Check this out! We rounded a corner into this room and found this, this chair and this lamp in front of this beat-up old wall with peeling paint, it just looks great. It is such a picture waiting to happen. There is just one problem, the light is bad. And if you're thinking right now, well what's wrong with the light? Look what it looks like over here on this side of the room, right near the window where there was also this other chair is sitting. The light is great here. I've got this just beautiful, soft, luminous thing around me that, it'd be really nice to have over there. We have talked about a lot of different compositional ideas, different ways you can piece together lines and shapes and forms and lights and shadows and all sorts of other things to create an interesting way of ordering your scene and guiding the viewer's eye, but all of that is irrelevant if you don't have good light. All photos start with the light.
Very often you will look for the light first, and then find something to do within that light. Just because we got a great scene over there, if we don't have the light for it, there's probably not that much we can do with it. Now we can shoot this anyway and see if we can kind of fake some light stuff in Photoshop, but sometimes that works. It's not something you should really count on. Shoot it anyway, let's see what you can do with that later. But as you're walking around, trying to see, and trying to keep your eyes open for all these compositional ideas, please don't forget that also, first and foremost, you are walking around looking for the light.
Now, you can try to manipulate the light, if you're carrying the right gear to get the lighting you want over there. That's not what we're doing right now. We're walking around just with camera in hand, looking for found situations that we can find. It's very difficult to stress just how much light is where photography comes from, what makes a good photo. So don't forget that while we're working through all of these other ideas.
Author
Released
12/22/2011The course addresses how the camera differs from the eye and introduces composition fundamentals, such as balance and point of view. Ben also examines the importance of geometry, light, and color in composition, and looks at how composition can be improved with a variety of post-production techniques. Interspersed throughout the course are workshop sessions that capture the creative energy of a group of photography students; shooting assignments and exercises; and analyses of the work of photographers Paul Taggart and Connie Imboden.
- Looking versus seeing
- Understanding when and why to use black and white
- Analyzing lines
- Arranging the elements into lines and shapes
- Working with perspective and symmetry
- Changing focal length, camera position, and depth
- Dividing rectangular frames into thirds
- Weighting the corners in square pictures
- Composing photographs of people
- Composing landscape photos
- Working with light: direction, texture, and negative space
- How to shoot color
- Guiding the viewer's eye
- Controlling depth
- Improving composition in post-production
Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
Views
Related Courses
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Photography Foundations: Lenses
with Ben Long2h 32m Beginner -
Photography Foundations: Black and White
with Ben Long3h 3m Intermediate
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Introduction
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Welcome1m 43s
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Using this course7m 27s
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What you need to know2m 50s
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1. Understanding Composition
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What is composition?2m 1s
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2. Seeing
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Looking vs. seeing2m 25s
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Vision and attention2m 13s
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Dynamic range1m 59s
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Seeing exercises3m 5s
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3. Composition Fundamentals
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Subject and background3m 5s
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Balance7m 20s
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Point of view3m 22s
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Simplicity2m 59s
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Practicing3m 24s
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Why black and white?2m 21s
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4. Geometry: Lines and Shapes
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Lines7m 7s
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Analyzing lines6m 35s
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Exploring a town4m 7s
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The Franklin Hotel2m 7s
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Shapes10m 13s
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Rule of threes1m 36s
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Perspective1m 47s
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Symmetry1m 10s
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Intersections1m 41s
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5. Shooting Best Practices
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Working a shot, revisited3m 21s
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Warming up2m 16s
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6. Balance Revisited
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Tonal balance3m 52s
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Content balance1m 20s
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Composing people3m 42s
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Composing landscapes3m 53s
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7. Light
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It's the light1m 50s
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Direction of light8m 30s
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Texture2m 7s
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Shadows and negative space1m 19s
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Exposure concerns2m 44s
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Light as subject1m 38s
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8. Workshop: Finding Light
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Assignment: Finding light5m 17s
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Shooting the light3m 14s
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9. Color
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The basics of color1m 4s
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When to shoot color3m 56s
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How to shoot color2m 47s
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10. Guiding the Viewer
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Entry and exit5m 41s
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Framing2m 17s
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Narrative1m 55s
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Guiding the viewer's eye1m 14s
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11. Workshop: Foreground and Background
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12. Layers
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Planes5m 13s
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Controlling depth4m 54s
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Juxtaposition2m 58s
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Fear4m 3s
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Layers55s
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13. Post Production
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Resizing an image8m 9s
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Tone8m 54s
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14. Workshop Exhibition and Wrap-Up
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Conclusion
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Video: It's the light