Updated galleries...almost all w/10D. Comments welcome!

[mattarnold]

I've updated almost all of my galleries, and added some new stuff. Any comments/suggestions/ideas are appreciated. Thanks for the look!

[mattarnold]

Anyone?

[elsinger]

is this some kind of troll?

[mattarnold]

At the risk of seeming like "some kind of troll..." I'm going to ask again if anyone has any comments/suggestions/critiques? Thanks!

[minoltaman]

Please take my comments constructively.

1) Your subjects are pretty common.
2) Your comps are mostly all centered it seems. Very boring sometimes.
3) I noticed quite a few blowouts on the whites on many of your picks.
4) Some uninteresting background effects on some shots.

I did not look at more than a half dozen picks. These were my first thoughts that came to mind. Good luck and happy shooting.

Cheers

[mattarnold]

Thanks for the tips...always good to hear info like that from more experienced photographers. I am still stuck on the centering thing though...I seem to have a tendency to do that. Thanks again!

[cjmorgan]

I am still stuck on the centering thing though...I seem to have a tendency to do that.

Yeah, break that habit. I mean it's a perfecty acceptable practice for our everyday way of seeing where we're trying to identify objects, but's it's generally a sucky way to compose images.

As an alternative, begin "living in the viewfinder." When something catches your eye that you wish to photograph, point the camera to it, but as you live in the viewfinder, begin to consider all the things in there which you can eliminate without losing the essence of what you want to show.

For most of us -- and I imagine you as well -- the problem is not so much that we get so close to our subject that we lose the essence of what we want to show, but rather that we don't get close enough and otherwise have our images include too much crap... lines and shapes and textures and tones which have nothing at all to do with what we want to show.... those graphic element which only serve to diminish or dilute the visual impact of what we really want the viewer to see.

You apparently have no problem pointing your camera at what you want us to view. Now go one step further by living in the viewfinder and making best efforts to eliminate in the viewfinder space everything which you don't want us to see.

Indeed, you would be well served to adopt the mantra "kill the clutter, kill the clutter, kill the clutter" for each and every photograph you make... at least until this becomes your new habit.

When your image making begins to suffer because you've learned to eliminate things so well that the very essence of what you want to show is getting lost, then perhaps you can back off. But until that time, you would perhaps be wise to spend more time living in the viewfinder and making best efforts to "kill the clutter."

Hope that perspective is of some help,
CJ
http://www.pbase.com/cjmorgan/

[mattarnold]

Thanks for the extended info on the centering thing...I'm going to try and break that habit ASAP. Thanks again!

[minoltaman]

CJ said some good stuff. Also do some searches on "rule of thirds" or "ROT". Rules are made to be broken but it is sometimes a good place to start.

Cheers

[cjmorgan]

....do some searches on "rule of thirds" or "ROT". Rules are made to be broken but it is sometimes a good place to start.

Anytime someone pipes up about the "rule-of-thirds" or any other compositional rule, two quotes immediately come to mind. The first is from Edward Weston:

"Such rule and laws are deduced from
the accomplished fact; they are the
product of reflection and after-
examination, and are in no way a
part of the creative impetus. When
subject matter is forced to fit into
preconceived patterns, there can be
no freshness of vision. Following
rules of composition can only lead
to a tedious repetition of pictorial
cliches."

And the other quote is from Freeman Patterson:

"Composition should be determined by
picture content, rather than imposed
upon it. It's far better to have a
reason for each composition you
make, than to have rules which you
try to force upon the subject."

This is why, rather than suggesting specific compositional rules, I'll otherwise encourage others towards more general design principles like making efforts to "kill the clutter" -- it encourages a person not just to pay attention to their center of interest, but otherwise to pay attention to all areas of the image they are making.

This is not to suggest that there is never a time to apply a rule like the "rule-of- thirds", or even to teach it, but only that it is better something left for when we are already stronger observers, and for those moments of shooting when all other reasoning for how to compose our momentary image confounds us, for those moments when we are just at wit's end, and we need to just fall back on "Plan B," as it were.

So in the main, I find it best not to encourage folks to even wonder about "the rule-of-thirds", lest we unwittingly do them a disservice by teaching them the tricks of the trade before helping them to become more careful and observant image makers in the first place.

If that makes any sense.

CJ

[mattarnold]

cj: Did you happen to be an English major in college? Your pontifications might suggest as such...rarely have I seen such superfluous examination of an otherwise simple circumstance... Just giving you a hard time...
Thanks for all the suggestions though. It's always nice to hear from those more experienced than I.

[minoltaman]

Just trying to break his centering habit with some theory and ideas. Figured seeing is believing. Maybe not...

Cheers