Composition masterclass: Moving on from the rule of thirds.

The 'moment of inspiration' is the spark that ignites a photograph.  It's that moment where you say to yourself; 'I bet that would make a good photo'.  It may be a fleeting moment, but It's the start of the process from which all good or great photographs are created. 

When you have a moment of inspiration, you need to take a deep breath, and you need to apply discipline so that you don't just snap away at the scene.  You need to lock onto that moment of inspiration and not let go.   This video is a gentle introduction to that process.

The next phase of the picture making process is to work out what the important objects are.  What do you want in the frame, what do you want to leave out.   What is an object?  How and where do you place objects?

How to determine what the subject of your photograph is.  What is the subject of an image?  There are a couple of mechanisms to help you determine exactly what the subject of your photograph is.  Everything stems from the 'moment of inspiration', and then you must ask yourself two very important questions.   

After establishing the area that created the 'moment of inspiration', and all the important objects have been determined. Now what?

Another little trick to determine the subject of a photograph before you take the photograph.   How to marry the instinctive gut feeling and emotional side of seeing a composition, and marrying that with the more logical and physical placement of objects in the photograph, and the correct identification, and positioning of the subject.

Introduction of the compositional subject.

You've had your moment of inspiration, you now need to position the objects and the subject of your photograph into your composition.  You will learn 3 techniques to enable you to do this.  This lecture will introduce these three techniques, and you'll learn more detail later. 

Here is an example of how I applied my three mechanical techniques to place the objects in the scene.  I'll show you how this more mechanical building process connects with the 'moment of inspiration'.

This is an overview lecture that shows you how the intuitive 'moment of inspiration'  marries up to my three mechanical techniques.  And now is a good idea to show how all of this relates to compositional templates like the rule of thirds.

Here we delve deep into the 'Placement' technique.  We look at objects that are too big to have completely inside the frame, but too important to leave out.  We look at how the edge of the frame is an object. Placement may sound very simple once explained, but it is critically important to the overall look of a photograph.

'Separation' is the second of my three mechanical compositional techniques.  Here you will learn the importance of leaving space around objects.  You will see how getting this right or getting it wrong will fundamentally change the look of an image.

Here you will learn about moving around to create space and gaps between large unmovable objects.  You will start to learn how small things can make a big difference.

The third mechanical process.  A well balanced image is where the eye is led straight to the subject of the photograph upon first viewing.  That process should happen without any jarring and without distraction.  This lecture is an introduction to the processes required to help make that happen.

Here you will find a series of real world examples that show good balance, and I show you what I have done in order to create well balanced photographs.

Photographs don't always go according to plan.  Sometimes you get a moment of inspiration, but the conditions are not quite right.  Here is an example of one of my not so well balanced images. 

Now is the time to introduce compositional templates.  In this video we introduce the rule of thirds, the golden ratio and the golden spiral.  But here we concentrate on the rule of thirds.  We will go over why the rule of thirds, and how it works.  The question is though, should we be applying it to compose our photographs?   And how does this relate to the mechanical techniques you learnt in the previous section?

How did the rule of thirds come about.  Many images don't use the rule of thirds, why?  Is it wise to 'reverse engineer'  other peoples photographs that may have been taken decades ago?  But what exactly is it that makes the rule of thirds work?

An example of an image that appears to use the rule of thirds when 'reverse engineering' it.  But here I explain how it was created in reality, without applying the rule of thirds.

Introduction to the Golden Ratio.  Here is some theory from someone who is not good at maths (that'll be me).  Does the Golden Ratio exist in nature?  Does the Golden Ratio make objects look more attractive?  Will the Golden Ratio make your images look more pleasing to the eye?

The Golden Spiral uses the Golden Ratio in its construction.  Will it make your images look nicer?  How do my own processes connect with the Golden Spiral?

A very very brief description of the Dynamic Symmetry compositional template.  It's not something that I employ in my photography, and here I explain why.   

My overall opinion of the pros and cons of using compositional templates.  I don't employ compositional templates, but what about beginner photographers?

There are two main ways you can go with a composition.  You can employ Symmetry or Asymmetry.  You should always start a composition after a moment of inspiration, but here you will learn why I love symmetrical compositions, and the magic that they provide.

A brief description of what Asymmetry is, and how it may affect a photo visually.

It's really important to know how effective symmetry is.  Symmetry really is the photographers friend.  This video will explain why you should never ignore, or shy away from symmetrical compositions.

Ansel Adams, the father of American landscape photography, talked extensively about visualisation and is credited with popularising it.  But actually, visualisation is something that we all employ to a greater or lesser extent.  You have probably been using it, without even realising that you've been using it.  Here is a brief introduction to this important process.

For me Visualisation can be used in two different ways.  Here I explain what those different ways are.

Spontaneous visualisation is where you accept whatever nature and the landscape give you, and you compose flexibly, according to whatever the environmental conditions are at the time.   Nothing is pre-conceived.

A visualisation method where the location is pre determined, and the lighting conditions is imagined.   A pre-conceived composition is created for that location according to a particular lighting condition.   This happens before the photo is taken, maybe weeks or months before the photo is taken

Related to visualisation are pre-conceived compositions that can be used when certain environmental conditions are met.

There are a number of visual circumstances in the environment that tend to trigger a strong moment  of inspiration.  In this video I introduce the idea of compositional triggers and introduce the major ones that most people would respond to.

This lecture covers the importance of geometry and lines in the environment, and how they can catch our attention and elicit in us a very strong moment of inspiration.

Leading lines and the feeling of depth that they provide.  The visual effect of leading lines will very often create a moment of inspiration.  Here we talk about leading lines and vanishing points, and how it all relates to what we've learnt so far.

Lines and vanishing points are objects just like a tree would be an object and should be treated as such for the purpose of composing an image.  This is what we discuss here, using examples.

Layers create a visual contrast that is visually very striking.  This is what we'll be looking at in this video. As usual we'll use examples to show you exactly how layers work in this context.

Layers are really simple, but they very often elicit a moment of inspiration.  Using an example I describe all the  decisions that need to be made to make the most of the visual effect, so that you can apply the same technique in your photography.

Scale is very simple, but also very effective visually.  An ordinary photograph can become much stronger visually by exploiting scale.

Another example of scale, and how my separation technique was used to help emphasis the visual effect of scale.

Just a few words of advice about what to do now, and what you can expect from me after you have finished the course.

A brief introduction to this section, and how I choose images to review

Here I review two portrait photographs from Annie Leibovitz, and show how the techniques that I teach in the course have been applied to those photographs.  The two photographs in this review are the stylized and post processed photographs that she has created over more recent decades. 

Another review of photographs by Annie Leibovitz, this time from an earlier period, where she has a more photojournalist style, which is more spontaneous and less processed.  Hopefully you will see that the techniques and processes taught in the course have also been applied in these photos too.

In this video I review four images from Ansel Adam's collection.  Randomly chosen, and I point out how the techniques that you have learnt in the course also apply to these photographs too.