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Daily Assignment Monday 9/21
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A)
Click to Read to answer questions below
Answer the questions below in your own words.
1) What is the general definition of the term Composition?
2) What is composition in Photography?
3) What is the goal of Composition?
***Video Extra***
Click to Watch Video on Composition Basics
B)
30 Photos That Changed The World
Read this link about the 30 Photos that changed the world and write a 500 word reflection about 3 of the photographs. Include the story behind each photograph, how it impacted the world and your opinion of it. photo is about and your opinion of it.
http://www.photographyschoolsonline.net/blog/2010/30-photos-that-changed-the-world/
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The Rule of Thirds
Beginning photographers can’t go wrong with the Rule of Thirds. When looking through your camera, visualize the scene before you with a grid consisting of two vertical and two horizontal lines, similar to a tic-tac-toe pattern, placed over it. Place the main subject of your photo on one of the points where the vertical and horizontal lines intersect.
One invaluable aid on my Canon dSLR is the “live view” feature, which displays this grid over the LCD screen while I’m viewing a shot. I think many cameras have a similar live view option, if not the grid overlay. (Here is where it pays to read your camera manual!)
Tip: Place your subject over each of the intersecting points on the grid until you find the composition that works best for the scene.
For cameraphone users: Most mobile phone cameras have this optional grid. On the iPhone, for example, click on the “Options” button and adjust the “Grid” setting to “On” to display these lines.
An overview of compositional elements
Look for strong visual elements when framing a shot — different subjects or points of interest that grab the viewer’s eye and lead it through the photograph. Let’s take a look at some strong examples of compositional elements:
Leading lines
Leading lines, whether intentional or accidental or man-made or natural, draw your eye through a photograph:
“S” curves
Curves, which may resemble the lines of the letter “S,” can be subtle or pronounced. You can see “S” curves in this image of Rocky Gorge in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest:
Patterns
Patterns lead the viewer’s eye as well, like the layers in this moody image of the White Mountains:
Foreground, middle, and background
Think about a photograph’s composition as having foreground, middle, and background elements. For example, when looking for foreground elements in the front part of your image, consider an object as simple as a large rock, like this one at Baxter Lake in New Hampshire:
Your foreground element isn’t necessarily the main subject of your photograph, but rather a starting place for the viewer’s eye.
For vast scenic landscapes, think about the placement of the horizon, too. If I’m working with a pronounced horizon in the scene, such as in a seascape or a scenic mountain range, I’ll place the horizon on one of the horizontal lines in the grid pattern, and never — well almost never — dead center in the frame.
Whether I place the horizon on the upper or lower third of the image depends almost entirely on one thing: the sky. If your sky is featureless and boring, include less of it by placing the horizon in the upper third of the frame, as I did with a previous Weekly Photo Challenge:
Other than the color of the sun burning through the fog, there isn’t much going on in the sky, so I included less of it. Notice the strong foreground element — the seaweed — in the lower third of the image. Your eye is then lead through and over the rocks (in the middle ground of the photo), and toward the rising sun (in the background).
To contrast, the sky is the photograph here:
Everything else takes a back seat to that boiling fire burning in the sky.
Even if you’re not taking these types of landscape photographs, you can apply these tips to other scenes and subject matter.
Learning — and breaking — the rules
Just above, I mentioned a rule of never placing the horizon dead center in the frame. As with all of photography’s rules, they’re made to be broken. Sometimes, as shown in the next shot, placing the horizon in the center — or pretty close to it — just works. This is also true if you have a perfect reflection on a mirror-smooth body of water. Placing the horizon in the center doesn’t work often, but when it does, go with it!
Though the horizon is nearly centered, the setting sun is far from it, placed in the right third of the frame. Rules can be broken, yes, but one rule I keep in mind is to never place the sun directly in the center of the frame. Since the human eye is drawn to bright light, the viewer’s eye may go directly to the bright sun — and get stuck there. Ideally, you want the eye to roam around, and for the viewer to become fully immersed in your image.
Tip: Get comfy with these “rules” of composition. Then experiment and break them! When you don’t achieve the look you want, figure out why, and try again. And when you do capture the perfect shot, remember what you did — what rule you broke — so you can do it again.
