Composition and Lighting Workshop

Went to a photo workshop last night on composition and lighting. It was rather interesting, since the instructor is a fairly successful professional photographer.

He.gets.paid.for.photography.

Wouldn't that be a sweet gig?

He talked about all the composition rules we already know about:

Making a tic-tac-toe board and placing your subject in one of the power points, where the lines intersect.

Dividing your picture into thirds and keeping the horizon on one of those. Where you place the horizon line determines what you're emphasizing.

Add something to demonstrate scale.

Lines provide a path from one element to another. They direct you through an image.

And less is more. The less you have, the stronger your image.

This is the one I think that I use a lot. Less is more.

Isolating one subject and trying to find the story.

Sometimes I'm successful.

I want to know more about these two. How old are they? How long have they been together? Where are they going?

Of course, I know all those answers, silly. But I'm pretending I'm a stranger looking at the photo.

Sometimes not so successful. I like the lines in this picture - it just got blown way out.

But the most important thing I heard all night was to shoot what I like. If I like it, chances are someone else will to.

That's what I try to do with my pictures. Shoot for myself. This photo may be way too busy, but I love the laughter on my friends' faces. This shot shouts "FUN!"

A photo may be technically good, but if it doesn't speak to me, throw it in a drawer. I'm not framing it.

*Just remembered another tip....sounds obvious when he said it but I thought it was worth remembering. Make sure your subject is looking into the frame, not out of it. This keeps the eye moving into the picture and not shooting off an edge. I guess I just did this without thinking about it since I got K.'s shoulders pointed into the frame.

Whew. I did something right.