Composition seems to be one of the most difficult things to teach in the world of photography. There are about 10x more books on lighting than there are about composition, and most of the books on composition seem content with just re-explaining the rule of thirds or CCOI.
Anyway, I thought some of you folks might be interested to see what I consider to be the best book on basic composition out there... and the added bonus is that its CHEAP!
Molly Bang created Picture This: How Pictures Work as a learning tool to help teach art to children, but soon found that it was useful for artists of all ages and backgrounds because it distills composition into its most basic building blocks. A large portion of the book is devoted to telling the story of little red riding hood using construction paper cutouts, and how manipulations of size, color, and shape alter how we (the viewers) feel about each image.
This book was assigned reading in one of my high-school art classes, and I rediscovered it recently. You'll breeze through the book, but its worth coming back to as it does such a wonderful job of graphically illustrating how to impart feelings to your images with just the basics of composition.
No reason for this post, other than I've seen a bunch of people asking for help learning composition... this is the best inexpensive resource of which I'm aware.
deepbluejh wrote:
Great post. Got any suggestions for a book on posing?
That's what I really want. Strobist et Al has done wonders for my lighting but there seems to be a dearth of information about how to create interesting modern poses.
hey i have that book. it was one of the first books i read when i was getting into photography. it very simple reading since it was written for kids. it did teach me a lot cuz i was a n00b (still am )
Evan thanks for linking me to this-- I'm a children's librarian by day, and I know we have this book. I'll take a peek tomorrow. Very cool connection-- I bet I'll understand the paper cutout reference after I read it.
)