David Brommer Composition Workshop Notes

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Splat Foley

Notes from this B&H Photo Seminar:

Rule of Thirds

  • Never split image in 2 – split it in 3
  • Never put important subject right on centre line. If you can’t put on 3rd lines,just knock it a bit off centre
  • 3s are generally important. Remember Foreground, Middle, Background. 3s everywhere – 3 light sources, 3 things generally
  • Interest in 3s seems to be fundamental – see religious trinities

Roland Barthes – Camera Lucida

  • Studium – a general liking, a slight intellectual commitment to an image
  • Punctum – transcends studium and punctuates the image into consciousness of the viewer

Directional elements

  • Lead the viewer’s gaze
  • Physical lines – actual lines, shapes of things
  • Spacial lines (positive and negative space rivers)
  • Highlights and shadows
  • Spacial futures – look where subject is looking, to where the subject is travelling

Anchor Elements

  • Stop the viewer’s eye
  • Subjects
  • Objects – general stuff
  • Hightlight and shadow masses: eyes naturally go to brighter bits
  • Colour massess and splotches. One red umbrella in a sea of thousands of black umbrellas. The eye seeks out vibrant colour

Sense of Place

  • Imbue the image with a sense of the the environment
  • Or not – make it completely neutral to put all focus on subject

Image complexity

  • Colours contrasting, bits of the same colours setting up a rhythm

Gesture

  • Hands, anything… when humans do something
  • Could even be just a look in the eyes

Storytelling

    • Does the image tell a story?
    • Does the image have a voice?
    • Wide angle can help tell a story. Telephoto helps isolate the subject
    • Gesture
    • Environment
    • Time – giving a clue to time of day or season
    • But also:
      • Where was the subject just before?
      • Where is the subject going next?

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Examples

Robert Frank – Cover Images from The Americans

Cover image from Robert Frank’s The Americans with annotations.

  • Tells a story – smug white woman in the front of the bus
  • Gestures & Expressions
  • Rule of thirds

Helmut Newton – Tuxedo

Helmut Newton’s Tuxedo with annotations.

  • Vanishing point 2/3 way to horizon
  • 3 lights
  • Gesture & body language
  • Where has the subject come from?
  • Where is she going?

See also the Checklist Page.

 

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Edinburgh October 2012

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Splat Foley

A few photos taken on the evening of 16 October, 2012 outside the Malmaision hotel in Leith.

Comments

The sunset ones are a bit tricky. Maybe the horizon should have been positioned differently. It does appear to be a bit too centered. Exposure seems pretty much okay, even though there are a couple of burnt out highlights in the sky. Some saturation was added to the reflected sunlight.

The bridge pictures are okay on the whole. The building behind the bridge in the first one is a bit messy.

The statue pictures are a bit odd. It was hard to find the right point of view, and I don’t think any of these are really right. What’s the subject? Anyway, maybe the B&W version is best.

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Llŷn September 2012 – Photos and Lessons

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Splat Foley

Here’s a small selection of images from the September 2012 Llŷn Trip:

There are a few lessons to be learned, and things to remember next time.

Morfa Nefyn

For these wide-angle shots with a subject in the foreground, it’s always possible to get closer. This could have been much more striking if the yellow buoy had been bigger and closer to the camera.

The camera could also have been better positioned lower down.

Emma Portmeirion

Headroom!

 

 

 

 

Emma Porthdinllaen

A number of these portraits had shadow problems. Things to remember:

  • Think about the light before taking the picture.
  • Don’t forget about fill flash.

 

 

 

 

Criccieth Castle at Twilight

It’s a pity the castle is so over-exposed in this picture. The shoreline, sea and sky look nice, but how to stop the lights from burning out?

  • Meter the castle properly, then bring everything else up a bit in Lightroom?
  • ND Grad on the sky/castle?
  • Exposure blending/HDR? This is probably the one to try.

Criccieth Seascape

Don’t forget to try the Long Exposure Noise Reduction feature next time!

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Trying out some composition…

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Splat Foley

A little attempt at making some interesting views in the Cae.

Photos 1 and 2 have a bit of a leading line with the trees, but it would have been much nicer if the whole of the first tree’s foliage was visible. Maybe a wider lens would make this possible?

2 is a bit better than 1, but maybe moving a bit more to the left would help to create a better line.

In Lightroom, a bit of extra contrast was added to bring out the tree’s shadows. The sun was quite high, so the shadows weren’t super-visible in reality.

3 is a nice view – 2 trees then the wooded hill in the background. It looks even better when there’s mist or cloud on the hill. Hopefully there’ll be a change to capture that sooner rather than later.

Maybe try it with a couple of different depths-of field? It would be nice to separate them a bit more from the background, but I want to keep the nice hill visible…

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Black & White Conversion

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Splat Foley

First proper attempt. Taken on a sunny day and converted to try and emphasize contrast.

  1. Point curve changed to Strong Contrast.
  2. B&W mix sliders tweaked for better contrast.

The most significant change came from moving the Blue channel slider in the B&W Mix panel. Moving it down to -46 made a huge difference to the sky and introduced visible contrast between the blue sky and the white clouds.

 

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