Photography 101 Part 2
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.