Photography 101 Part 2
Basic Composition Now that you are beginning to understand how your camera works you can begin to understand basic composition. I know that many people that I've talked to think that photography is just pointing your camera and taking a photo but it's more than that. After you understand how your equipment works you can begin to get into the real art of photography and that art is called composition. Basic principles: 1. Use all of your available space. Fill the image with the image. If the reason that your taking the photo is your daughter's beautiful face then get closer. If you're taking an image of the breathtaking valley before you. Fill the frame with the valley. Keep distractions out of the frame. They're called distractions for a reason. 2. Look at the forms in your image. You almost have to look at the people or the landscape before you in their simplistic geographic forms. A good way to learn form is to practice taking photos of still life objects, that you can arrange into pleasing forms. A good photo is always a beautiful arrangement of form. Whether it's the beauty of a woman's face, her features being forms, or a wonderful landscape, trees, rocks, and hills being forms. 3. Line or direction, motion. The direction of the forms in your photos is very important. Never have action or motion moving outside of your image. It will direct the eye away from your image. Diagonal motion lines are good, curves and "s" curves are better. The last two is probably way landscape photography is so popular nature is full of curves. Also never put a horizon line in the center of your frame. 4. Contrast, the difference between black and white. Now it is possible to have a beautiful photo with little contrast if that is your intention, this works best with color. But a lot of shots, some really beautiful shots have a nice balance of black, white, and grays. This can be manipulated for artistic purpose of course, but in the beginning you want to focus on trying to take shots with equal amounts of black, white, and shades of gray. (Shoot a roll of B&W film to really learn this principle.) 5. Color, you may have to familiarize yourself with the color wheel. (See my article Graphic Design Using Color for more information it's for graphic design but the first couple of paragraphs talk about basic color theory) Whether you're shooting nature or setting up your own shots in a studio you need to know what colors go together and why. Many of us have an instinct as to what looks good. When in doubt follow your instincts. Start out by taking shots of things that you think have pretty or beautiful colors. Show the photos to others and see if they agree. Photographers learn not only what they think is beautiful but what is universally beautiful as well. Now the hard part practice all these principles at the same time. It's not easy! Now you really know why photographers take years to really learn their craft. This week's assignment: Let's break this down into four assignments. You'll need four rolls of film. Roll one, fill your available space. Shoot pictures of whatever you like, but get closer. Eliminate distractions from your image. Keep the focus of your image on whatever it was that made you want to take that photo. Roll two, forms. Here's an old stand by that I did in college. Get out an assortment of vegtables and fruit from your kitchen. Put a sheet down on your table, no distractions, shoot an entire roll of the veggies and fruit making sure that your rearrange with each shot. Make sure you study your results and see which forms looked best. Roll three, Contrast, you can do this in B&W film if you want to. Take a shot of the flower in your garden in the early morning, afternoon, and sunset. Shoot some portraits at the same times, by candlelight too. When you see the results you will be surprised. Roll four, color. Use the vegtables again, this time paying attention to the colors. If you can tell me why a red tomato looks best on a green bed of lettuce or the orange sunset with the purple clouds is so captivating then you've figured out some of color theory. If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there. About The Author Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design. [email protected]
MORE RESOURCES: See 15 Winning Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest Smithsonian Magazine Necessary photography. The 15th Festival of Ethical Photography in Lodi The Eye of Photography Robert Frank at MoMA — a photographer in conflict with his craft Financial Times Juggling life’s threads: a layered portrait of a father, mechanic and fashion designer It's Nice That Oktoberfest at SteelStacks | Photography & Article By Kimberly Kanuck The Valley Ledger "Wildlife photographers need to BACK OFF!" demands pro Tom Mason Digital Camera World Lynn Goldsmith talks photography, Patti Smith and poignant subjects | Visual Art | dailycal.org Daily Californian Photographer To Present At Camera Club Meeting Jamestown Post Journal Sharing the beauty of deep sea life through photography Virgin Islands Daily News See 11 of the Best Wildlife Photographs From Years Past Smithsonian Magazine Festival International de Photographie NICEPHORE+ : Another look at fashion photography The Eye of Photography PHOTOS: The past week in photography, stories in the Bow Valley Rocky Mountain Outlook - Bow Valley News Local Photographer Deena Sveinsson Attends Photography Competition Exhibit In San Francisco Estes Park news Winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 The Atlantic What to take on a photography bootcamp Photofocus I'm a photographer who shoots weddings around the world. Couples want one kind of photo — but they don't actually use them. Business Insider More headshot sessions available with the Office of University Relations photography studio Marquette Today My Corner, Your Corner: The life of a photographer The Sunday Dispatch Photography on Poltergeist II: The Other Side The American Society of Cinematographers Tadpoles top Wildlife Photography Contest 2024 DW (English) 18 striking photos from this year’s best wildlife photographers National Geographic Cumberland Valley Photographers Exhibition Local.News Artist of the Week: Janet Politte seattlerefined.com I asked a pro photographer for the best iPhone camera settings — my pics are now better than yours Mashable Rochester photographer spots his work on a stranger's arm Rochester Post Bulletin The Dangers of Alcohol and Photography The Phoblographer Woodland Camera Forum photography club set for presentation on Monday, Oct. 21 Woodland Daily Democrat Four Up-And-Coming Photographers to Put on Your Radar Now AnOther Magazine This Film Photography Software Is An Answer to All Your Prayers The Phoblographer ‘Photography is steeped in all kinds of colonial complexities’: Adam Ferguson’s outback Australia The Guardian An AP photographer gets the light just right from a perch up high above a human tower competition The Mercury News Björk to release photography book of her epic 4-year tour with photos by Santiago Felipe Digital Camera World Opinion | What a Blind Photographer Saw at the Paralympics The New York Times The Love Affair Annie Ernaux Captured in Words and on Film The New York Times Photographer Tressa Shaw’s style is ‘true to color and life’ Monroe Evening News Photography Exhibition: Ken Light Reveals America’s Untold Stories The Phoblographer Charles Biasiny-Rivera, Champion of Latino Photography, Dies at 93 The New York Times 5 photo editing apps to boost your mobile photography game The Business Standard Reality as seen from a helicopter Lampoon Magazine Writer Ocean Vuong's Debut Photography Series Memorializes the Nail Salons and Family Trips of His Youth Cultured Magazine Gallery Talk: Solveig Nelson, Curator of Photography and New Media at the Benton Museum of Art Pomona College Review | Robert Frank left still photography for ‘another mistress.’ Here she is. The Washington Post Professor's Photography Selected for International Exhibition in NYC University of Mississippi | Ole Miss Immersive Narratives in Art: How Jung-Ai Chu Blends Photography, Performance, and Culture Our Culture Mag A Camera in the East Village, Capturing the Now and the Long Ago The New York Times Photography exhibition at Brown’s Watson Institute features faces of global refugee crisis Brown University The Changing Faces of the Guatemalan Highlands Atmos Magazine Appreciating art with ‘Poetic Record: Photography in a Transformed World’ The Daily Princetonian ‘The Duel’ starring Aidan Gillen, wraps principal photography in Poland Screen International The Summer of Photography – Destination: Portimão Portugal Resident 18 brilliant photographs of Foyle School of Speech and Drama Feis for the Foyle Hospice in Derry Derry Journal Opinion | What good is a photograph? The Washington Post |
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