Derrel
Mr. Rain Cloud
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2009
- Messages
- 48,225
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- Location
- USA
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos OK to edit
1-Does bad composition make a good picture? Do poor ingredients make a good meal? Does bad cooking help or hinder the taste of a meal? Bad composition usually leads to bad photos.
2-NO, good composition does not need to have subjects up close and personal. In fact, one of your better compositions shows the couple walking down the sidewalk, with them relatively small in the frame, and with their backs to the camera--the backs to the camera being pretty "impersonal"
3-The following samples from Flickr have better composition than the shots I highlighted as being sub-par in the original post. DSC_0188 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSC_0213 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSC_0271 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Composition is about how you use or utilize the space, the frame, the picture area. It is how the subjects are arranged within the picture area, and how the camera is aimed and positioned to show the subjects AND the background. Each specific lens focal length has its own magnification power and angle of view; the angle of view extends behind the subject. Each lens focal length has its own way of "rendering" the background, both in terms of its depth of field characteristics and its angle of view. For example, it is possible to get two people to show up in a "tall" photo so that their bodies are show at half-length, i.e. from head to their waist lines if they are standing up. The same approximate camera-to-subject distance will also show them seated, from their heads, down to their feet, if the camera is held in the vertical orientation. THAT is the fundamental flaw some of your seated posed had; in the shots of the couple seated together, you held the camera horizontally, cutting off her lower legs,ankles,and feet. and his feet too. You also did that on some of the red wall or red door shots...
GOod composition involves utilizing the entire "space" of the picture area...in some shots, which are thought if as establishing shots, the people can easily be rather small--you have several establishing shots in the Flickr portfolio, where the couple is placed and shown 100 percent within the "environment". A tip on those--do the tilting later, at the computer, not in the camera. Anyway, those are not up close and personal, but rather distant. The secret is knowing how much "people" and how much "background" to include.
I personally think that since we view images on computers so much, that many people forget that the vertical camera shot creates a more-complete human image on many two-person shots, especially where the people are standing; the 3:2 aspect ratio of the d-slr almost always means that a horizontal shot is going to look worse than a vertical on most standing poses. Regardless; when framing two people, one wants to try and make the pose look good. SHot #6, with them standing in front of the brick wall, with their hands cut off, and a LOT of top space....that is an example of what not to do...what would be better is to have less top space, and then show the two of them down to their mid-thigh level. On the seated shots, the sequence on FLicker where she is sitting across his legs...those need to be talls, and the camera should show us his and her lower legs, right down to their feet...her feet are off the ground when he's sitting on that wall, and she is sitting on top of his legs--but you are not SHOWING us that her feet are off the ground...because the camera is held the wrong way!!
Composition can be learned from books on composition, as well as books about posing. It can also be learned by looking at the work of master photographers. There are different styles of composition. Painters for example, study composition extensively, because they must create something out of nothing. Literally. photographers often never study composition, and so the work of those who have studied composition often looks remarkably different from those who have merely picked up a camera and begun shooting,with no study or training.
2-NO, good composition does not need to have subjects up close and personal. In fact, one of your better compositions shows the couple walking down the sidewalk, with them relatively small in the frame, and with their backs to the camera--the backs to the camera being pretty "impersonal"
3-The following samples from Flickr have better composition than the shots I highlighted as being sub-par in the original post. DSC_0188 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSC_0213 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSC_0271 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Composition is about how you use or utilize the space, the frame, the picture area. It is how the subjects are arranged within the picture area, and how the camera is aimed and positioned to show the subjects AND the background. Each specific lens focal length has its own magnification power and angle of view; the angle of view extends behind the subject. Each lens focal length has its own way of "rendering" the background, both in terms of its depth of field characteristics and its angle of view. For example, it is possible to get two people to show up in a "tall" photo so that their bodies are show at half-length, i.e. from head to their waist lines if they are standing up. The same approximate camera-to-subject distance will also show them seated, from their heads, down to their feet, if the camera is held in the vertical orientation. THAT is the fundamental flaw some of your seated posed had; in the shots of the couple seated together, you held the camera horizontally, cutting off her lower legs,ankles,and feet. and his feet too. You also did that on some of the red wall or red door shots...
GOod composition involves utilizing the entire "space" of the picture area...in some shots, which are thought if as establishing shots, the people can easily be rather small--you have several establishing shots in the Flickr portfolio, where the couple is placed and shown 100 percent within the "environment". A tip on those--do the tilting later, at the computer, not in the camera. Anyway, those are not up close and personal, but rather distant. The secret is knowing how much "people" and how much "background" to include.
I personally think that since we view images on computers so much, that many people forget that the vertical camera shot creates a more-complete human image on many two-person shots, especially where the people are standing; the 3:2 aspect ratio of the d-slr almost always means that a horizontal shot is going to look worse than a vertical on most standing poses. Regardless; when framing two people, one wants to try and make the pose look good. SHot #6, with them standing in front of the brick wall, with their hands cut off, and a LOT of top space....that is an example of what not to do...what would be better is to have less top space, and then show the two of them down to their mid-thigh level. On the seated shots, the sequence on FLicker where she is sitting across his legs...those need to be talls, and the camera should show us his and her lower legs, right down to their feet...her feet are off the ground when he's sitting on that wall, and she is sitting on top of his legs--but you are not SHOWING us that her feet are off the ground...because the camera is held the wrong way!!
Composition can be learned from books on composition, as well as books about posing. It can also be learned by looking at the work of master photographers. There are different styles of composition. Painters for example, study composition extensively, because they must create something out of nothing. Literally. photographers often never study composition, and so the work of those who have studied composition often looks remarkably different from those who have merely picked up a camera and begun shooting,with no study or training.
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