Howdy, folks,
I've stayed out of this argument so far, and this will most likely be
my only contribution. And I'll further preface it by pointing out that
these are all my opinions due to my experience. Your mileage may vary.
That's why I've stayed out of it so far. :-)
On Thu, 02 Jan 2003 09:33:35 -0600, Mike Johnston wrote:
> [...] I do think in general that APPROACHING any shot with a laundry
> list of "rules" or "guidelines" or WHATEVER you want to call them is
> a fool's errand, and not likely to be conducive to really goof work.
^^^^
I'll give you a freebie on that one. :-) ---------------------+
> [...] I think the creativity of many beginners is stifled by such rules,
> not enhanced. [...]
Well, let's start by saying that I feel the "rules" are "rules of
thumb". They do not necessarily make or break any given shot.
That said, I believe that they do fulfill useful roles in the
photographer's life.
The beginner is struggling with getting a reasonable exposure onto the
film. They're figuring out f-stops and shutter speeds. Film speed and
flash math. Focal length and focal distance. And, most importantly,
composition in the viewfinder. This is not as true as it used to be,
what with wundercameras and all, so the "rules" may not be as useful in
this context anymore.
The result, though, is that the "rules" can give do two things for a
beginner. First, they can reduce the "overload" of getting a decent
composition on film at a reasonable exposure. Second, they can at
least give the tyro an idea of a place to start on a composition.
Then, as (if) the tyro gets better at composition, the "rules" become
more proscriptive. General metrics against which each "in viewfinder"
composition can be checked, like Cotty's list recently ("make sure no
trees are growing out of Aunt Tillie's head", etc.).
I've been photographing off and on for about fifteen of the last 25
years. I'm self taught, largely by experience and viewing others'
work, rather than "school" or books or whatever.
I find that as I work, I'm not thinking "put Subject A on the lower
left 'thirds' point and Subject B on the upper right one" or "what
leads the eye to the subject".
However, I do (try to) check off against "is there a tree out of
someone's head" or "exposure comp needed" or "is the shutter speed
fast/slow enough". Shooting motorsports, there's often no time for
that, either.
But I have found certain "rules" to be impediments to my compositional
growth. Maybe preconceptions is a better term ... maybe not ...
anyway, the worst one for me has been the preconception that the frame
should (usually) include the entire subject, with none cut off at the
edges of the frame (viewfinder). I've been trying to break it for two
years now, and it's gonna take more time still.
TTYL, DougF KG4LMZ
