Composition Digital Field Guide E-Book

Alan Hess

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Serie: Digital Field Guide
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 294

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

The go-with-you guide for creating strong compositions everytime you take a photo Composition requires purposeful placement of elements within theframe, including backgrounds, foregrounds, main subjects, and muchmore. It can take years to acquire strong compositional skills.That's where Composition Digital Field Guide comes in.Packed with full-color photos, this handy guide teaches you how tobring together photographic elements to produce photos that areunique, creative, and memorable. * Addresses the skills required to master the art of goodcomposition when taking digital photos * Walks you through framing your images carefully, which is thefirst key step in capturing a strong photograph * Features hundreds of stunning and inspiring full-color photosof people, wildlife, and landscapes * Includes the newest feature of the Digital Field Guideseries: a removable color checker card to help ensure true color inyour photographs It will be difficult to keep your composition while reading theinvaluable advice in Composition Digital Field Guide!

Leseprobe

Composition Digital Field Guide

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Composition Basics

Focal Lengths and Lenses

Wide-angle

Normal

Telephoto

Prime Lenses and Zoom Lenses

Fixed focal length

Zoom lenses

Picking the Focal Length

Focus Settings

Picking the Focus Point

Recomposing Images

Sensor Sizes

Chapter 2: Light and Exposure

Light

Direction of light

Color of light

Exposure Basics

Stop

Shutter speed

Aperture

ISO

Equivalent exposures

Chapter 3: The Rule of Thirds

What It Is

When to Use

The horizon line

Verticals

When Not to Use

Chapter 4: Leading Lines

What Are Leading Lines?

Diagonals

Straight lines

Curving lines

When to Use

What to Look For

Chapter 5: Symmetry and Balance

What Symmetry and Balance Mean

When to Use

Reflections

Nature

What to Look For

Strong design elements

Repeating lines

Unexpected opportunities

Chapter 6: Color

What Color Means

How to Use Color

Black and white

Color combinations

Bold and bright

Understanding White Balance

What to Look For

Chapter 7: Event Photography

Composition Considerations

Fill the frame

Watch the surroundings and background

Pick the right lens

Tell a story

Photographing Fireworks

Shooting Events

Knowledge is power

Pack properly

Composition Tips

Chapter 8: Landscape Photography

Composition Considerations

Rule of thirds

Foreground and background

Leading lines and S curves

Frames

Viewpoint

Panorama Photography

Shooting Landscapes

The golden hour

Be patient and watch the light

Use a tripod

Composition Tips

Chapter 9: Portrait Photography

Composition Considerations

Focus on the eyes

Picking the right lens

Fill the frame

Frame the subject

Change your angle

Watch the background

Rule of thirds

Working with People

Posing tips

Children

Groups

Shooting Portraits

Indoors

Outdoors

Makeup and clothes

Hands, glasses, and other problems

Portrait lights

Light modifiers

Composition Tips

Chapter 10: Sports and Action Photography

Composition Considerations

Fill the frame

Shallow depth of field

Leading lines

Space to move

Shooting Sports and Action Photographs

Know the sport

Shooting outdoors

Shooting indoors

Composition Tips

Chapter 11: Travel Photography

Composition Considerations

Keep it simple

Shooting landmarks

Leading lines

Pick the right focal length

Frame your images

Shooting Travel Photographs

Photograph the buildings

Photograph the people

Photograph the action

Composition Tips

Chapter 12: Wedding Photography

Composition Considerations

Using the rule of thirds

Centering the subjects

Using leading lines

Using different focal lengths

Shooting Weddings

The bride

Getting ready

Wedding portraits

Group shots

Ceremony

Reception

The wedding plan

Composition Tips

Chapter 13: Wildlife and Animal Photography

Composition Considerations

Remove fences and barriers

Watch the background

Fill the frame versus leave a little space

Focus on the eyes

Shooting Wildlife and Animal Photographs

Composition Tips

Chapter 14: Creative Composition

Patterns

Shapes

Black-and-white Images

Abstract Images

Appendix A: Composition Adjustments in Postproduction

Adobe Camera Raw

Photoshop

Appendix B: How to Use the Gray Card and Color Checker

Glossary

Composition Digital Field Guide

by Alan Hess

Composition Digital Field Guide

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.10475 Crosspoint BoulevardIndianapolis, IN 46256

www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-76909-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Alan Hess is a San Diego-based commercial photographer specializing in concert and event photography but has photographed everything from portraits to products. He is the author of three previous Digital Field Guides, including the best-selling Exposure Digital Field Guide. His concert and backstage images have appeared in numerous online and print publications and have been used for promotional purposes and music packaging.

Alan is a key contributor to the Digital Photo Experience Web site (http://dpexperience.com) and has written articles on concert photography and technology for them. He has also written for Photoshop User Magazine and teaches concert photography and workflow at Photoshop World.

He is a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, and Nikon Professional Services. You can contact Alan through his Web site, www.alanhessphotography.com, where he writes a regular blog, or on Twitter @ShotLivePhoto.

Credits

Acquisitions Editor

Courtney Allen

Project Editor

Chris Wolfgang

Technical Editor

Haje Jan Kamps

Copy Editor

Marylouise Wiack

Editorial Director

Robyn Siesky

Editorial Manager

Rosemarie Graham

Business Manager

Amy Knies

Senior Marketing Manager

Sandy Smith

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher

Barry Pruett

Project Coordinator

Lynsey Stanford

Graphics and Production Specialists

Andrea Hornberger, Jennifer Mayberry, Ronald G. Terry

Quality Control Technician

Lindsay Littrell

Proofreading and Indexing

Jacqui BrownsteinSteve Rath

Dedication

For Nadra.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost I would like to thank my parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, and friends for their support and patience as I was writing this book. I know having me photograph everything all the time can get a little tiresome. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

I want to thank the great crew that made this book possible: Courtney Allen who brought me into the Wiley family; this is our tenth project together, can you believe it? Haje Jan Kamps, my technical editor for the second time who tries to keep me on track; thanks for all the suggestion and helpful advice. Thanks to Chris Wolfgang for making sure I was meeting my deadlines, sorry for driving you crazy, and Marylouise Wiack for making me sound better than I really do.

Thanks to Rick Sammon and Juan Pons and the rest of the gang at the Digital Photo Experience (one of the best resources for digital photographers on the Internet) for allowing me to be part of the team. I learned so much from you two and every one of the contributors at www.dpexperience.com.

Special thanks to the following photographers who have helped me with writing this book and in becoming a better photographer myself:

Kenny Kim (www.kennykim.com) for the help and use of his images in the wedding chapter. Kenny is an amazing lifestyle and wedding photographer I was lucky enough to work with. He is author of the Digital Photographer Wedding Planner.

Jeremy Pollack (www.jeremypollack.net) for his help and images, especially in the landscape section. He has a great eye, and if you are planning to photograph around New York, check out his Photographing New York City Digital Field Guide.

And to Scott Kelby and everyone at Photoshop World who gave me a chance to reach a bigger audience, I can’t thank you enough.

And to my lovely wife, Nadra, thank you for understanding the long hours and the crazy schedule. I couldn’t have done this without you.

Introduction

There are a lot of photography books on the market today; I should know since I have written three others and been involved as an editor on a half dozen others. There are even a few that are specifically geared to help you improve your composition, but what I noticed about most of these is they talked in generalities. While they all want to help you find your vision, they don’t really give you a solid starting point. I hope to change that with this book.

Let me be upfront with you right now, this book is not for everyone. There are some of you out there who don’t really need this type of book. You already have your own style, and you really like the image you take. You are happy with the composition and are probably following a lot of what is laid out here without even knowing it.

This book is for the photographer who is frustrated, frustrated that they can’t seem to get a great photo. You take plenty of good photos, but you are wondering why they just don’t seem to be great. Now, please don’t page through the book expecting every photo in here to be great; some of the photos in this book are here to illustrate a point or are part of a before-and-after series.

In the first chapter, I discuss focal lengths, lenses, the basics of picking the right focus point along with the basics of recomposing images, and even the differences between the full-frame sensors and the cropped sensors so prevalent in today’s digital cameras.

Next in Chapter 2 is an overview on light and the basics of exposure, including a brief discussion of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

Then we get to the four chapters that deal with composition rules and techniques that can help to improve your images: the rule of thirds, leading lines, symmetry and balance, and color. Each of these four chapters covers the best time to use its respective rule and what to look for in your images.

Then, like all the Digital Field Guides, I discuss specific situations in the last eight chapters, including events, landscapes, portraits, sports and action, travel, wedding, and wildlife photography. Each of these chapters covers the specific composition tips for the subject matter along with general advice for that type of photography. Each chapter has plenty of full color examples and, even though this book isn’t about the exposure settings, each image has the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed used.

The final chapter deals with creative composition. While this is about breaking the rules and starting to find your own look, Chapter 14 still shows when and where to break the rules for the best results.

I have also included an appendix that shows you how to use popular software to easily recompose your images in post production. This is as simple as selectively cropping images that just weren’t quite right in the camera. A second appendix includes a gray card and color checker, which is included with all the newer Digital Field Guides.

I want to just tell you a little about what this book doesn’t cover. There is not a lot of talk about specific camera gear; I don’t care what camera brand you use or what memory cards you favor. Most of these photos could be taken with a good point-and-shoot compact camera, even though they weren’t.

It also doesn’t matter if you have top-of-the-line lenses or are using the kit lens that came with your camera. That lens is great, until you feel limited in what you can and can’t do. Then I recommend buying the best lens you can afford. Chances are you will change cameras in two to three years, but a good lens, if taken care of, will last a lifetime. Some of the images taken in this book were with lenses I have owned for more than a decade.

If you want to learn more about specific camera settings, then I recommend that you read my Exposure Digital Field Guide. If you already own it, then thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I hope you enjoy this book just as much.

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Chapter 1: Composition Basics

All photographs are made up of two parts: the exposure and the composition. The exposure deals with the amount of light that reaches the camera’s digital sensor.

The composition deals with what is and what isn’t in the photograph and that is what this book is about. But before you learn how to compose an image, you need to look at the differences in lenses, focal lengths, focus points, and even sensor sizes.