FYI: Taking Good Pictures

[rod_dinkins]

As camera buffs, we talk a lot about the tecnical aspects of

cameras, lenses, and processing. But one of my instructors in a

photo class said -- this class is about how to take good

photographs, no brand comparisons, best lens, etc. She taught us the

principles of composition and using the camera as an artistic tool.

 

The Kodak books "Joy of Photography" and "More Joy of Photography

are excellent.

 

Also I found an excellent website -- "Advanced Composition" by Ron

Bigelow -- highly recommended at URL:

 

http://ronbigelow.com/articles/adv_comp/adv_comp.htm

 

Don't you just hate it when you show a friend your prize photo and

they respond "What kind of camera" "What film" etc. With no

appeciation of the marvelous composition techniques you employed or

that you waited 2 hours for the right lighting?

[stephen hazelton]

I've read several books that had stuff similar to the Bigelow article. It's of fairly limited use. As he states at the end, he doesn't shoot that way, he just shoots what looks cool...er, "creates an emotion in him" or whatever.

 

One shortcoming of practically every photography how-to book I have read is that the authors use it as a showcase for their photography. Which means, they have "how to" photos, but no "don't do this" photos. Which means, they didn't take photos for the book, the book (or in this case, article) was an afterthought.

[wayne_young1]

I find the "rule of thirds" to be pretty universally applicable - though like all rules, there are exceptions. In fact - I'd say more than half the pictures on that web site were composed with the rule of thirds, even if it was sub-conscious. I use it all the time. The challenge - in my opinion - is to NOT use the rule of thirds and/or not use a "landscape" or "portrait" aspect ratio and yet still take a picture that is compositionally interesting. This - I've found through experience - is exceedingly hard. If anyone out there has any words of wisdom on this particular aspect of composition - I'm all ears!

[scottcondit]

It's not a general book on composition, but I've found "Seeing Landscapes" by Charlie Waite

very illuminating. It does contrast photos of the same or similar scenes, but e.g. with a

different crop, with different light (in one case separated by a few minutes) and so on. Of

course, even the "what not to do" photos are excellent...

[rod_dinkins]

Ah interesting responses -- well taken

 

I guess my point is -- don't just snap and record -- take some time to compose and put some emotion into the picture

 

Some of the best photos I have ever seen was taken by our instructor Susy with an Pentax K1000 and a normal 50mm lens !!!

[andrew robertson]

Shaw often puts 'don't do this' photos in his books.

[stemked]

Hi Rod.

 

Clearly there are some times when a certain make of camera is important. If you need a tilt/shift lens to get in focus a lot of DOV without haveing to compromise of film speed(Pentax only has a shift) or you are photographing fast moving flying birds you simply cannot beat haveing IS technology. Pentax is behind the curve in macro flash systems (I have fixed up my own that is a bit of a pain).

 

But as a rule, you are right. Most non-serious photographers believe the magic is in the back-box and not in the mind of the photographer. Pity they aren't right because I own some nice paint brushes and oils; I wonder why none of my paintings are in the Met?

[r_bryant]

There is also much to be said for the art of properly cropping photos.....

[titrisol]

I sorta agree with this guy.

 

Some of the people here are surprised when I show them pictures with point and shoots or my old contessas that look better than most people can get with $999999 cameras.

[david.wagle]

I just started this hobby, but so far the best thing I've seen on this topic comes from "The Basic Book of Photography" by Grimm and Grimm:

 

". . . don't be belittled by a guy with a camera bag full of goodies. Ask him to show you his results, not his equipment. When someone starts bragging that he has a lot of equipment, we interrupt and ask to see some pictures instead. We hope you are a photographer and not just a camera and accessory collector."