Petteri's Photo Class: Lesson Zero [1/2]

Petteri Sulonen said:

A photographer whom I admire a great deal, Ed Leys (see his work at
California Light and Structure [
http://www.blackmallard.com/cal_ls/ ]) feels very strongly that
composition can't and shouldn't be taught at all. He believes that
"teaching composition" imposes arbitrary and artificial constraints
on creativity, and as a worst case could stifle the flame and
vision of a creative genius, thereby making the world a poorer
place.

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Chuck Gardner said:

Based on personality testing only about 5-10% of the population are
intuatives. The rest are what are refered to as "sensate"
personality types. They rely on their senses -- what they can see
and analyze -- rather than intutiion -- to live and learn. A
sensate is someone who needs to line all their ducks up in a row
and get them quacking in unison before they can see what in the
flock is happening.

Sensates learn best, and in some cases can only learn effectively,
using a systematic, step-by-step intruction method. Learn 1, then
2, then 3, etc. Hopefully when they get to rule 40, look back and
see how all the rules fit together, the big cranial lightbulb will
ingite. Maybe not. But at least their photos will be better
composed, without missing feet or heads dead center in the frame.

Will the rules help them develop into a photographic genius which
unique vision? Probably not, but that's not the goal of everyone
who owns a camera. Most just want to learn to take more visually
effective and appealing photos.

Pettreri will teach them how. He's the best kind of teacher, one
who has the intuative's gift for understanding and a sensates
ablity to break a complex subject into logical progressive steps
leading to a broader understanding.

Lead on!

Chuck Gardner

Petteri Sulonen said:

Ed Leys wrote:

[snip]

Hi, Ed, and I'm glad you did step in.

As a matter of fact, I'm sure your method would certainly be more
effective than any on-line composition classes. It's the good ol'
master-apprentice method of learning a craft -- tried and true, and
very hard to beat, from the apprentice's point of view anyway.

The only trouble is that a single master can only take a few
apprentices, and has to train them very intensively over a quite a
long period of time. Also, the master chooses his apprentices, to
suit his temperament and interests: it's not a very democratic way
of going about it.

Do you have any ideas on how this model could be brought on-line
into an open forum where everyone can participate?

Petteri
--



Portfolio: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/ ]
Pontification: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/ ]

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Jerry Hazard said:

First, this was a bit harder than it sounded at first. each time I
saw something, I automatically go to compose mode. It was very
challenging to restist that, and next I found myself overthinking
the whole thing. Images noted as "least" are the image that still
suffer from some sort of compositional input. "best" images are
the ones that were taken as quickly as the autofocus would lock.
This Particular image, stuck out as my favorite of the bunch,
because I held the camera down at my side, ( i understand this is
still a sort of compositional input - now) stopped, and pressed the
shutter. I like the one set of footprints that do not return, from
a building that looks like you might not want to enter (a view of
the entire building would convey that more...)

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Member said:

Now to the point.
I am a little ( probably a lot ) confused with the first assignment.

At this point I don’t see ( maybe that is my main problem ) how
taking grab shots from the hip is going to help in learning
composition. If we are to shoot anything that catches our eye,
without looking for pictures, and literally shoot from waste level,
then wouldn’t the resulting picture look different than what caught
our eye. I do want to participate in this but am not sure if I
understand the assignment.

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hinius said:

First of all, well done Jerry! I agree with you on two counts;
firstly your favourite shot is also my favourite, and secondly, I
really struggled to suppress the urge to compose.

My homework can be found at:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~emeritus/Lesson1/

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hinius said:

The first five images are my 'best'. I have to admit that I didn't
keep exactly to the spirit of the lesson; a sprained ankle and 40C
heat made a walk outside extremely unappealing. Instead, I carried
my camera around with me as I bummed around the house (as I lazed
around, ate, watched tv and read).

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hinius said:

The exercise did give me a far more interesting perspective of my
house; I had never realised the photographic opportunities when
slumped on a couch. But I too really struggled to suppress the urge
to compose. I left the camera in program mode and used a 50/1.8
prime lens, but I still found myself "thinking" more often than I
liked.

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hinius said:

My favourite image would probably be the first, of the apple core.
I was sitting on the couch reading a book when the apple happened
to catch my eye and I just grabbed the camera. I think in this
case, the overexposure worked to my advantage. The second shot, of
the vines, was also lucky. I was outside at night taking in the
washing when I noticed those vines for the first time in my life.
I'd consider the 'worst' photos the worst because I spent a bit
too much time composing (at least for some of them).

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hinius said:

I also tried to suppress the urge to do too much post-processing.
Other than sharpening, levels and in some cases, channel mixing to
remove the colour, I tried to leave most of the pictures alone.

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hinius said:

Go easy on me; I've only been into photography for six months and
this is the first time I've displayed any of my stuff to an
audience of strangers. As a software developer, I'm used to
creating code, but this iis the first time I've ever done what the
general public would consider 'artistic'!

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Jim Rickards said:

--Here is my assignment. Unlike the previous photographer, I
wasn't faced with hot, 40 degree C temperatures. Actually it was
-33C. Vive la differance! Do I get extra points for hardship? I
didn't thinks so!

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Jim Rickards said:

I compensated by ducking into a warm vehicle between locations on
my "walk".

I set my camera to auto, fixed the zoom to one position and shot
away, racking up 76 pics instead of the 36. I did bring the camera
to my eye each time, rather than "hip shooting" and it was hard not
to "compose". I'm not sure I succeeded in avoiding my regular
habits. (learned from your previous lessons - thank you very much)

Here's the link. Best are B 1 thru 5, Worst are W 1 thru 5. No
processing, or cropping, except resize.

http://www.pbase.com/rickards/lesson_zero

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Petteri Sulonen said:

Jim Rickards said:

--Here is my assignment. Unlike the previous photographer, I
wasn't faced with hot, 40 degree C temperatures. Actually it was
-33C. Vive la differance! Do I get extra points for hardship? I
didn't thinks so!

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Sorry, I don't do that. But you do make me feel better: we've only
got about -5C...

Petteri Sulonen said:

I compensated by ducking into a warm vehicle between locations on
my "walk".

I set my camera to auto, fixed the zoom to one position and shot
away, racking up 76 pics instead of the 36. I did bring the camera
to my eye each time, rather than "hip shooting" and it was hard not
to "compose". I'm not sure I succeeded in avoiding my regular
habits. (learned from your previous lessons - thank you very much)

Here's the link. Best are B 1 thru 5, Worst are W 1 thru 5. No
processing, or cropping, except resize.

http://www.pbase.com/rickards/lesson_zero

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I'd like to hear more about why you picked these particular shots
in the categories you did, and also about how you felt while
shooting them.

My ranking would be rather different from yours: I got a kick out
W1 and B2, while the rest left me, if you pardon the pun, a bit
cold. W1 in particular is somehow strangely evocative in its
simplicity.

I get a feeling that you didn't quite manage to go as nuts as the
exercise would have permitted. Only in W1, B2, and W2 I can see
what you were looking at when you shot the picture. When I'm on a
walk, I tend to look a lot at my toes, the ground in front of me,
and other nearby things, and especially at people. (Although if it
was -33C, I can imagine there wouldn't be too many people
around...) Do you do this? If so, how about shooting them? Or, for
example, the steering wheel on your car, when you're in it trying
to stay warm?

Anyway, you do get an A+ for effort, for braving that kind of cold
for a photo assignment. I know what it's like in -33 -- not the
most stimulating temperature to loosen up and look at things; at
least I can barely see through the layers of scarves I wrap around
my face if it gets anywhere near that cold. Maybe you might want to
shoot more of these inside your house, like hinius did? It'd be a
bit more relaxed environment than fighting the temperature...

Petteri
--



Portfolio: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/ ]
Pontification: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/ ]

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AO said:

Hello Petteri,

Is this class open to non-photographers as well?

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AO said:

Take me for example.

I am not a photographer, nor do I have aspirations to become one as
most of my time is invested in other things, I have no knowledge or
experience in photography, my "equipment" consists of a 2MP
Panasonic DMC-FZ2 and I only got it a couple of weeks ago. I also
wouldn't know an "artistic" photo if it hit me on the head (well,
maybe. If it hit me hard enough.)

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AO said:

On the other hand, I enjoy taking the camera with me and taking
pictures with it, I would like to improve my technique (if I'm
taking the pictures anyway they may as well be good) and I find the
concept of the online photography concepts fun.

So, would you take me as a student?

If so, could you recommend a free photogallery site that I can use
for the assignments?

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AO said:

Oh, one more thing, O'm not sure I can forget all I know about
composition for lesson 0 any more than you can forget all you know
about the mating habits of the Tsetse fly. Is that OK with you?

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AO said:

I'll go out and take some pictures as soon as the battery finishes
recharging. It really didn't like the -10C outside when I was out
with the kids.

Just came back and realized that I forgot to send the message... Doh!

Anyway, I was in luck, just -4C but it was snowing so when I saw
something I wanted to photograph, I had to position myself so that
the snow won't blow onto the lens. So much for spontaneity.

I also cheated and played with the zoom a lot. Please forgive me
this indulgence, what's the point of buying a long zoom camera and
then denying yourself the pleasure of playing with it?

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Petteri Sulonen said:

Can Composition Be Taught?

I first did these composition classes on the Minolta Forum in 2003.
Originally, my idea was simply to shake up the technophilia of the
DPReview forums a little bit; I thought that the community could
benefit from a little reminder of what the cameras are about, in
the end. The lessons were rather more successful than I expected,
and I was asked for a re-run. However, I feel that I've learned a
thing or two about photography since then, and maybe also about
teaching it. Therefore this preamble.

A photographer whom I admire a great deal, Ed Leys (see his work at
California Light and Structure [
http://www.blackmallard.com/cal_ls/ ]) feels very strongly that
composition can't and shouldn't be taught at all. He believes that
"teaching composition" imposes arbitrary and artificial constraints
on creativity, and as a worst case could stifle the flame and
vision of a creative genius, thereby making the world a poorer
place. While I don't entirely agree with him, for reasons I'll
discuss below, I think he makes a valuable point.

The dilemma of "teaching composition" is that there's no way to do
it meaningfully without imposing rules or constraints, and it's all
too easy to get caught up in these rules or constraints, and
mistake them for standards of excellence. Inevitably, the
acquisition of these "rules" will shape the vision and photography
of the person learning them. This can well detract from the
individual quality of the work. The fact remains that a picture
composed "by the book" is simply a picture that has been skilfully
composed "by the book." Whether it's interesting or evocative or
has artistic power or not has nothing to do with it.

However, I'm not as pessimistic as Ed. I happen to be lucky enough
to know a few people with genuine artistic talent -- that inner
fire that manifests itself in a need to create highly individual,
unusual, even visionary work. None of them would be able to express
that vision without having acquired the craft. At some point, all
of them went through the constraints of doing stuff "by the book,"
and as often as not, this served as a useful framework to rebel
against and break. In my experience, genuine artistic vision is
anything but fragile -- on the contrary, it's the kind of fire that
will burn through stone and steel to express itself. Check out a
Picasso retrospective: he was doing beautifully composed and
executed drawings and paintings in the academic style -- when he
was fourteen. And I have a sneaky feeling that he wouldn't have
produced Guernica had he not done those figure studies in art
school.

But can composition be taught?

In a trivial sense, certainly. There's nothing unteachable or
unlearnable about simple compositional techniques like the famous
(or infamous?) rule of thirds, leading lines, geometry,
figure-ground juxtaposition, motion, and so on. However, in my
view, this is missing the point. The function of the "rules" isn't
that if you apply them, your pictures will be better (although, if
the alternative is the usual "instinctive" non-composition, they
usually will be). Instead, their function is to spur you to "think
compositionally" -- to give a rough set of conceptual tools with
which to consciously approach the challenge of composition. A kick
start of sorts to "seeing photographically."

So, I'm going to risk it, and go ahead with these composition
classes, in much the same format as I did last year. However, do
try to keep in mind that the rules and restrictions inherent in the
lessons are there for purely educational purposes: to be used as
crutches as long as you need them or feel they're useful, then
discarded. Simply applying them blindly may or may not make your
pictures look better, but it will not give them any artistic merit.
If you're working on a photo and attempting to apply the "rules" to
it, but get a feeling that that's not quite right, you'd rather
shoot it some other way -- congratulations, you've just graduated:
you're seeing compositionally, and taking an active role in
creating the photo your way instead of some instructor's way.
You're well on your way to finding your personal photographic
vision.

So, if you feel that composition classes are unnecessary or
pernicious, please stop following now. On the other hand, if you
feel like you're shooting your pictures in the dark -- that they're
not quite as good as you'd like, but you don't really know what's
wrong with them, then these lessons might be fun or instructive or
even helpful for you. In any case, remember that photography is
supposed to be fun, so don't take this too seriously and jump in.

[continued]
--



Portfolio: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/ ]
Pontification: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/ ]

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