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Discussion Board -> Desktop Wallpaper, Art, etc. -> Some Basic COMPOSITION please!

Some Basic COMPOSITION please!

.Mythmaker
09/24/11 5:11 AM GMT
Doubt this will get far but I have the urge to vent. I was struck, again, today by how many "almost" great images there are on Caedes that fall short because their composers seem to have not a clue, not a smidge of a glimmering of a faintest idea about even the basics of composition theory that are available on this website. Let alone the stuff available on the web or in any decent photographic basics book.

Crooked waterlines and horizons, any round subject smack centre of the image, horizons at 50% every time, foregrounds treated as if they don't exist or have no impact, etc etc. I see image after image that could be SO good but is instead only halfborn.

How @%$^&$$% hard is it to read a few paragraphs and apply them in the field? Really?

Is it the case that the logic goes something like this. "Yes, I know there are some time tested principles about what is generally compositionally advantageous BUT we all know that they are only "guidelines" and the really great artists would break those principles and create great art SO obviously if I ignore those principles my images will be just fine thanks very much."


What the *@%#&^#%$ is the point of taking a photo and sharing it if you put as much thought into it as you do your burps and farts..."I can do it easily so it must be worthwhile as it is".


My vent is not relevant to family snapshots and the like, I don't think there is any reason NOT to use good principles in them but I GET that the emotive elements for the photographer exist in those shots regardless of their quality as "art".


So many people have, in the time I've been on this website, had so much to say about "unfair" scores, in the good old days of the VB. A fair percentage of those voices, if you went and looked at their gallery, didn't seem to grasp that there might be a justifiable reason some folk (Me among them.) would give low scores or zeros at times. (I'm not defending the empty souls who gave zeros from malice or mischief.)


Now there are websites where every image IS freaking precise and amazing and frankly a bit intimidating in it's excellence. I'm not on one of those because I'm simply not good enough. I don't want Caedes to turn into something like that but being relaxed and friendly is no reason to be lazy and slapdash when it's SO easy to lift the quality of your work with a few simple ideas and a bit of thought in the field.


Finally, your images will reward you way more when you do apply the principles, until you do it, you won't know what I mean but once you've started to internalize the basics of composition, you are on your way to being able to ignore them and surpass anything you've ever created. I'm looking forward to that moment myself, one day.



Vent done.
Mikel.

15∈ [?]
It is not "The powerful attack the weak." it is "The fearful attack what they fear."

Comments

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::casechaser
09/24/11 3:24 PM GMT
Mikel, with just a touch of Google, here are two articles which some may find interesting: "Basic Photographic Techniques" and "Basic Art Composition"

...and thanks for the vent!
2∈ [?]
+purmusic
09/25/11 2:23 PM GMT
Discussion Board -> Photography

The Main Galleries: Tutorials


And then.. for those that dare to be different and this is probably the most impactful ... 'telling it like it is' on an image's page.. nicely, of course:

"Giving an Image Review"
0∈ [?]
.Mythmaker
10/01/11 3:00 PM GMT
OK, now I'm adding to my vent. Focussing on what folks nominate for the perms.

OMG!!!!!!!

Can we have half a clue please?!!

PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Just because the subject is pretty and sharp and nice is NO REASON to think the whole image is SUPERIOR.

Yes, I'm SHOUTING because I can't believe I have to vote on so many perfectly normally nice shots as if they were masterpieces.

There is a MASSIVE difference between something that makes me feel good and something that is superior in it's overall gestalt. I have a host of shots in my personal gallery that I wouldn't ever imagine deserved a spot in the perms but I like them and that's all that matters in MY gallery.

The perms should be HOLY ground - the best, the purist, the smartest, the most elegant, the deepest, the closest to perfect images.

Please nominators....get a bloody education, read something, THINK about our art, take a deep breath before you nominate, look at the image with a CRITICAL eye (Which is not the same as a cynical eye.) and identify all the ways it could be better. If you can't come up with a load of possible improvements MAYBE it warrants nomination. Or maybe you need to go read up on, and apply, and think about, and internalize, some of the concepts and principles that lead one towards greater art, better images, deeper narratives, true beauty. (You do understand that TRUTH and BEAUTY are kissing cousins. Which is why the gnarled old face of a Bedouin in BW HITS you when the bikini shot only titillates you.)

Nominators. Please. Lift your game. Get a clue. THINK.
Peace to all from this Grumpy Bum.
Mikel.

4∈ [?]
It is not "The powerful attack the weak." it is "The fearful attack what they fear."
::zunazet
10/01/11 7:08 PM GMT
I have to say I agree.
But the nominations are open to all and this site is full of beginners.
Not all of whom have a clue what is worthy. I still consider my self an amature, not an expert by any measure. When I was starting out I was blown away by things I now find nice but not excellent or exemplary.

Just saying-
Don't let it get to ya.
2∈ [?]
People aren't going to remember the things you do. They're going to remember how you made people feel. Be kind, gracious, and appreciative. Dan Winters - Photographer.
.J_272004
10/02/11 12:48 AM GMT
This site has a lot of beginners and EVERYONE still learns something regardless of their level of standard.. instead of YELLING about how terrible these images are why don't you do something constructive like give suggestions on how to improve or how about make a tutorial on how to do these things.. we all started at the beginning and we have all learned along the way.. this site is great for that..

From the sound of your "venting" you seem to want this site to be professional images.. this site is not that kind.. here we learn, we help, we encourage, we create and we enjoy regardless of the level..

Also if you don't think the image you have in front of you that was nominated "worthy" of being in the perms that is why there is an ABSTAIN button and a NO button you are not obligated to say yes to anything you feel is inferior..

and yes I have noticed that there are images that have been nominated that shouldn't have been but maybe these were just to encourage that artist to keep going and improve..

so that is my opinion
1∈ [?]
MY GALLERY ........... "You are not alive unless you know you are living." Amadeo Modigliani
=Samatar
10/02/11 1:10 AM GMT
We should not be promoting images to encourage people though. The only reason to nominate an image or to vote for it's promotion is because it exemplifies the very best the site has to offer, not because it is a good example of a single artists own work, nor to encourage people, nor because they are your friend or to reward them or because they helped get your own work promoted etc. In fact people really shouldn't be taking the artist who made the image into account... I do agree that people should be putting a lot more thought and effort into what images they nominate and which they choose to promote.
4∈ [?]
-Everyone is entitled to my opinion-
.Mythmaker
10/02/11 7:42 AM GMT
Ah, Jacqueline, I see how my second vent might be misread. For clarity, when I said about having to vote on images, I didn't for a minute mean I vote YES just because it's been nominated. I vote *no* more often than not at the moment, those cases in which I'm not sure my objection is justified or which I feel are outside my current capacity to evaluate I abstain from voting.

Additionally I mildly object to your assumption, presumably untested, that I don't do something constructive.

I spoke up rather than remaining silent, that's constructive even if you disagree with what I said.

About 90% of the time I give a comment it includes WHY I like the image and often something I think might enhance it or make the most of it's potential. I'm pretty sure that's constructive.

Pen-ultimately - I'm not sure you read both my contributions to this thread (Useful for context of content.)as in the first one I specified (Second last para in first entry to this thread.) pretty clearly that I don't want Caedes to be professional or elitist in the least little bit.

Finally - Samatar pretty much covered anything more general I might have replied with.

Thank you for your opinion.

Mikel.

1∈ [?]
It is not "The powerful attack the weak." it is "The fearful attack what they fear."

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