Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity, and Personal Style

369 Pages·2010·23.6 MB·English

by  Alain Briot

Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity, and Personal Style
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1692 Book Briot Composition.indb 2 24.11.09 19:42
Mastering Photographic Composition,
Creativity, and Personal Style
Alain Briot
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Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity, and Personal Style
by Alain Briot (www.beautiful-landscape.com)
Editor: Gerhard Rossbach
Copyeditor: Tonya Crandall
Production Editor: Joan Dixon
Proof Reader: Sarah Castellanos
Layout and Type: Almute Kraus, www.exclam.de
Cover design: Helmut Kraus, www.exclam.de
Cover photos: Alain Briot
Printer: Tara TPS Co., Ltd. through Four Colour Print Group
Printed in Korea
ISBN 978-1-933952-22-2
1st Edition (2nd Printing, January 2010)
© 2009 Alain Briot
Rocky Nook, Inc.
26 West Mission Street, Ste 3
Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2432
www.rockynook.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Briot, Alain.
Mastering photographic composition, creativity, and personal style / Alain Briot. --
1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-933952-22-2 (alk. paper)
1. Composition (Photography) I. Title.
TR179.B75 2009
771--dc22
2009003899
Distributed by O’Reilly Media
1005 Gravenstein Highway North
Sebastapool, CA 95472
All product names and services identifed throughout this book are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Tey are used throughout
this book in editorial fashion only. No such uses, or the use of any trade name, are
intended to convey endorsement or other afliation with the book. No part of the
material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner.
While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher
and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting
from the use of the information contained herein.
Tis book is printed on acid-free paper.
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Table of Contents
xiv Foreword
xvi Preface
1 2 About Composition
3 Art, Facts, and Landscape Photography
5 T e Dif erences Between Composing Factual and Artistic
Photographs
6 Photography is Not Dead
Section A: The Dif erences Between
What We See and What the Camera Sees
2 12 Learning to See Like a Camera
13 Of Cameras and Art
13 Good Cameras Equal Good Photographs
13 A Matter of Filters
14 Modifying What the Camera Captures
15 Dif erences in Print Quality
18 It’s the Print, Silly
18 I Should Have Known
19 T e Artist and His Tools
21 It’s Only a Matter of Time
3 22 The Eye and the Camera
23 T e Dif erence Between Photography and Reality
23 Two Categories of Dif erences
23 What the Camera Captures that the Eye Never Sees
32 T e Soul of Photography
36 Conclusion
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Table of Contents vii
Section B: New Rules of Composition
40 Composing with Light 4
41 Essential Elements
42 Light and Composition
43 Finding the Best Light
47 Finding Sunrise and Sunset Times
63 Using Natural Light
71 Changing Light Quality
1 00 Skill Enhancement Exercises
1 01 Conclusion
1 02 Composing with Color 5
1 03 Color Vision
1 04 T e T ree Variables of Color
1 04 T e Munsell Color System
1 08 Controlling Color in Photoshop
1 09 Color Balance
1 11 Color Palette
1 16 Saturation
1 19 Color Seeing Aides
1 26 Taking Notes in the Field
1 28 Composing with Color: Examples
1 37 Skills Enhancement Exercises
1 39 Conclusion
1 40 Composing in Black and White 6
1 41 Introduction
1 41 Black and White Is Color with One Variable
1 41 Seeing the World without Color
1 42 Black and White and Art
1 43 Black and White and Manipulation
1 46 Color vs. Black and White
1 50 Seeing in Black and White
1 55 Examples of Composing in Black and White
1 64 Skills Enhancement Exercises
1 65 Conclusion
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viii Table of Contents
7 1 66 Important Elements of a Strong Composition
1 67 Introduction
1 67 Strong Compositions Checklist
1 72 Example 1—Superimposing Objects: Monument Valley
1 74 Example 2—Creating Visual Metaphors:
Manzanar Monument
1 76 Example 3—Leading Lines: Sand Dunes at Sunrise
1 78 Example 4—Near-Far Compositions:
Brown’s Hole, Dinosaur National Monument
1 79 Example 5—Near-Far Compositions:
Vertical and Horizontal
1 83 Example 6—Careful Cropping Between Objects:
Navajoland Cloudscape
1 85 Example 7—Cropping and Borders:
Escalante Canyon
Section C: The Creative Process
8 1 90 Finding Inspiration
1 91 Introduction
1 91 Inspiration, Creativity, Vision, and Personal Style
1 93 Example 1: Location as a Source of Inspiration
1 93 T e Muses
1 95 A Lifestyle
1 96 Example 2: Remoteness as Source of Inspiration
1 97 New Equipment, Supplies, and Software: New Possibilities
1 98 Example 3: Mood as a Source of Inspiration
1 98 Become an Expert
2 00 External and Internal Inspiration
2 01 Inspiration Is Asking Why not How
2 01 Example 4: Repeat Visits to Favorite Places for Inspiration
2 02 Memories of What I Have Seen and Experienced
2 05 Skills Enhancement Exercises:
How to Invite the Muses and Bring Out Your Creativity
2 06 Conclusion
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Table of Contents ix
2 08 Exercising Creativity 9
2 09 Introduction
2 09 T e Dif erence Between Inspiration and Creativity
2 10 Do Not Delay Creativity
2 11 We All Have the Potential to Be Creative
2 12 Liberating Our Creativity
2 12 Fear of Failure
2 14 Moving Out of Your Comfort Zone
2 15 Overcoming Creative Fear
2 16 Fear of Critique
2 18 Everything Has Already Been Done
2 19 Nobody Cares About Your Work
2 21 Skills Enhancement Exercises
2 25 Conclusion
2 26 Developing Your Vision 10
2 27 Introduction
2 27 What Is Vision?
2 28 Making Your Vision Reality
2 28 Critical T inking
2 30 Going Back
2 33 Your Personality
2 34 Making Your Vision Reality
2 36 Doing the Work
2 37 Do Not Lose Your Vision
2 38 Skills Enhancement Exercises
2 41 Conclusion
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