Composition

Jeff Canes · Feb 4, 2009

Alleh Lindquist said:
This was just posted as a joke right?

No some people would say light is #1 and composition or maybe subject #2

Iron Flatline · Feb 5, 2009

Oh, and to answer your question. It's extremely important. There is always composition - even bad composition is an element of an image. It's like asking how important taste is to food - even its absence (like a texture-driven mush à la plain boiled oatmeal) is a choice people make.

To me, I think about composition before I think about light. I will compose the shot, and only upon encountering insurmountable lighting problems will I change the composition. But I try the shot anyway, I'm always eager to see if I caught enough to coax it out at the PC back home.

Chiller · Feb 5, 2009

When I first started taking pictures, I just looked for something to shoot. The more I got into it, and the more I saw, I found composition to be one of the most important things. Over the years, I learned to not only look at the main subject, but also what could be a distraction in the backgrounds. Combine that with some nice light.
It is like being a musician. When we composed our tunes, and you throw a bunch of notes together, they dont sound half as good, untill you arrange those notes to make a melody.

Sorry....heavy meds make me think too much. :lol:

jlykins · Feb 5, 2009

I think ol KR must be reading our forums. He posted an article today all about compostion. Looks like it could have been a response to this very thread... Composition

abraxas · Feb 5, 2009

jlykins said:
I think ol KR must be reading our forums. He posted an article today all about compostion. Looks like it could have been a response to this very thread...
...

Big deal. So much for indepedent thought.

EOS_JD · Feb 5, 2009

No1 for me is LIGHTING. You don't get a good composition without good lighting.

jlykins · Feb 5, 2009

abraxas said:
Big deal. So much for indepedent thought.

Not that I care, or agree. I just thought it was ironic.

SpotKing · Feb 6, 2009

EOS_JD said:
No1 for me is LIGHTING. You don't get a good composition without good lighting.

I don't see any correlation at all between lighting and composition.

You can do thumbnails / stick figure sketches with stick figures to indicate composition, that don't give any indication of the light source.

At any rate, I think composition is far and away THE most important element of a photo. All other technical considerations are pretty much secondary-

Joves · Feb 6, 2009

Composition is very important as has been said. Lighting can be modified to a good extent.

EOS_JD · Feb 7, 2009

SpotKing said:
I don't see any correlation at all between lighting and composition.

You can do thumbnails / stick figure sketches with stick figures to indicate composition, that don't give any indication of the light source.

At any rate, I think composition is far and away THE most important element of a photo. All other technical considerations are pretty much secondary-

At an extreme level No light = a very blank composition.

JerryPH · Feb 7, 2009

EOS_JD said:
At an extreme level No light = a very blank composition.

At the extreme, taking pictures where there is no light = lack of common sense.. lol

I agree that if the lighting is not naturally good, a good photographer does what is needed to CONTROL that aspect of it, if via extreme apertures or external off camera flash or chosing a better time of the day or location to get the shot, lighting is something we have a TON of control over and can change easily enough.

I've literally watched a photohrapher take 15 minutes to find the PERFECT angle, the PERFECT lighting, the PERFECT framing, the PERFECT background, subject pose and foreground... and then focus on a branch that was between the subject and his camera, causing his subject to be blurred and the entire work to go down the toilet. Yes, ideally we want all aspects of it... but if something as simple as not properly focusing on the subject is not assured, nothing else really matters, does it?

fwellers · Feb 7, 2009

Lighting is an integrel PART of composition !

JerryPH · Feb 7, 2009

fwellers said:
Lighting is an integrel PART of composition !

:thumbup:

EOS_JD · Feb 7, 2009

JerryPH said:
At the extreme, taking pictures where there is no light = lack of common sense.. lol

I agree that if the lighting is not naturally good, a good photographer does what is needed to CONTROL that aspect of it, if via extreme apertures or external off camera flash or chosing a better time of the day or location to get the shot, lighting is something we have a TON of control over and can change easily enough.

I've literally watched a photohrapher take 15 minutes to find the PERFECT angle, the PERFECT lighting, the PERFECT framing, the PERFECT background, subject pose and foreground... and then focus on a branch that was between the subject and his camera, causing his subject to be blurred and the entire work to go down the toilet. Yes, ideally we want all aspects of it... but if something as simple as not properly focusing on the subject is not assured, nothing else really matters, does it?

I don't really think any one part is more important than the other. A good image has everything done correctly! Light, composition, focus, exposure etc

craig · Feb 7, 2009

EOS_JD said:
I don't really think any one part is more important than the other. A good image has everything done correctly! Light, composition, focus, exposure etc

Key word in that sentence is "done correctly" How do you mean done correctly? Personally "done correctly" is a matter of what your are trying to say with your work. Focused well lit photos are over rated. That is why composition will always be key.