An interesting conversation about our main subject, But I am pretty sure you need to have an "eye" for a good composition, it feels very artificial when someone trying to do it by guidelines or by copy/pasting others work and for a portraits the character design playing the major role and sure as hell he/she must have some charisma .
It's getting even worse and it feels very frustrated when the objectively by many parameters much better shots getting very low rating and some complete shit can be praised to the sky (talking about Flickr and Nexus gallery) thats means only one thing that not many people can see/feel a really great stuff.
here are some examples for a male portraits some of them are very old or just visit my Flickr page there are tons of examples :
and for composition also mostly a very old stuff and quite simple shots at a first glance. :
--JawZ-- wrote:I would actually call those guidelines to start from rather then saying they are rules to follow.
As charlievoviii said, it's all about personal preference of what to apply and stick too and what to bend on and improve upon from ones own perspective.
Rule of third is the very first or at least one of the first things any photographer or movie maker learns that want to get more involved in the subject
exactly what Jawz said, what you learn is just the basics, you have to explore and make it your own and be original just like anything in life. Two kind of people on earth, followers follow rules, Leader break rules and make new rules. That make us advance. For example the director JJ Abrams break a shit load of cinematography rules and go against what his DP advise him. People said he's just lazy but now other people try to copy his shit.
BTW the rules of third doesn't apply if you have a main subject you want the audiences to focus on.
Gionight wrote:An interesting conversation about our main subject, But I am pretty sure you need to have an "eye" for a good composition, it feels very artificial when someone trying to do it by guidelines or by copy/pasting others work and for a portraits the character design playing the major role and sure as hell he/she must have some charisma .
It's getting even worse and it feels very frustrated when the objectively by many parameters much better shots getting very low rating or some complete shit can be praised to the sky (talking about Flickr and Nexus gallery) thats means only one thing that not many people can see/feel a really great stuff.
In your shots, if we go by the rules than you're breaking couple of it too, but who cares. In your all shots, I can see your what your eyes percepts and how you sees thing from your point of view aka your signature. Gorgeous shots BTW
Last edited by charlievoviii on 21 Jun 2014, 20:22, edited 1 time in total.
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ENBSeries wrote:
Welcome to AMD world! Don't complains to me, you bought it, have a nice time.
Kermles wrote:I keep seeing people say they cannot take good screenshots and think they don't have "the eye", but there are some conventional guidelines in photography/drawing that they usually break in most of their shots. They're pretty simple, I'll share.
Thank you! Just what I needed.
@Gionight
I completely agree with you about the popularity contest over at the Nexus. There are some images that I cannot believe have the amount of votes they do and others that deserve a TON more.
Hey all, thanks for good responses! Just to point out, I called them guidelines and I said it's fine to break them if you know of a reason. But, often, if you do follow them and can't think of some better composition that doesn't use them, they will make a pleasant image. More advanced people or those who may have what's referred to as "the eye" will often ignore them and get a better image though, it is true some people seem to just be naturally good at finding a pleasant shot. I definitely don't think that these should always be followed, I don't think there are any rules in art worth following.
I didn't touch on subject matter because I think that's the thing that is the least worth trying to tell someone what to do. Some people can make the most inconsequential and irrelevant things beautiful. But I agree with everything said, there are generally subjects that work much better most of the time.
I am also not saying I can do better or that anyone was doing bad, I just know of the conventions and wanted to share for people who think they can't find a good composition. I don't even have any screenshots anymore and haven't taken any for a while except for testing code, probably everyone here is better than me. I have a photo gallery in my sig if someone wants to see some of my work using (or breaking) these conventions.
Gionight
I think it's pretty well agreed upon here that you consistently take some of the best screenshots ever made. When I first saw your images, I said "okay, no point in building a preset, the answer to life, the universe and everything has already been found." But the nexus is not full of modders and artists and graphics coders, it is just full of people who play skyrim. It is often more of a popularity contest than anything, as some people have little to draw from besides social influences to judge an image when they have no background in the field. Popularity on the nexus means nothing else; it is just popularity, not a measure of skill or hard work.
Insomnia
Golden ratio is more complex, but I think often better! Thanks for that link also, that's really useful for me! Fibonacci sequence is really something...
Last edited by Kermles on 21 Jun 2014, 23:29, edited 2 times in total.
Kermles wrote:I keep seeing people say they cannot take good screenshots and think they don't have "the eye", but there are some conventional guidelines in photography/drawing that they usually break in most of their shots. They're pretty simple, I'll share.
Thank you! Just what I needed.
@Gionight
I completely agree with you about the popularity contest over at the Nexus. There are some images that I cannot believe have the amount of votes they do and others that deserve a TON more.
cause it's personal reference, just like music, food, video, games, etc. If we all like the same shit, might as well be a robot.
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ENBSeries wrote:
Welcome to AMD world! Don't complains to me, you bought it, have a nice time.
Kermles wrote:Hey all, thanks for good responses! Just to point out, I called them guidelines and I said it's fine to break them if you know of a reason. But, often, if you do follow them and can't think of some better composition that doesn't use them, they will make a pleasant image. More advanced people or those who may have what's referred to as "the eye" will often ignore them and get a better image though, it is true some people seem to just be naturally good at finding a pleasant shot. I definitely don't think that these should always be followed, I don't think there are any rules in art worth following.
I didn't touch on subject matter because I think that's the thing that is the least worth trying to tell someone what to do. Some people can make the most inconsequential and irrelevant things beautiful. But I agree with everything said, there are generally subjects that work much better most of the time.
I am also not saying I can do better or that anyone was doing bad, I just know of the conventions and wanted to share for people who think they can't find a good composition. I don't even have any screenshots anymore and haven't taken any for a while except for testing code, probably everyone here is better than me. I have a photo gallery in my sig if someone wants to see some of my work using (or breaking) these rules.
I don't think your guidelines is what the subject here, it's you saying people can't take good picture and posting guidelines like you're Mr Expert. Now you're saying totally opposite of what you posted in the first place, so you're pretty much contradicting yourself. Art have no rules period.......
I don't think your guidelines is what the subject here, it's you saying people can't take good picture and posting guidelines like you're Mr Expert. Now you're saying totally opposite of what you posted in the first place, so you're pretty much contradicting yourself. Art have no rules period.......
No, read the post again please. What I said was that other people were saying that they couldn't take good pictures, and I posted the conventions because I wanted to help since I don't think people should feel like they can't do something. I am not an expert, I know this, and I am not criticizing anyone, or contradicting myself. As I have said repeatedly, they are guidelines, it can be good to break them, and that is what I meant, is that you should not listen to anyone who says art has rules. Please don't be critical of me for things I have not said.
I know next to nothing about composition and art etc... I know the math of various rules but that is about it.
I also know that conversion to jpg on low light images is almost just a waste... oh well I guess someone will enjoy them anyways!
bf3rocks wrote:
I don't think your guidelines is what the subject here, it's you saying people can't take good picture and posting guidelines like you're Mr Expert. Now you're saying totally opposite of what you posted in the first place, so you're pretty much contradicting yourself. Art have no rules period.......
you failed in reading and comprehend. On a serious note Kermles was just helping people out with a basic guidelines to photography.
Aiyen wrote:I know next to nothing about composition and art etc... I know the math of various rules but that is about it.
I also know that conversion to jpg on low light images is almost just a waste... oh well I guess someone will enjoy them anyways!
I like this shot, nicely done.
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ENBSeries wrote:
Welcome to AMD world! Don't complains to me, you bought it, have a nice time.
I also know that conversion to jpg on low light images is almost just a waste... oh well I guess someone will enjoy them anyways!
I only had linux for a while, and there were no raw converters that supported my camera so I had to use jpeg. I am aware of the quality problems with jpeg conversion and 8 bpc editing, but for a time that was all I could afford. Some people I knew liked them anyway and were supportive of me sharing. Can you really not phrase it more constructively?
