere and look at everything, not just the centre but all around the edges. Learn to think before you shoot.

It is not something that can be mastered over night, it will take time but it's will be fun to learn.

You just reminded me of an instruction to making a photograph. Just learn the word "FAST". Each letter means something. "F" means "focus", "A" means set the "aperture", "S" means set the "shutter speed"after closing the shutter, most important, as mentioned above, "T" means "think" and/or "trip" the shutter. I think it means both. I believe I saw this in "Graphic/Graflex Photography" book on large format photography.........Regards!

 

[Arklatexian]

Lots of opinion, zero aspiration for significance. Composition is well and good but is worthless if the image is inconsequential.

Big prints subject photos to tougher evaluation, especially by others, which explains fear of most photographers to make and show them.

If the image is inconsequential, it probably will not be made. All pictures, photographs included, should be of interesting subjects. Hopefully interesting to everyone but at least interesting to the picture's maker. I believe this is more important than technical expertise, or "Art" if others are going to view your pictures......Regards!