Ben Rubinstein
pro member
Alain Briot's new article on LuLa:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/composition_top_15.shtml
Discuss!
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/composition_top_15.shtml
Discuss!
My first thoughts are that heavily represented in the controversial concept that composition is both subjective and transcends the actual moment of picture taking. Not that I don't agree wholeheartedly, it is the above which seperates the photographer (alone) from the photographic artist.
I'd love Alain to answer that one, I don't want to put words into his mouth..
My list is my answer I have other answers in my books and other essays on composition for those who prefer ad lib writing to lists.
My first thoughts are that heavily represented in the controversial concept that composition is both subjective and transcends the actual moment of picture taking. Not that I don't agree wholeheartedly, it is the above which seperates the photographer (alone) from the photographic artist.
Alan,
"Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk."
who said this?
Mark,To[o] [sic] many photographers try to write when they should be making work. It seems to me that what they write ends up either badly written or written with a type of mystical approach that a high priest of some strange cult would use.
cheers
Mark,
Who are you referring to? Can you give examples? Perhaps I'm reading too much into what's being said and am not following the logic properly.
Asher
'..written with a type of mystical approach that a high priest of some strange cult would use.'
So as to try and distance themselves from the ordinary folk with their mumbo jumbo.
Nothing for me in this article. I, too, shall go and take photographs.
Maybe shall take too many. Who knows, one of them might turn out to be acceptable.
The magic of digital. The opportunity for the masses. The bane of the high priests.
Now these hordes have the software too!! Ye gods!! Whither shall we seek sanctuary.. Yes,in our writings.
And our marketing.
Ah, but the high priests will tell you how to use the software to achieve 'exhibition quality'
Sorry Asher this is what I meant:
My first thoughts are that heavily represented in this article is the perhaps controversial concept that composition is both subjective and transcends the actual moment of picture taking. Not that I don't agree wholeheartedly, it is the above which seperates the photographer (alone) from the photographic artist.
Sorry must have been half asleep as a result of having had a marathon day of wedding processing when I wrote that! ;-)
Ah, but the high priests will tell you how to use the software to achieve 'exhibition quality'
Composition is always subjective. We just have "subjectivity", or modes of composing that overlaps by common wiring of the brain, culture and education. That's the way composition can transcend from something personal to something that a community can appreciate.
Asher
There's some truth in your statement, Asher.
I really don't want to get involved in yet another "composition" thread. But I do feel compelled to (again) point readers to the best reference book on this subject: Harald Mante's "The Photograph: Composition and Color Design". Mante has been a leading German art and photography educator for a long time. What makes his (recently translated) work the best, in my opinion, is that it treats the subject in a neutral, non-prescriptive, non-cultural manner. Nearly all of the dozens of current consumer books work toward helping the reader to make "pretty" or "pleasing" pictures. Mante teaches you to decompose and identify relationships. For example, anyone who studied Mante would immediately see that Alain's "Badlands" image (on his LuLa article) is nothing more than four triangles in some tension.
One last thought. "Composition" as a subject in higher art education has largely long been abandoned. If you look, for example, at the list of courses on Yale University's School of Art site you'll find "composition" offered only as an aspect of painting. The reason is simple: the study of "composition" almost invariably leads to a level of dance-lesson formalism that's generally unhealthy for creativity. Instead, what you'll find is an emphasis on communication and design towards that goal. Objectively orienting oneself toward the goal of communicating, rather than composing, is far more productive than trying to slavishly obey "rules" of composition founded in the times of "classical" art.
So my suggestion to those photo enthusiasts genuinely interested in improving their skills is to immerse yourself in Mante's material for some months. Take each chapter as an exercise and use your own camera to work toward recreating and understanding what he's presenting. Seriously, confine most of your shooting toward the principles of the "current" chapter. One of the greatest disadvantages that hobbyists have is that, unlike art students and genuinely accomplished photographers and other visual artists, they are not immersed in the visual world. They have no good guidance or support for visual studies. They get no worthwhile or really incisive feedback. They are not exposed to any real breadth of visual thought. So they end up spend too much time on the Internet, an arguably weak place for learning and absorbing the visual skills. Instead of being exposed to symphonies of thought leadership they hear a single drumbeat of familiar "rightness".
When you feel that Mante's main concepts and lessons have been nicely tattooed in your mind's eye, devote your energies toward using your camera to communicate. To heck with golden triangles, rules of thirds, etc. Let the objective of communication drive your imagery and, yes, even your choice of camera. I realize that most readers here will ignore my suggestions and keep on searching for the "Grail of the Pretty Picture". That's fine. Have fun! Fun, after all, is what avocational photography is all about. But what I suggest here represents the fundamental essence of what you would have spent $100,000++ and years to learn if you had chosen to attend a top art school such as Yale, RIT, or SAIC. I think those who take a stab at following this will be rewarded in the self-satisfaction they receive from their work.
I have exceeded my typing quota for the week! Bye!
...two of the most important, design and culturally neutral must-read books...
Hmm! Well you know "Color Harry" better than I do. Still, I'd love to see a review that supports your POV.I would dispute that.
'Color Harry' is anything but design and culturally neutral, on the contrary.
Having said that, I agree that both books are good recommendations.
Well that's a strange baton to hit my lovely term, "culturally neutral"!To me the term 'design/culturally neutral' is like the term 'political correctness'.
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