[StiffLegged]

That idea of composing with the lens out of focus is one I haven't come across before, but I'll be giving that a try soon. Thank you! The alternative is to screw up the eye until vision blurs enough. While scouting out a composition I find it helps to keep one eye closed and you'll see things more like the camera will - it removes the depth perception inherent to what I normally see and gives a flat representation without constantly looking through a viewfinder.

[victormeldrew]

Dont want to hijack the thread (and its sort of on point), but could you recommend a few books on composition? I am certain it is worth more than a couple of new lenses to improve my photos.

Yes. The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman.

[Madaboutpix]

Routinely, before going on a shoot, I will pick the lens that I think will be most likely to do justice to the subject or subjects I am anticipating. Sometimes, it will be just the lens whose capabilities I feel like exploring further. Then, much in a one-lens-challenge fashion, I will try to work my subject with that lens. I will look for compelling angles, best-possible separation, and try to get to the essence of it, at least for me in that particular moment and light. I will explore through my K-3's generous OVF what the subject looks like, and if I don't definitely like what I'm seeing, I will usually try to get closer, till I'm too close, and pull back from there. If necessary, I will change lenses, although I'm not a great fan of doing this on the fly. I will generally look at lines, shapes, colours, figure-to-ground, textures, and what might be distracting on the borders of my frame. All this is informed, more or less intuitively, by a persistent interest, since I was in my mid-teens, in composition and visual design and art and photojournalism. I will set my focus, utilizing customized AF, aware of the resulting DOF, prioritizing medium apertures, where overall IQ tends to be the best, trying to avoid shutter speeds that get me into motion blur issues, and will try to capture the moment. If I have some time on my hands, I will bring a tripod and employ Live View, Mirror Lock-up, and IR remote for even more control. It all is both a conscious and visceral process, if that makes any sense. I is an intent process of seeing, rather than looking, always mindful of what the camera will see.

[Wheatfield]

I'm so slow I usually have plenty of time to put the large hood cover over my camera and head ;-) Plenty of time to compose and recompose looking out for all those pesky intruders (branches, signs, litter etc) otherwise fouling the composition, adjusting the horizon, shuffling forward and back (primes), ensure the background supports the composition, etc. etc. Then wait till the light is just so as this is critical to any successful composition as the light gives the necessary form. Slooow is best.

Much the same approach with my product photography. Just plain slowly does it. Somehow I see things much better by waiting and looking and looking some more ...

Thats what I liked about the 4x5. There was nothing hurried about it. Photography at a leisurely pace. I still tend to shoot that way. I was shooting a stream last fall that was taking, with the filtration I was applying, something like 2 minutes per exposure, and I was doing 12-16 focus stacks. With the view camera I would have been there for half an hour, but I wouldn’t have had to touch the camera for the entire time.

[swanlefitte]

It really depends. Here's my situation tomorrow. Chewbaccus, the Star Wars based Mardi Gras parade will start just after sundown. It is all things sci fi and fantasy. Crowds to deal with so either fight to the front and wide angle or telephoto. 1 lens because no changing in a crowd of revelers. Find spots with ample street light. See which has best view and background and choose it. Watch for things of interest coming that look like great subjects and anticipate when they reach the good lighted spot. Pre focus with one eye in the view finder and one watching the advance of the subject. Get ready and then take the picture of the back of the sonikcon shooters head as they jump in front of me until the scene is gone

[biz-engineer]

Dont want to hijack the thread (and its sort of on point), but could you recommend a few books on composition? I am certain it is worth more than a couple of new lenses to improve my photos.

All books have some content about composition

-> The photograher's eye, Michael Freeman (recently recommended to me by Rondec).
-> Photo school fundamentals, Michael Freeman
-> Looking and seeing, John McQuade and Miriam Hall

- The art of photography, Bruce Barnbaum
- Understanding exposure, Bryan Peterson
- Black & white photography field guide, Michael Freeman
- The essence of photography, Bruce Barnbaum
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[ffking]

For anything constantly changing - and thses days that;s mostly street for me - I try for fix as much as possible in advance - the f/8 and be there approach - so a prime lens and TAV, or AV if there's a lot of going in and out of shade - or even auto - so I can focus all my attention on composition, which I do largely intuitively (whether natural or as a result of all the hundreds of thlousands of pictures taken I can't tell). I think that works for street because it's all about feel and tension and all that stuff. The one thing I've consciouly got better at until I do it unconsciously is to look round the edges of the viewfinder for intruding objects.

Even with landscape, I compose much better through the viewfinder generally speaking, but here its obviously much more measured.What I'm not good at is considering how the image ill look at the set aperture rather than open aperture. It's also worth noting that your eye can refocus as you look through an OVF so you tend to think that more is in focus than actually is at wider apertures. But beyond that, I go for a composition that just looks right to me, with elements balanced in the frame and nothing extraneous intruding. I use 'rules' as a last resort where I'm sure there is a picture but can't find it - but they are seldom my favourite pctures. The more in tune you are with where you are the more naturally compositions will suggest themselves to you, which is why it's worth taking time in any given location and really working a shot.

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Last edited by ffking; 02-09-2019 at 01:16 AM. Reason: fat fingers and incompetent keyboard

[ramseybuckeye]

When shooting wildlife, or events with a lot of movement, often there isn't time to compose, just focus and shoot. But when you can compose it's going to be better, usually. When I can compose a shot, I'm concerned with the balance of the frame, directional aspects of objects in the frame, distractions, and what has to be in focus, if not all. Sometimes I will compose knowing there is going to be a crop later, due to an element you can't get out of the frame because you can't move your position and your lens is too wide, or in some occasions the aspect ratio is wrong for your vision.

[robgski]

When shooting wildlife, or events with a lot of movement, often there isn't time to compose, just focus and shoot. But when you can compose it's going to be better, usually. When I can compose a shot, I'm concerned with the balance of the frame, directional aspects of objects in the frame, distractions, and what has to be in focus, if not all. Sometimes I will compose knowing there is going to be a crop later, due to an element you can't get out of the frame because you can't move your position and your lens is too wide, or in some occasions the aspect ratio is wrong for your vision.

Action shooters often use high speed shutter, but if you watch them, most of them are not constantly "spraying and praying" to get a great picture. Action or wildlife shots are where I employ previsualizaion. I will watch the movements of animals, or athletes, and see if they are moving through an area that would make an interesting shot. Alternately, I look for a still scene that would be more interesting if the animal or athlete was moving through it, and wait.for that opportunity to come about and capture it.. That usually requires a lot of observation and a lot of patient waiting, but it sometimes pays off

[dieselpunk]

#1 for me is rule of thirds. Easy to remember and execute. If there a way for me to get a fibonacci spiral superimposed on my view finder I'd also use that. Both help me solve the problem of taking the subject of greatest visual focus out from being directly in the center (which is general boring compositionally).

I've tried to pay a lot more attention to how to get the most interesting light on the subject when there are distinct light sources (e.g. at night or at the sunrise/sunset). I'm not hard core enough to purposefully seek or create these opportunities though so it's more of working with what I have.

A big help has been shooting more with my 35mm prime. It's removed focal length and variable apertures from the list of things to worry about and allowed me to focus more on composition with fewer photography "technicals" to deal with. Next, I'd like to get more comfortable with DoF.

[pentaxfall]

My approach is to spend more time looking at the subject through view finder from different angles. Some time I have ended up with the composition that I had not visualized in naked eye. Also before pressing the trigger, scan the edges. Eliminate if there is something that is not needed.

[CharLac]

That idea of composing with the lens out of focus is one I haven't come across before, but I'll be giving that a try soon. Thank you! The alternative is to screw up the eye until vision blurs enough. While scouting out a composition I find it helps to keep one eye closed and you'll see things more like the camera will - it removes the depth perception inherent to what I normally see and gives a flat representation without constantly looking through a viewfinder.

Camera motion can be fun....

[SpecialK]

I pick the subject then estimate what surroundings and compression I want. Then I compose...by eye.

[swanlefitte]

I just put the camera in auto mode, center my subject, and wait for autofocus to beep and I am good.
Seriously I find 3 situations. On the fly, expected situations, and composed shots. What I do is based on which situation I am in.
On the fly is subject oriented. Expected is background oriented, composed is both and much more. It really comes down to how much time and effort you can give. I think each process could be broken down.

[arnold]

The first stage is - what am I trying to capture here. Then try to frame it the best way to express that idea. Now set the focus to suit the point of interest.
(I still have the habits of a film shooter - think first, then click).