P3D Re: What did I learn last night...

[Brian Reynolds <reynolds@xxxxxxxxx>]

George your mailer seems to be inserting 8 bit characters (characters
outside the ASCII set) in place of the apostrophe and quote
characters.  I have fixed them where I could.  Hopefully I haven't
mangled anything too badly.

George Themelis wrote:
> 
> Jim Kunkel's "photographic composition" was an eye-opener for
> me.  I am familiar with the rule-of-thirds, odd number of
> objects and a few other rules... but I was not familiar with the
> reading left to right and getting out of the picture notions
> (more in the next posting).
> 
> Parenthesis:  Many people cringe in the idea of "composition
> rules"... They don't like to be told what looks good and what
> does not.  They don't believe in rules.  OK, suit yourself!  But
> if you take the time to experiment and study the works of art,
> you will see that there are rules, things that work and things
> that don't work well in most situations.  
> 

I'm one of those people.  (Although I think there would be a lot less
contention if the term used was "composition guidelines".)  I believe
that there are no rules of composition (by which I mean hard and fast
edicts that control composition the way rules control the play of a
game).

As others have pointed out, learning the technical aspects of
photography just requires study, and being comfortable with executing
the manual aspects of photography just requires practice with your
equipment, but learning to see (or to gain your vision, or to
pre-visualize, etc.) can be (but doesn't have to be) difficult.  Some
people have no trouble finding their own personal vision, and others
have a very difficult time of it.  I think the difficulty in attaining
a personal vision is why some gravitate towards the purely technical
or mechanical aspects of photography.  (That doesn't mean that I think
people who enjoy the technical aspects of photography have no personal
vision.)

Guidelines (like the "rule" of thirds) can be useful in helping
someone while they learn to see.  Once they have gained their own
vision (basically inventing their own set of guidelines) the previous
guidelines are no longer necessary or have been modified to fit the
personal vision.

There are all sorts of workshops and classes on learning your personal
vision, but I'm pretty sure personal vision is not something that can
be taught.  Looking at other's pictures can help, but you shouldn't
try and copy what they've done.  Going to a workshop can let you see
others' work, and photographing at the workshop can give you the
opportunity to see how others work and to stop and ask yourself why
you do things the way you do.

Oleg commented on personal vision when he said "When the material is
right the picture snaps into being in the viewfinder, usually breaking
some rule or other."  When you feel "the material is right and the
picture snaps into being in the viewfinder" you have "seen" that scene
with your personal vision.  Someone else would see the scene
differently and take a different picture (or none at all).  Another
person's vision of the scene does not invalidate your own vision.  If
you like the picture you took, then it's a good picture regardless of
another's vision of that scene.  If you don't like it, then you may
need to figure out what you don't like about it, and what you could
have changed to make it better.

> Example:  The centered sunset.  Horizon splitting the picture in
> two halves and the sun at dead center.  This is awful!  Try
> moving the horizon up or down and the sun off center and you've
> got a much better picture.
> 

That is a purely subjective statement.  Moving the horizon within the
composition gives you a different photograph, not necessarily a
"better" one.

> I have the tendency to center my subject.  When using print film
> and doing your own darkroom (or digital) work, this is not much
> of a problem.  But, when shooting slide film, you must have
> composition in mind before you press the shutter!
> 

And having this composition in mind before exposure is your personal
vision.

> So, rules exist and you cannot ignore them.  Breaking the rules
> is OK, if you understand what the rules are and why you are
> breaking them.
> 

I have to disagree with this.  There are no rules, and those given
("images read left to right", "rule of thirds" and "don't center the
subject") are amongst the easiest to refute.

-- 
Brian Reynolds                  | "Dee Dee!  Don't touch that button!"
reynolds@xxxxxxxxx              | "Oooh!"
http://www.panix.com/~reynolds  |    -- Dexter and Dee Dee
NAR# 54438                      |       "Dexter's Laboratory"