DigitalCamFan
composition
Leading Lines Photography – Learn by Doing
Assignment #44 – Leading lines!
Let me tell you how this week’s assignment started, it was kinda magical for me. I was driving through town thinking about photography thinking about what Bernhard Seuss said in an interview I recently read:
“the photographer learns to break down the subject to its basic compositional elements then builds an image from them.”
So I’m driving thinking about composition, when I noticed the light poles. They all went straight up! That might seem silly, I drive by these lights every day, but in a sense I never noticed they were lines. Lines connected to the earth shooting straight up to the sky! As I drove lines started appearing everywhere. Lights, telephone polls, the power cables flowing horizontally, the curve in the road as I watched a car turn. Lines, lines everywhere leading my eye… Some are interesting lines, some not because of the background or they didn’t lead me anywhere. I tried to visualize circles and triangles breaking down my imagine into a mathematical equation, but that proved to be a bit harder so I went back to looking for lines all day.
Take the day and look for leading lines without a camera… then pick up your camera and see if you still see them! I spent most of my day just looking and only took a few pictures. Still a long way to go, but I felt it was a start…
Tips about leading lines in photography
Leading lines pull our eye into the picture.
They can take the viewer through a journey from one spot to the next.
Lines don’t have to be straight they can be diagonal, curved,, horizontal, zigzag etc.
Simple lines bright our attention to the intended subject
A question to ask yourself:
Does the leading line take your eyes in to the image or out?
Take the day and look… See how many leading lines you can find whether they are straight to the subject, or curvy letting the mind slowly sweep through the image as it finds its way to the subject!
This is an excellent video on leading lines by Bernie Raffe. He shows the picture from a couple different angles and explains why he choose the one he did.
Learn by Doing – Composition in Photography
Assignment #25 – Take a picture any picture, but really think about your picture before you take it.
What is your subject? Do you like the colors? Should you move your subject over? Ah so much to think about besides just learning how to use your camera! Thanks for the composition idea @Paul! We could all use some tips on this subject! I myself know I still have a ton to learn!
You can have a 20 different people shooting the same scene and yet every single one of them will leave with a different picture. Everyone sees something different when looking at a sunset, everyone sees something different when looking at a single flower. For me sometimes I see what I want to take a picture of, but it’s hard to bring that picture to life. Find your own style and go with it.
I took a photography class on composition awhile back. I pulled out my notes…
- Keep it simple – What is the subject of your picture
- Move in Closer – Our tendency is to take in way too much. Sometimes you have to choose between sky or landscape. You don’t have to have everything in the picture, keep it simple
- Are you taking a picture of your subject or the building behind them, decide what your subject is and make that the focus
- Rules of thirds – When looking through your viewfinder picture 3 horizontal lines and 3 vertical lines. Where these lines intersect is where you would place your subject. The idea is that it makes your image more balanced. There have actually been studies done that say your eye naturally goes to these intersecting points rather than right to the center of the picture.
- Shapes – any prominent shapes triangles, circles etc. What about lines are there straight lines or curvy lines like a river. See them and use them.
- Strongest number in photography is 3 often forms a triangle. You might see three flowers lined up together etc.
- When looking at the horizon don’t cut your picture in half try focusing on the horizon about 1/3 from the bottom or top. If you’re taking a reflection in the water that might be an exception.
- Negative space can be a good think
- All secondary subjects should support the main subject
- Color – are there complimentary colors in your picture, no color take note of the colors around you
In the end he said all rules are made to be broken… go with what you love!
When Opportunity Meets Preparation!
Last night I was fortunate enough to attend a 2 hour lecture on “Taking a great photograph, composition” by Doug Johnson. What would you expect the lecture to be about? Rules of thirds, three is a strong number, keep it simple, move in close. This approach would have been fine by me since I am still learning the rules so I can later break them.
Instead Doug took an entirely different approach which has me still thinking about how I photograph. Doug spoke of patience, how he once sat for three hours waiting for the wind to settle down so he could get the picture. Being aware and finding that decisive moment to express your subject and yourself. His lecture was extremely inspirational and well put together!
He brought with him many examples by some amazing photographers. Before last night I had never heard of these photographers so I wrote down my favorites:
Cig Harvey
Lisa Wiseman
Ami Vitale
Mark Story
Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Henri Cartier-Bresson
The first picture he showed was a picture of a older lady in the center of the frame walking up a hill. Doug asked our thoughts on this picture before saying it was a picture he took of him mom. He took it because he had an emotional attachment to his mom. He didn’t care about the trees or how it looked it was for him. I realized I take pictures one of two ways – One way is of my family which would be me capturing a moment for myself, and the other way is luck. I don’t prepare or think about the photo I just wonder why an amazing photo isn’t falling in my lap. My thoughts don’t go beyond making sure my subject is in the frame. Light an after thought usually when I am working in Photoshop I think hmm should have put a little more thought into that one!
Light – Moment – Perspective
Light describes so what should you think about when looking for the light:
1. Quality – is it a soft light (soft in the details) or hard light (exciting, strong)
2. Angle – Do you have front light which creates color, side light that will promotes form or depth and the last one back light that portrays shape.
3. Color – warm or cold (color balance)
I learned something else I think I might be a bit scared of shadows… All the images we looked at were interesting with depth and light dancing around arm in arm with shadows.
Three things I learned during last nights lecture, three things I need to think about every time I take a picture:
1. Pay attention to the light, look for it.
2.What is the story I am trying to convey
3. Being aware, finding that decisive moment to take the picture!
—
Subscription Options:
Categories
Pages
Photos on flickr
Tags
© 2013 DigitalCamFan. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by WordPress. Designed by 