Does Composition Matter Anymore?

[grumpy]

The question is not whether composition matters or not. Most photographers know and will agree that it is one of, if not, the most important aspect of photography.

The only difference is some does it better than others. Some can only try and copy what others can create.

Think Taurean is bringing up the point that some people just whack without considering composition or composition is not an important element in their photography.

Some of us think (or claim we think and/or know) it is important, but I think if you look around, there are so many snappy photos. When someone offers critique or honest comments, they are being ignored.

 

[grumpy]

Composition is not something that comes to mind when I see them.

Their "composition" is still in mint condition as it sits in the dri-cab most of the time.

 

[Luval]

nah,, what the hell,, I am not surprise that there are pple who will comment joho pic isnt up t standard. but yet , when I look at their portfolio. None in their gallery are good engh to be called a portfolio. So what the deal. many spend time and $ to learn and be apsiring photographer..

 

[Fotophilic]

a tom, dick and harry using top notch equipment but shooting without brains, level is only that far.

a technically high quality picture without reasonable composition and the "spirit" in it, can only go that far.

a lousy composed portrait of a beautiful lady with poor postures, poor expressions, can only bring her beauty that far.

a person who cannot take comments and criticisms, can only learn that far.

if they think they are very good and can go very far, just let them be. ppl need to fall down to see how near to the ground they are.

 

[ahguan]

Think Taurean is bringing up the point that some people just whack without considering composition or composition is not an important element in their photography.

Some of us think (or claim we think and/or know) it is important, but I think if you look around, there are so many snappy photos. When someone offers critique or honest comments, they are being ignored.

People who whack w/o composition, combine that with people who have loads of expensive equipment... hmm... they're actually a professional breed called PAPARRAZZI :bsmilie:

(pardon spelling if wrong)

 

[ahquan]

sorry to OT slightly. In my opinion, it is not just about composition but the overall photography technic is still very important to the world of professional and the serious armature photographers.

Take golf for example, Tiger Woods makes golf swing appearing so simple that he gives all the golfers a wrong impression that they can swing like Tiger Woods. But in reality, only a very rare few could achieve the swings that close to him, as consistent, hitting as far as he is.

Digital photography is just the same as golf game. To some, they continue to hone and improve their photography skills. Some just dream to be like Tiger Wood but never bother the basic, but after a while they give up upon realizing the reality. Yet many others like me, play golf once in a while, have fun, catch up with friend, any swing will do, does not matter the outcome, more importantly, we laugh at each other , enjoy the game and have fun.

At times Tiger may hit some swing out of ordinary, but the swings are still as beautiful and the outcome are still as impressive. So is photography, I do see some pictures which did not following any conventional guidelines, but are as awesome.

So would Tiger Woods give up his training and golf as his career because of many lousy golfers?

LOL you must be rish to play for fun. hope you dun swing those balls away in the range. used to just do that but sadly i can no longer play the game. membership expired at 21 for me so no more for me when i was really keen then. was representing occ then playing with quincy.. now well quincy seem liek the no.1 rookie lol.. i hope i can be as serious for my photography

 

[grumpy]

warao, ahguan and ahquan posted back to back....
confusing, same person or not?

 

[Azure]

Their "composition" is still in mint condition as it sits in the dri-cab most of the time.

Have to agree with Kit. I think of decomposition when I see such threads/photos. :bsmilie:

 

[Churchwolf]

With the advent of digital cameras correct framing of the picture has definitely become less of an issue when the picture is taken, however, correct composition still has to take place. Re-framing a shot later can only do so much to "save" your photographs aesthetics and if you do not understand or have a natural feel for correct and appealing composition no ammount of post processing is going to rescue your shot. The "conventions" of composition exist for a reason: they are the manner in which the majority of people find an image to be pleasing to the eye. These conventions are not meant to restrict artistry and experimentation still will yield surprising results. The "rules" of composition are a good guide to making an aesthetically pleasing photograph, but only your creativity can make a great shot.

 

[ahguan]

warao, ahguan and ahquan posted back to back....
confusing, same person or not?

OT: :bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie: didn't notice till u mentioned!

nice to cu ahquan

 

[grumpy]

nah,, what the hell,, I am not surprise that there are pple who will comment joho pic isnt up t standard. but yet , when I look at their portfolio. None in their gallery are good engh to be called a portfolio. So what the deal. many spend time and $ to learn and be apsiring photographer..

I don't quite fully comprehend your post.
Need time and $ to learn photography? Or need time and $ to aspire to be a photographer? Or...?

 

[LittleWolf]

Think Taurean is bringing up the point that some people just whack without considering composition or composition is not an important element in their photography.

This is a rather strong claim. Can you look into the mind of such people? Maybe your idea of composition just differs from theirs?

Analysing composition is mainly an aid to sort out and rationalise your own feelings about a picture. Your own analysis is not absolute. You cannot impose it on others. When it comes to the point that someone is taken to task for ignoring any perceived rules, something is wrong.

When someone offers critique or honest comments, they are being ignored.

How do you know that such feedback is ignored? Opinions, even differing opinions, can be registered and valued without the need for "followup action" (beyond maybe a simple "thank you"). Do you expect people to hastily edit/change their pictures to satisfy the whims and fancies of critics (and let others dictate what their pictures look like)? That would be utterly disrespectful - only to be topped by those "helpful" individuals who, unasked, take the picture and post photoshopped versions back into the thread.

 

[Azure]

I was just browsing the galleries. Sad to say it seems that more and more are only interested in seeing :thumbsup: for their pictures no matter how hideous those pictures are to the eye. Some are probably just there to **** new toys (read : lenses/bodies/gadgets).

For those who really care about their photography, you can probably try (damn hard) to change the mentality and the culture. My best wishes to you on that score. Or, one can always choose to find likeminded good people and hang out with, and improve and grow together with them.

Like I quoted (a loosely translated) Chinese saying to a young CSer a while back :-
"Surround yourself with pearls, and you can grow white/shiny.
Surround yourself with coals, and you can grow dirty/grimy."

I've made my choice. Have you?

 

[Hexlord]

With the advent of digital cameras correct framing of the picture has definitely become less of an issue when the picture is taken, however, correct composition still has to take place. Re-framing a shot later can only do so much to "save" your photographs aesthetics and if you do not understand or have a natural feel for correct and appealing composition no amount of post processing is going to rescue your shot. The "conventions" of composition exist for a reason: they are the manner in which the majority of people find an image to be pleasing to the eye. These conventions are not meant to restrict artistry and experimentation still will yield surprising results. The "rules" of composition are a good guide to making an aesthetically pleasing photograph, but only your creativity can make a great shot.

This pretty much sum up my thoughts on the matter.

Those who remained in this forum to change things from within, its heartening to see some efforts being done (with some pretty good photos to boot from them too).

So I made my own choice as well. Don't let a few bad hats ruin the experience here eh?

 

[night86mare]

People who whack w/o composition, combine that with people who have loads of expensive equipment... hmm... they're actually a professional breed called PAPARRAZZI :bsmilie:

(pardon spelling if wrong)

you should read the similarly titled book (paparazzi) by peter howe.

contrary to popular belief, there is actually a certain amount of composition needed in such photos. but fact is fact, due to the extreme measures needed to take their celebrity photos sometimes, image quality and composition will be sacrificed.. it is after all, all about getting the shot. if they have the leisure, then they do care about composition.

i quote a passage from the book:

both ramey and griffin bemoan the fact that in this age of automated photography, when a camera can think for you, many younger people entering the business don't spend enough time honing their photographic skills. "they don't know an f-stop from a shutter speed," says griffin. "it's just beyond them; they just don't understand why light comes in one end and a picture comes out the other. the ones who are going to be really good at the job and want a career out of it are going to need to know this. you can hire loads of kids and say, "this is a camera, put it on the little-running-man-setting and go out and take pictures," and sixty or seventy percent will come back with a picture. but when you need to compose a picture that will make you say "wow, that's really well done," that's when you need to be a photographer."

on the thread subject, i do think that pictures are just about two things - composition and exposure. of course these need a knowledge of many other things, depending on scenario, like maybe flash knowledge, technicalities, post processing to achieve a certain vision.. but it still comes down to these two things at the end of the day, and it is sad that there is indeed less emphasis on these two things these days.

but clubsnap, like someone said before, is an open forums, you get all sorts. so i guess that's that.

 

[icebox]

Perhaps it's a mentality carried over from other popular hobbies, say personal computers, hi-fi or cars. Just buy the best PC parts, the best amps, the fastest cars, tada, you have all the power in your hands. And using that power isn't too hard most of the time. Same mentality carries over to photography (or more aptly, cameras). Buy the highest end body, the sharpest lens, again all the power in your hands.

How to use that top end PC? Run benchmarks and compare scores. That 5 digit vacuum tube amp? Loop test clips, do blind test against other amps. That speed monster car? Drive to zouk and whack the horn, compare hp rating and 0-100 timings with friends. That D3/1DsM3? Take newspapers, test charts and PC show models, compare with others. Feel the adrenaline and ego boost!

What the heck with composition and exposure? That's not going to make full use of my top of the line camera!

[this is meant to be a joke, your time is worth more than to analyze it and flame back]

 

[ahguan]

Perhaps it's a mentality carried over from other popular hobbies, say personal computers, hi-fi or cars. Just buy the best PC parts, the best amps, the fastest cars, tada, you have all the power in your hands. And using that power isn't too hard most of the time. Same mentality carries over to photography (or more aptly, cameras). Buy the highest end body, the sharpest lens, again all the power in your hands.

How to use that top end PC? Run benchmarks and compare scores. That 5 digit vacuum tube amp? Loop test clips, do blind test against other amps. That speed monster car? Drive to zouk and whack the horn, compare hp rating and 0-100 timings with friends. That D3/1DsM3? Take newspapers, test charts and PC show models, compare with others. Feel the adrenaline and ego boost!

What the heck with composition and exposure? That's not going to make full use of my top of the line camera!

[this is meant to be a joke, your time is worth more than to analyze it and flame back]

well photography has an added dimension to gear envy, and that is the power to create. I believe many of us realise this with a camera in hand, and ultimately it's ur control over it and the environment and moment that enables us to create works of art.

I think anyone who holds a camera knows this subconciously. Being conciously aware of these control points is the first step to learning and improvement. Finally they become subconcious again just like second nature, and that's call mastery of the craft

control over composition, handling and moment. these are the 3 things i aspire to master and also what i ultimately look for in images

 

[Parka]

Composition matters.

It's doesn't matter if the photograher doesn't care.

 

[Kit]

I think anyone who holds a camera knows this subconciously. Being conciously aware of these control points is the first step to learning and improvement. Finally they become subconcious again just like second nature, and that's call mastery of the craft

That actually depends on the reason for holding a camera to begin with.

 

[RichardSeah]

Modern cameras can auto almost everything -- auto focus, auto exposure, even auto release the shutter when it detects that somebody smiles.

The only thing camera cannot do for you is compose. Composition still has to be 100 percent manual.

ALL pictures need to be composed. Good composition produces good pictures. Bad composition produces bad pictures. No composition produces no pictures.

Simple as that.