Workshop 2: Composition of picture

This isn’t that simple as it sounds :). I loved working on composition. Rule of thirds is just one of the rules of photo composition. Like someone correctly said, the important question to ask is -

"What message do I want my picture to deliver?"

I took some pics to understand and use these rules, but I wasn’t much satisfied with myself. Most of the times, u just want to take picture and u r just not able to figure wats the best angle/ composition for this frame! But let me note down my understanding here.

Rules of composition:

1. Isolate the subject:Don’t clutter the image, else the viewer will be lost and won’t have anything specific to look at.

• Sometimes adding a secondary focal point makes the picture interesting; like capturing a house as secondary focal point and mountains as first.
• Sometimes use of two focal points depicts a story

2. Layout, horizontal or vertical: This web page gives a classic explanation of layout to be considered for a picture.

3. Rule of thirds: My previous post

4. Fill the frame: Don’t leave huge empty space, like capturing one small tree and huge portion of sky.

5. Use lines/ symmetry patterns, always keep horizon/ water level straight

6. Diagonal rule (Explanation)

One side of the picture is divided into two, and then each half is divided into three parts. The adjacent side is divided so that the lines connecting the resulting points form a diagonal frame. According to the Diagonal Rule, important elements of the picture should be placed along these diagonals:

Linear elements, such as roads, waterways, and fences placed diagonally, are generally perceived as more dynamic than horizontally placed ones:

7. Headroom: Enough room for the subject's head.

8. Give "look-space"/ walking room: This is space in the frame that is in front of their eyes that allows them room to look or walk. So they don't look like they will bump into the edge of the photograph. Here's a Good Example of Look-Space & Walking Room:

9. Use proper depth of field

There are three main factors contributing toward depth of field:

- Aperture (bigger F-number, bigger DOF)

- Focal length (more magnify, less DOF)

- Subject distance (more distance, more DOF)

Check out the proper description with examples on Sangeetha's post about DOF.

10. Know when to break the rules :)

I've updated photos that I took for this workshop to my picassa web album:

Sangeetha's work on composition is pretty interesting too. I loved the snaps taken by her...

And finally, thanks to the web-resources:

http://photoinf.com/Image_Balance/Larry_Seiler/Composition_-_Understanding_it_-_Using_it.htm

http://photoinf.com/General/Gao_Mu/Introduction_To_Photography_Composition.htm

http://www.azuswebworks.com/photography/ph_comp.html

Workshop 1: Rule of thirds

We decided on our first topic: rule of thirds. Apparently this is a very basic funda and does not need knowledge about technical stuff.

Here’s the explanation

One additional interesting point: Place eyes in upper third (http://photoinf.com/General/ITRC_UMT/Composition_Basics_-_How_to_Get_Good_Pictures/Rule_of_Thirds.htm)

And finally, here are pictures taken by me to understand this rule:

http://picasaweb.google.com/amitads/Workshop1RuleOfThirds

Sangeetha's photos: http://www.conceptmall.net/TheShutter/main.php?g2_itemId=140

Note: I’ve resized all images to smaller sizes and placed a small dot on each photo to show the intersection-point that I was targeting for the subject. I’ve shown the grid in some of the pics. Used Pixia to draw the grid.

Useful resources on web:

http://photospot2004.blogspot.com/2004/07/rule-of-thirds.html

http://www.silverlight.co.uk/tutorials/compose_expose/thirds.html

http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/tips/thirds.asp

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/rule-of-thirds/

http://www.photozone.de/4Technique/compose/third.htm

Finally a blog about photography!

I have always been attracted towards photography, right since I was a kid. My dad always promised me to buy a Olympus camera (that was the hot one at that time!) and never fulfilled the promise :(
Anyway, I don’t want to be sad here …  I started loving this art more and more when I bought my first camera, my Canon S2 IS. Ahh, it is just too good… in fact Shantanu started liking photography only after we got this one at home!
Some friends sometimes praise me about the snaps that I take and I always reply, “It’s not me, it’s the camera”.

Well, I do wish to learn more and be decent in this field, not to make a profession but for the simple pleasure of art. Here’s one step towards becoming a better photographer. Thanks to Sangeetha for taking the initiative. We both have decided to learn photography fundas together, one by one. Hopefully this endeavor will help me be consistent, learn faster and learn better. I’ll post the topics we studied and my understandings on this blog.

I haven’t opened an account in any of the sites like http://www.treklens.com till now. I want to compare few more sites with treklense, anyone any ideas?