AYWMC: Part 2 Lesson 4: Advanced Composition Techniques

 This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera. 

 

Lesson 2.4 in my own words

• Think about what you're trying to say with your photographs. How do you want them to speak to the viewer?
• Composition is the language of photography. It's the backbone of a photograph.
• Think about:
• Where do you put everything in the frame?
• What do you leave out?
• How do the elements relate to one another?
• How can you use these principles to translate the scene you see into the finished image you see in your head?
• With practice, composition will come naturally.

This week's project

• Answer this question - "Why do you take photographs?"
• Try some of these advanced composition techniques:
• Visual weight 
• What elements draw the viewer's attention? 
• Do they compete with or distract from your chosen focal point?
• What's leaving the frame? Don't let cut-off objects on edges distract from the subject.
• What's overlapping? Give each element it's own space.

Why do I take photographs? I've been thinking about this and have pinpointed two reasons: documentation and communication. I don't see myself as an artist, so my photography isn't driven by a desire to create. Neither an I trying to elicit an emotional response from the viewer. Rather, my motive is to record the when, how, and why of our lifestyle, including its sorrows and joys. Even so, I want my photos to be interesting to look at and aesthetically pleasing. And I do enjoy the creative challenge to make them that way. So, I suppose I can add "personal satisfaction" to the reasons why I take photographs.

Practicing the composition techniques.

Visual weight: the eye is repeatedly drawn to the subject. I like that
there is good contrast with the background, and that the branches 
create diagonal leading lines, all leaning toward the subject.

What's leaving the frame? I understand this concept, but my usual method of
photography is simply to take a bunch of pictures and then crop them in Gimp.

Now, I'm trying to be more deliberate in analyzing the composition
of my shots beforehand. For this one, I changed my point-of-view.

Overlapping. Taking photos of animals is tough because they don't pose and they don't stay put.

Even though their bodies are overlapping, I think this photo
works because each of their heads has a defined space.

And that concludes part two of A Year With My Camera. 

AYWMC: Part 2 Lesson 3: Thinking About the Whole Frame

This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera.  

 

Lesson 2.3 in my own words

• The last several lessons focused on thinking about the subject. This lessons focuses on the whole frame, i.e. putting the subject into context.
• 4 composition principles:
• 3s and 5s - slight asymmetry is aesthetically pleasing to humans.
• Fill the frame - no foreground and background. Makes a more abstract presentation.
• Symmetry - can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.
• Diagonals - add tension and interest to a photograph.

This week's project

Using viewpoint (good foreground/subject/background balance) and a single focal point, think about how an image works in the frame. Choose at least one of the four composition techniques and create a thoughtful, aesthetically pleasing photograph.

3s and 5s

Fill the frame

Symmetry

Diagonals

What I learned

For drawing and painting, compositions can be pieced together. For a still life, I can add another apple, or move the pottery pitcher to the left or right as I compose the composition. With nature photography, I had to be more thoughtful about it. I had to find more "ready made" compositions that fit one of the four composition principles. So even though the concepts are easy to understand, finding them as pleasing compositions in nature was challenging. For example, finding symmetry. I had to really think about it and look around. 

In looking back over my photos, there seems to be some overlap in the principles we were supposed to focus on. I think, in part, this was because I had trouble mentally focusing on the frame rather than the subject. This exercise helped me realize that even though I can understand concepts in one way, doesn't mean there aren't more ways to explore and understand.