Notes from Day Course - on Composition

To consider to have in your picture to make it pop:
Lines
- These direct the viewer's eyes (think the long desert road picture)

Shape
- Our eyes are naturally drawn to triangle and diamond shapes

Form
- 3D effects

Color
- Intensity and making the color jump out

Texture
- Touchable illusions like feather, stone, gritty brick, fur

Value
- Shading used to emphasize a 3D effect

Space
- Take advantage of the positive and negative area that is used between the object and the image (think like leaving picture open where direction of viewer is looking towards)

Other things to keep in mind when composing:- Rules of thirds and power points
- Framing

Panoramas

- Overlap the pictures you take (ie. line up your next shots to start a little bit before your previous picture ended)
- Try to take it so the overlap portion of picture doesn't differ
- For scenery pictures, start the first picture a little above (or below) what you want to take, and then go horizontal, then up (or down), then horizontal sideways again. This way, it minimizes the potential clipping out of the part that you want when you stitch it in post processing

Links

Kodak:
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=39/6370&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=32113

'Impressionalistic' Shots

- Exposure time at 3 or 4 steps than normal exposure
- Take a photo, then as shutter is closing, quickly change the zoom on the lens

Shooting the Moon

Shooting the Moon
- ~1/250 second exposure at f4.5, or f5.6 (and adjust accordingly)
- Use a tripod

...For a moon 'trail', use 1 to 2 second exposure, pause slightly after shutter opens, then move across the camera sideways all the way so the moon is no longer in view.

Shooting the Stars
a. For star trails
- ~7 to 8 minutes at f/11
- Use a tripod and remote control

b. For star points
- ~2 minutes at f/4
- Use a tripod and remote control