MrMophoto wrote:
Since I teach photography in an art dept., I deal with the concept of composition all the time. I will say what I tell my students; When it comes to composition (rule of thirds is just one of about ten), these are guidelines that help with composition, they are not hard and fast rules. The process I describe is - first you find something interesting you would like to photograph, THEN you decide which composition would be best to emphasize and enhance that subject and you adjust the camera angle, settings etc to get the shoot you want. I use the term, previsualization, Which means you have visualized what the final print will look like before you press the shutter button. Basically you know what you want as an end product and manipulate the settings and camera placement to achieve that goal.
One last thing, when taking about composition, I don't call them "rules of composition" but rather "compositional structures" and like all structures they are completely adaptable.
Since I teach photography in an art dept., I deal ... (
show quote)
While agreeing with your whole post, I would
more strongly enforce the idea in this one line
of yours, particularly the part I underlined:
"I use the term, previsualization, Which
means you have visualized what the final
print will look like before you press the
shutter button." For too many users, the hardware is a crutch,
a totem, a distraction or a blend of all those.
Therefor, I would go even further with your
"before you press the shutter button", all the
way to "before you even
touch your camera".
&@#%&@&%#%@%#&&#&@%#@% That might seem kinda picky-picky, but I live
in a somewhat photogenic place, and there
are some "photo students" from the colleges
prowling around ... whom we can reasonably
expect are somewhat serious about getting a
"worthwhile" image. Acoarst there are others
who are obviously non-students who exhibit
that same "image maker on the prowl" type
of camera-in-hand and camera-at-the-ready
behavior, which always progresses into the
eye-at-the-eyepiece "photographer dance".
The whole dance would best be done without
the camera ... especially dancing with an eye
at the eyepiece. By the time you even touch
the camera, it's best to have finished 95% of
your prowling and squinting. Visualizing with
open mind, unencumbered eye, no camera in
hand sending techie thoughts via the fingers,
up the arm and into the mind ... IOW, resist
fondling that totem while visualizing !
I observe a whole lotta "previsualizing before
pushing the
shutter button" and some of it is
entertaining or laffable. And I've seen results
to match the behavior. A standard of greater
"purity" for the visualization stage results in
using the camera as a slave to the mind. The
"hardware influenced" version of visualization
lets the slave influence the master, a machine
influencing its operator. Some will argue how
that is a good thing, gives the photographer
"camera vision" or "photographic vision". And
I do agree that yes it does give you "camera
vision" ... but I vehemently disagree whether
that is really a good thing.
First you visualize as an open mind, not as a
"photo mind". Then you
bend the medium to
your will, to record something that will share
YOUR vision, not the medium's vision, with
the viewer.