If you’ve just landed in the world of photography, the concept of composition can make you lose something. You know this is important because it appears on every blog you visit several times and because here, on the photographer’s blog, we have many articles that detail everything you need to know about the composition in any type of photography you can imagine. In photography composition and light are everything, because composing is our way of painting the canvas, sorting the elements in the frame, writing history, teaching and highlighting what is important in our image. In short, it is the whole narrative of the scene, its meaning and its justification.
But among so many concepts, theories and rules, is it difficult to get lost, intrude, abuse the rules, contradict the compositions?As we have all experienced at some point in our photographic passion, I leave a series of exercises that at the time helped me to understand and internalize the composition naturally. Do I hope they help you?
- This may seem obvious.
- But it’s what we do the least: we see an image.
- We aim and we shoot.
- And it’s not a competition to see who’s the fastest.
- Not even a duel in the Wild West.
- It’s about getting the best picture possible.
- Consciously.
- Because there will be some that.
- By chance.
- Will be fantastic.
- But I assure you it will be the minimum.
- So before you pull the trigger think.
- What do you want to convey and why?What’s the best way to do it?.
Read the different compositional rules and try to internalize them until they are familiar to you. You may find them many at first, but the truth is that there are not so many and that, from repetition, the concepts end up coming in?
After examining the different composition rules, the only way to solidify the concepts is to train with them, the best way to do this is, for example, to choose one rule at a time and practice it until it is assimilated correctly. a rule every day to train with your camera. If this day touches the rule of the thirds?Make sure all your images use this way of composing. The next day you can practice the law of the gaze, the next day you can go to the beach or any other horizon that you have at your disposal and let yourself be governed. by the law of the horizon, etc. Through practice you will not only internalize concepts, you will also be able to define and analyze your own results and tastes.
Originality is fundamental in any artistic discipline. If no one dared break the rules from time to time, all the images would be the same, so once you master the rules of composition, try to give your images a personal and unique touch, when someone sees one of your photos and says: Is it like this?Are you on the right track?
For example, photographing a matchbox in 10 different ways, I assure you that it is not easy and that you will have to move your head to get 10 images of a box of matches that are worthwhile, but the best thing is that it can be done, and that with imagination and perseverance, you can get photographs that you didn’t even think you could do ?. This exercise will help you stop before the stage, think, look for different and original points of view, and above all, practice composition.
Didn’t anyone say learning was easy? If you really want to learn photography, you’ll have to work your part, forget about zooming in for a while (don’t worry, it’s not forever) and start moving to get the images you want. Your own movement opens up. Endless possibilities in terms of composition, because if you keep your eyes peeled, you’ll see many more possibilities than zooming up and down.
Do you know these monsters that sometimes appear lying on the ground or hanging from a tree to take a good picture?Then take out the monster inside you and look for the best image you can make. Try itchy, countered, zenith, normal Anglos?
No, not at all, really? Vraiment. Si want a better frame, repeat the photo as many times as necessary until you find the one you want, but to learn, forget about the trick. Do you always try to get the most perfect image you can dream of forgetting San Photoshop?
Or the minimum time between the two, or place a 10 cent coin on a company each time you press the shutter button. Anything that prevents you from spinning like crazy because, of course, it’s free so I make sure I have the picture. Big mistake is the easiest way to leave the composition to chance and not think before, during and after taking the photo, this way you will learn to rate each image and try to get the most out of it every time you throw the shutter.
Looking for lines and shapes, symmetries, reflections, shadows? The photographer has the ability to see what others do not see, but this ability, for the great common man, is only achieved with practice. Take a few moments each day to put it into practice.
I know there are days when you take 390 photos and then spend two weeks with the counter at 0, isn’t it valid?Try to get an image that satisfies you every day, or every other day or every three days. But don’t rub the photos once every 6 months, then let your poor camera starve to death, because progressing like this is almost impossible. As in everything, you have to be consistent.
Print them, mark the center of interest, the lines, analyze each aspect of the committee that you want to highlight and analyze carefully if you have achieved what you had proposed. If it’s a good image, if not, yes and how it can be improved. More important than knowing our strengths as photographers is knowing our mistakes and being aware of our weaknesses.
Choose one of your favorite photographers and analyze their images What do you like about this image?How is it composed, do you want to improve it?How?
You can always, always be better and you can always learn more. So you don’t impose yoursing because there’s always room for improvement and you’re never good enough?
Do not get frustrated, no one is born learning and the beginnings are always complicated, besides the composition is something very personal and sometimes we find it difficult to find our place, the place where we are and where we feel comfortable and satisfied.
There is no other way to learn, improve and assimilate concepts, the more you practice, the more natural the way you use composition, apply or break its rules, the more you master it and the less you need to think about it. As much as you decide to start. It takes hours, many hours of learning and development. Delivery hours (and fun?), Errors, improvements, tests?Remember the first time you put on your skates or the bike?I imagine that although this learning hurts (I suppose you also remember some monumental slap?) You haven’t given up. And if you continued skating today, could you triple Axel casually or similarly?Well, the picture is the same. There is no mystery, a little practice seasoned with a constant desire to learn, a strong dose of enthusiasm and passion, some perseverance (or stubbornness) and resistance to failure, better images?
I hope you liked this article, but above all I hope you put into practice some of the proposed exercises for a while, is it worth the effort?Oh, and if you share it with someone you think might be interested in reading it or who needs a little help with the composition, please share it with them. Thank you and soon?