AgentDrex and a Couple Questions

[AgentDrex]

1.
When, in your opinion, is it alright to center a subject and when is it not alright?

2.
I have a friend who owns a photography studio in Tennessee and he told me to try shooting in B&W in order to learn composition better. He says that without the colors distracting the eye, I would be more likely to set up shots that were more pleasing. What is your opinion?

 

[shmne]

1.
When, in your opinion, is it alright to center a subject and when is it not alright?

This is tough to answer, the old saying is you have to know the rules to break them. Once you get very comfortable with composition it will be alright to fool around with ways to center the subject.

2.
I have a friend who owns a photography studio in Tennessee and he told me to try shooting in B&W in order to learn composition better. He says that without the colors distracting the eye, I would be more likely to set up shots that were more pleasing. What is your opinion?

I agree strongly, most photography school don't let you touch a color film until you're a year or two in and for that very reason. It is more important to focus on the composition then it is the colors, though for some people this just isn't needed because they have no problem ignoring things like saturation.

 

[Samanax]

1.
When, in your opinion, is it alright to center a subject and when is it not alright?

When To Center Your Photographic Subjects

2.
I have a friend who owns a photography studio in Tennessee and he told me to try shooting in B&W in order to learn composition better. He says that without the colors distracting the eye, I would be more likely to set up shots that were more pleasing. What is your opinion?

Problem is that when you're looking through the viewfinder you're going to see color...it's when you're looking through the viewfinder that you're composing your shot. Having the shot converted to B&W does make it more dramatic and possibly easier to figure out if you got the composition right or not, but you still gotta look through the viewfinder when shooting.

I think you'll get better at composing your shots after you've been shooting a long time and have looked through the viewfinder countless times. You have to get used to looking through that small "window" and remember to be aware of what you're "seeing" when setting up your shots. Be aware of the rectangle you're working in...be aware of the top, sides and bottom of that "window" when you're composing your shots. Don't just point and click...think.

 

[AgentDrex]

Good points. I will follow the link and see what I discover. To sum it all up, what the advice is is to keep shooting. Keep my eye on that rectangle as if though its a canvas that I'm painting on. Thank you so much for the assistance and advice.

 

[KmH]

If you'll quit putting AgentDrex in all your thread titles I'll probably chime in too.

 

[AgentDrex]

Why the hangup? Don't mean to be rude, but seriously. Aren't there more important things than my name being a part of all my posts. Its for ease of use for me so I can find my threads easier. However, if it is a big deal, I do value your input. I will discontinue use of my name in my threads.

 

[Gaerek]

Why the hangup? Don't mean to be rude, but seriously. Aren't there more important things than my name being a part of all my posts. Its for ease of use for me so I can find my threads easier. However, if it is a big deal, I do value your input. I will discontinue use of my name in my threads.

I personally don't care what you put in your subject line (well, it should be on topic at least...) but the little mail icon to the left of the subject line shows a black dot for any thread you have posted in (or created). I hope this helps.

 

[Goontz]

Also, if you go to your profile and click over on the Statistics tab, you can do a search for either all threads started by you or all of your posts with one easy click.