Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Albert Einstein

Introduction

Having a solid knowledge of composition is one of the most important aspects of creating strong photographs. In the context of my series of essays on personal vision and style, composition is one of the most important ways of developing both your personal vision and your personal style.

In landscape photography composition takes place in the field. It is the first step we take towards the creation of the image, and comes before exposure and of course before processing and optimization.

Composition consists of making the decisions that will lead to how the elements in the image are organized. In a way composition is unforgiving because once the photograph is taken the composition cannot be changed.

The goal of this essay is to acknowledge the importance of composition by presenting fifteen remarks that cover what I consider to be the fifteeen most important aspects of fine art photographic composition.

1 – Composition is the strongest way of seeing

This is Edward Weston’s definition of composition

It is still my favorite definition of composition

2 – Composition is not just the placement of objects in the frame

Composition also involves using color, contrast and light

Composition includes post processing in the raw converter and in Photoshop

3 – The goal of composition is to express your vision and your emotional response to the scene

The goal of Fine Art Composition is not to create a documentary representation of the scene

Nor is it to create a photograph that is only technically perfect

The goal is to create an image that is superior, both expressively and technically

4 – What the camera captures is objective. What the artist’s sees and feels are subjective.

Take stock of your emotional response to the scene in front of you

Record those emotions in writing or in audio

Use light, color, contrast, composition and cropping to reproduce these emotions visually

Work on this both in the field and in the studio

5 – Think first about light.

A photograph is only as good as the light you use

The subject is less important than the light that illuminates this subject

The best subject in bad light does not make for a good photograph

6 – Use foreground-background relationships.

Find a great foreground and place it in front of a great background

Make sure your foreground is large enough to play an important role in the composition

7 – Contrast opposites elements

Human beings think and see in terms of opposites

Therefore this is something everyone can relate to

Opposite examples:

Static / moving

Young / old

Large / small

Organic / man made

8 – Composing a photograph is not about redoing what someone else has done before.

If tempted to redo an image you have seen, just buy the postcard, the book or the poster

You cannot be someone else, therefore you cannot take the same photographs as someone else

You will waste time trying to do so.

Instead, start to create your own images right away

9 – Being inspired and redoing someone else’s work are two different things

You can certainly be inspired by the work of other photographers

We have all been inspired by the work of other artists and photographers

This is an inherent aspect of the artistic process

10 – No amount of technology can make up for a lack of inspiration

Cameras and other gears are technical

Inspiration is artistic

The two exist on different planes

Achieving a Personal style in Fine Art means working as an artist not just as a technician

11 – People, not cameras, compose photographs

Certainly, a camera is a necessity

However, your camera cannot compose a photograph anymore than your car can drive itself

12 – “Correct” is whatever works when the goal is to create fine art

There is no such thing as “the right thing” in art

“What is Art ?” is a question to which there are many answers

We therefore have to answer this question for ourselves

We are also bound to disagree with others because fine art is a polarized activity.

13 – Straight fine art prints are a myth

All fine art prints are a modification of the image recorded by the camera

The composition of the image you started in the field is continued in the studio

This is done through image optimization because colors, contrast, borders, image format, etc. are all part of composition

14 – The “right” color balance is the strongest way of seeing color

There is no such thing as the “right” color balance in Fine Art

This is because color is one of the ways you express your emotional response to the scene

For this reason, the “right” color balance for a specific image will differ from one photographer to the next

15 – The finest compositions are those you never saw until you created them

Recreating a composition you saw before is easy

Creating a brand new composition, one you have never seen before, is difficult

This is because doing so requires transforming the natural chaos into an organized image

It involves creating order out of chaos, as Elliott Porter said.

Alain Briot

Arizona

April 2015

About Alain Briot

Alain Briot creates fine art photographs, teaches workshops and offers DVD tutorials on composition, raw conversion, optimization, printing and marketing. Alain is the author of Mastering Landscape Photography, Mastering Photographic Composition and Marketing Fine Art Photography. All 3 books are available from Alain’s website as well as from most bookstores.

You can find more information about Alain’s work, writings and tutorials as well as subscribe to Alain’s Free Monthly Newsletter on his website . You will receive over 40 essays in PDF format, including chapters from Alain’s books, when you subscribe.

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