An Educational Resource for Photographic Enlightenment and Inspiration
4.22.2010
Week Three: Composition
In today's class we talked about composition which is the elements that make up our pictures. We looked at a number of examples of some of the basic rules of composition such as mergers, the rule of thirds, leading lines, simplicity, balance and framing. We also spent time looking at a number of photographs about "layering," particularly Sam Abell's photograph of a round-up of cattle.
A good simple reference for composition is this site by Kodak. The photos are dated, but it's a very simple slideshow that you can scroll through while looking at examples. Take a look: Guidelines for Better Photographic Composition
We looked at work from a number of photographers such as Susan Meiselas and her Carnival Strippers project, Alex Webb and David Alan Harvey but concentrated mostly on Henri Cartier-Bresson. He's my photography idol just like he is for thousands of other photographers. If you're interested in him at all, here is a great documentary made before his death.
