Chris Knight gets deep into composition looking at center composition, rule of thirds, golden triangles and golden spirals.
Composition – it’s perhaps one of the most important elements of photography. And with today’s technological marvels in lenses, it’s an even easier thing to forget – especially when bokehliciousis is so much more fun to talk about. Your composition is how you see – and that makes it infinitely more important than how out of focus the background is.
Obsession with bokeh is bad for your photography. There, I said it, and I know it’s not a popular opinion when there are a lot of people out there that drool over this very thing. Bokeh not only lets you obsess about something pretty insignificant, but it oftentimes makes for lazy composition. Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, William Eggleston, Alfred Eisenstaedt. These were not photographers obsessed with the shallowest depths of fields – these were iconic photographers capable of producing iconic photographs built on the foundations of masterful compositions and superb timing. Forget f/1.2. Think about what’s around you, and use that to build a better photograph.
Keep in mind that these compositional “rules” are really just “guides” and don’t need to be followed to exacting precision (or sometimes even at all). Not every rule of composition can work well with every scene. Overall, composition helps to bring balance. And remember, as Tony Roslund says, the most important thing is talent. “All the other stuff is great, but it won’t help an otherwise shitty image.”
