Thinking beyond "The Rules"

[mishele]

Understanding elements of visual design are rarely talked about beyond "The Rules". There is soooo much more to know. I take a lot of these things for granted. They are imprinted in my brain from school but for many this link will open new doors. I enjoyed the overview that this link gives!! Take the time and read over it!! It might change the way you see the world!!

Composition and the Elements of Visual Design

[TPF Sponsor]

[analog.universe]

Nice link! I always prefer theory over instruction. Good fundamentals enhance observational ability, strict rules and explicit figures prohibit it.

[mishele]

Nice link! I always prefer theory over instruction. Good fundamentals enhance observational ability, strict rules and explicit figures prohibit it.

I agree, people need to know "why" things work!!

[KmH]

Of course the bottom line is also worth considering:

Summary & Conclusion

Understanding elements of visual design and how they can affect our emotions can also help us make our photographic images more effective. However, keep in mind that no rule or guideline can ever guarantee success. A successful image depends upon a multitude of things that must come together including: timing, lighting, color, composition, and an audience sensitive to what it is you are trying to communicate.

[KenC]

A lot of good information in there.

Rules!? We don't need no stinkin' rules!


(extra points for identifying the quote paraphrased by the above)

[The_Traveler]

A lot of good information in there.

Rules!? We don't need no stinkin' rules!


(extra points for identifying the quote paraphrased by the above)

From "the Treasure of Sierra Madre', I think and the phrase is

"Bodges, we don' need no stinkin' bodges'

?, yes

[KenC]

A lot of good information in there.

Rules!? We don't need no stinkin' rules!


(extra points for identifying the quote paraphrased by the above)

From "the Treasure of Sierra Madre', I think and the phrase is

"Bodges, we don' need no stinkin' bodges'

?, yes

That's it!

[mishele]

Of course the bottom line is also worth considering:

Summary & Conclusion

Understanding elements of visual design and how they can affect our emotions can also help us make our photographic images more effective. However, keep in mind that no rule or guideline can ever guarantee success. A successful image depends upon a multitude of things that must come together including: timing, lighting, color, composition, and an audience sensitive to what it is you are trying to communicate.

Always....

[kkamin]

I know people are calling the link 'fundamentals' and rejecting 'rules' but they are the same thing in this context to me. I think the fundamentals are a deeper explaination of the rules. I definitely think the rules can be broken and should be broken, but it takes a profound understanding of the rules for that to occur successfully. I'm not an expert, but I hold a BFA, and make my living as a creative professional. I try as hard as I can to validate all of the elements and choices within a photograph, and feel I should be able to explain why I made every decision in a fairly comprehensive way.

The camera is not a recording device. We never experience waking life in still frames or 2 dimensions or within a rectangle. A photograph should be as bizarre to people now as it was to people who first experienced them in the early 1800's, but the ubiquitous nature of the photographs has desensitized our perception of their profoundly reality warping nature. That being said, don't take pictures based on what the camera sees, instead use the camera to make pictures of what your mind sees. This is a big shift in thinking for many people and gives photography power, equal to mediums like writing, graphic design or painting. It really is a light sensitive paint brush.

Sorry, I got preachy. But I feel visual literacy is in a decine despite the explosion of participants since digital photography emerged along with camera phones.

[o hey tyler]

Interesting side-note that you may or may not be aware of...

There is no spoon.

[Bitter Jeweler]

But I feel visual literacy is in a decine despite the explosion of participants since digital photography emerged along with camera phones.

Because the majority of the people who pick up a camera aren't creative thinkers to begin with, and couldn't acknowledge there is much more to capturing an evocative image beyond simply capturing an image with a camera. A majority of this new breed of "photographers" don't practice creativity in any other medium either. People understand that it is the artist that pushes the brush, and selects the colors, and controls the movement of that brush on the canvas. They can understand that there is thought behind what is put onto the canvas, and that often that imagery comes purely from the artists head. I believe the bulk of people with cameras only connect it to the creation of the image, and the button pusher simply being at the right place at the right time.

[Bitter Jeweler]

Like every time you hear someone say in a modern museum of art "*pfffft* I could have done that!" Run up to them and say, "YEAH, BUT YOU DIDN'T, AND YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF DOING IT TILL YOU SAW SOMEONE ELSE DO IT!"

Now let's look at photography, and all the MWC's who are seeing what other MWC's are doing, and saying "I can do that!"

Why does all their "work" look like Sabrina's? Why do they all use some form of fake floor, fake wall, similar props...

...because somebody else thought of it first.

[cgipson1]

But I feel visual literacy is in a decine despite the explosion of participants since digital photography emerged along with camera phones.

I think this is also related to a general decline is many different types of literacy... lack of reading comprehension, lack of appreciation of the arts, etc. Much of it is due to the the "fast food" society we live in.. with so much instant gratification, and little motivation to learn or work hard to achieve anything. Turn off the TV's, people... take your minds back! lol!

[kkamin]

There is a spoon and it is flat and 2D. Not 3D and usable.

@bitter jeweler. There is a floating theory that when people participate in a medium they are able to understand and appreciate the medium more deeply. I'm starting to think that isn't true for most, but perhaps only the artistically predisposed or people working in a creative field. To badly paraphase an author: A photography can take a fraction of a second to capture and often that is all the thought that is put into it.

A photo shoot can be as elaborate as a film shoot and require weeks to months of pre-production and weeks to months of post production. If commercial photography isn't your flavor photojournalists make split second decisions based on years on experience. Nobody is randomly clicking

[Bitter Jeweler]

Btw, kkamin, where'vya been?