Composition & Scale:
I had a very nice chat with
PT & the subject of "composition" came up, in teaching students to paint.
- either you have it or you don't, & can be difficult to learn
- I am not much more than a point & shot + focus camera guy / don't know how to shot in bad light
- but my awareness, of the photo outcome helps me
- some of it comes naturally...some is a mindset, being a perfectionist
- if a photo is worth taking, its worth 5 seconds of my undivided time & full attention
- when I look at a scene, I picture frame the image...before I even line up the camera
Once the camera or cell phone, is raised to my eye:
- walls, door jams, window sills, fence posts...must not be tilted, a KSF
- verticals remain vertical & horizontal stay true...the effort is taken / crocked shots don't impress much
When I framed the above image, I knew it was my "once a year photo"...so don't mess it up.
- first I lined up the left fence post straight, trying to capture the full tube diameter...for scale
- next I purposely DSLR focused to just cut off a smidgen of top hair & bottom hand
[on bottom hand, the sapphire gold ring, was my Xmas gift from GF (now Mrs. Beau)...so has to be included]
- this would also maximize size of new puppy (eyes unsure of situation & stranger) & loving expression, on sons face
- and centered puppies head, while leaving space between both sides of sons orange sweater...worn that day, for photos / sons 1st travelling baseball tryouts (9 y/o), even done wearing an orange T-shirt, to stand out in coaches mind
And click, I had the magic shot on the first take.
Perfection & hand-eye coordination, comes with attitude & practice.
- when I take a bad photo, review it & remember what went wrong...avoid next time
I'm self trained in auto body rust repair, panel making, welding, sanding bondo & painting...started the hobby in grade12 - so I can feel with the palm of my hands, and see flaws before vehicle repair is in shinny paint.
I enjoy cutting veggies for supper preparation, onions are diced accurately, apples pealed with high precision, potatoes cut with french fry qualities, cucumbers slices all same thickness, radishes sliced like paper thin (for homemade coleslaw)...etc.
- so unrelated to painting on canvas or capturing a digital picture
- practicing any hand-eye coordination, with a goal of doing an improved job...from last time
- and visualizing the outcome, before I start
- and my summer landscaping work was all done to 1/4" grading, all eye-balled / a foundation, decades in the making
Hope the methodology-explanation, can help others some...and I like to over-analysis (hehe).