Special Message:
Which is more important, getting a new PlayStation or your health and wellbeing?
Buy these as cards
Get these as prints for your walls
Composition
| This is perhaps the biggest challenge for
all photographers: how to compose a photo. There are of course lots of great books written on this, but there's nothing better than trial and error; practice makes perfect; and try, try, and try again. |
 Sunrise at Nagoya Port f8, 1/640, iso100, 300mm
J.M. Schmidt, author f11, 1/125, iso100, 60mm |
||||||||||
You can of course see what other people
do; I do all the time. Check out these fine websites for some great
examples.
|
Some examples from another of my portfolios (click below)
|
||||||||||
| However, there are some simple rules that
you should stick to for a while, and fortunately they're easy: "The Rule of
Thirds" (click on the picture, right)
|
 Rule of thirds, click on this picture |
Essentially:
Also, an interesting note, since we're used to reading from left to right, our eyes also scan pictures from left to right. However, many Asian cultures don't scan pictures this way. Asian people tend to identify the subject, then look around at the context it is in, then refer back to the subject, so their style of photography (compositions) is a little different. I feel there seems to be more environment / setting in the picture, and the subject tends to be dead centre, or close to (not following our rule of thirds). Avoid background distractions like junk in a 'beautiful' scene, loiterers who aren't needed in the picture, sign posts, and so forth. At first, don't try 'being artistic', you'll get some horrid results. Try all the cliché shots, first. If you can do them, and well, then you can say you've got the basics, and you'll be already thinking of new improvements on how to do these better than others. THAT's how you improve and become an eventual leader in any particular genre (and not just in photography, either; your workplace I'm sure is no different). So, if you like flowers for instance, try looking at how flower photos are done by the best photographers, and try to emulate them. I don't think you're plagiarising, as you don't have the same flower they have, and you're not trying to profit (financially or in reputation), you're just learning. Same goes with nudes, landscape, street / candid and so on. Do what you can, and see what results you can get.
|
||||||
| Whilst experimenting and learning Of course questions are welcomed here. You can upload your pictures here on the Foto Forum, and ask for comments and feedback on the forums. Also see 101 Tips and Tricks in the How to take photos section. |
||||||
We proudly support:
