Five Ways to Improve Your Eye for Composition

Here is another post to get you seeing and shooting better. There is no doubt the best thing you can do is to practise your photography, that doesn’t mean practising taking great pictures it means learning by repeating techniques so that when you really need them you know them by heart. Imagine you were learning the piano you wouldn’t just sit and play pieces you would practise well do the same with your photography.

This article on Digital Photography School By: Andrew S. Gibson should help you by giving you some specifics to concentrate on

An eye for composition is one of the things that elevates the work of the best photographers above the rest. One of the best ways to learn about composition is focus on applying one idea at a time. You can treat it as an exercise that will help you improve your composition skills, the same way that piano players practice scales. Here are five ideas to get you started.

#1 Use a single lens

Lenses have an enormous influence on the look of a photo, and the best way to learn exactly what effect they have is to spend some time using just one lens. Ideally it would be a prime lens, but if you have a zoom you can use a piece of tape to fix the lens to one focal length (some lenses have a locking switch you can use instead).

If you use a single focal length you will become intimately acquainted with its characteristics.

While it is useful to own multiple lenses, the ability to switch from one to another may mean that you don’t get to know any of them very well. This exercise helps overcome that tendency.

 #2 Work in black and white

My favourite recommendation for learning more about composition is to work in black and white.

Colour is such a powerful element that it dominates most photos. It becomes more difficult to see and appreciate the underlying building blocks of composition liketexture, line, pattern and tonal contrast. Take colour away and all these things become easier to see; once you are aware of them, you can start using them to improve the composition of your photos.

For example, in the black and white photo above, did you notice the shapes in the photo? I’m referring to the white rectangle of the cinema screen (yes, that’s what it is), the shapes of the Chinese letters and the diamond pattern in the stones on the ground. All these things are easier to see in black and white.

Do you want to see the next three ideas…..go here

Brighton Biennial Photography Festival

There are only 3 days to go, here is the website

I went down to Brighton last weekend to see family and have a look around the festival of photography taking place there. Brighton is a very cool, cultural , funky place and the photography festival reflects that. There was a much wider range of photography on show than there was at our own festival of photography here in Oxford last month. That is not a criticism of Photography Oxford but it was a marked difference. In Oxford the exhibitions were all that, solid and somewhat a little boring exhibitions with a capital E whereas in Brighton there was much more fluidity to what was on show and how it was shown. I didn’t see anything there that rivalled the excellent Pentti Sammallahti but I did see much more that was challenging and inspiring.

One gallery I didn’t get in to because it was closed was One Eyed Jacks, I mention this because they have an open submission for entry in an exhibition in January

Brighton-based gallery One Eyed Jacks is offering photographers the chance to compete to have their work shown in a month-long group show in January 2015.

The Open Call, with a top prize of £500, is open to both professional and amateur photographers working across all genres of photography. There is no theme, and all portfolios will be considered.

“Discovering new work and reaching out to new talent is the greatest buzz for a gallerist,” says gallery director Matt Henry. “We’ve decided to launch our first Open Call to unearth new gems and to create a fantastic and eclectic group show.”

Instead of inviting a jury to oversee the submission process, Henry has decided upon a single individual to curate the exhibition. “This Open Call will mark the first of many submission-based shows that allow one person to execute his or her unique vision,” says Henry. “British Journal of Photography’s Gemma Padley will curate our first show.”

The deadline for entries is 01 November 2014. For more information, and to enter, click here.

If you get the chance to visit Brighton over the next three days and have restricted time I would head to the Circus Street Market for Return To Elsewhere,

and The Fourth Floor Collective and in the same building  BPF14 VANTAGE POINT: COLLECTIVES’ HUB

Paddy Summerfield – Mother and Father

Here is a little reminder in case you missed the previous post whilst sunning yourself in some sunny location

Dear Paddy has been an institution in Oxford for decades, he was the very first person to appear at the original Photographers Workshop on 6th June 1982, he shambled through the door and said, ‘hi I’m Paddy can I help’.  He has been a great source of inspiration and support for so many fresh faced new photographers that there is probably a book just on who has been influenced by the great man. Now as part of Photography Oxford he is showing his touching and long term body of work Mother and Father.

During the festival there are showings of Paddy’s exhibition in the garden where the images were created from 6pm each evening 337 Banbury Road

This first public showing of Paddy Summerfield’s Mother And Father is part of the new PHOTOGRAPHYOXFORD 2014 Biennale, and also marks the publication of his book (Dewi Lewis Publishing). The images will be installed in the actual garden where most of the photographs were taken. The exhibition and  book document the final decade of a 60 year marriage, that began in the summer of 1939 as war approached, and ended under the shadows of another struggle: the trials of old age and his mother’s loss of memory. Summerfield reflects through the lens of his own vision the bond between his mother and father, which even dementia could not break.

As Gerry Badger writes: “Nothing much happens in these pictures, just everyday, commonplace, important things. The Summerfields tend their garden, they walk and sit within its protective embrace, they embrace each other.”....READ MORE HERE

©Paddy Summerfield

 

 

©Paddy Summerfield

Location: PhotographyOxford 2014

Venue 22: 337 Banbury Road OX2 7PL

Opening Hours: 6.30-8.30pm daily

Paddy Summerfield

Mother And Father

14.09.14 – 05.10.14

PhotographyOxford 2014 / Oxford / England

Paddy Summerfield – Mother and Father

Dear Paddy has been an institution in Oxford for decades, he was the very first person to appear at the original Photographers Workshop on 6th June 1982, he shambled through the door and said, ‘hi I’m Paddy can I help’.  He has been a great source of inspiration and support for so many fresh faced new photographers that there is probably a book just on who has been influenced by the great man. Now as part of Photography Oxford he is showing his touching and long term body of work Mother and Father.

This first public showing of Paddy Summerfield’s Mother And Father is part of the new PHOTOGRAPHYOXFORD 2014 Biennale, and also marks the publication of his book (Dewi Lewis Publishing). The images will be installed in the actual garden where most of the photographs were taken. The exhibition and  book document the final decade of a 60 year marriage, that began in the summer of 1939 as war approached, and ended under the shadows of another struggle: the trials of old age and his mother’s loss of memory. Summerfield reflects through the lens of his own vision the bond between his mother and father, which even dementia could not break.

As Gerry Badger writes: “Nothing much happens in these pictures, just everyday, commonplace, important things. The Summerfields tend their garden, they walk and sit within its protective embrace, they embrace each other.”....READ MORE HERE

©Paddy Summerfield

 

 

©Paddy Summerfield

Location: PhotographyOxford 2014

Venue 22: 337 Banbury Road OX2 7PL

Opening Hours: 6.30-8.30pm daily

Paddy Summerfield

Mother And Father

14.09.14 – 05.10.14

PhotographyOxford 2014 / Oxford / England

Photography Oxford Festival

You may already be aware of the planned festival of photography to be held biennially in Oxford, this year is the inaugural year so expect the next in 2016. Here is what they say about their plans

Photography Oxford was established in the Spring of 2013 to deliver biennial festivals of international photography in Oxford. Its founder and director is the photojournalist Robin Laurance . The first festival takes place over three weeks in the autumn of 2014.
The festivals, exhibitions of the work of leading photographers complemented by talks, panel discussions, films and workshops, will increase the opportunity for regional audiences to engage with world class photography. Importantly, it is the intention of the Photography Oxford team that Oxford becomes the place not only to celebrate photography but also where the many issues surrounding photography at the beginning of this 21st century are discussed and debated.

Welcome and thank you for coming to the web site of
PHOTOGRAPHY OXFORD

If you enjoy taking photographs and enjoy looking at photographs, and if you have ever stopped to consider how photography informs our daily lives and influences the way we see the world, then you have come to the right place. In 2014 Oxford will be a world class city for photography when PHOTOGRAPHY OXFORD launches the first major new photography festival in the UK for many years.
The 2014 event, which will run for three weeks from September 14th to October 5th, will be the first of a series of biennial festivals. Our festivals will bring together the best photography from around the world, featuring all the photographic genres from fine art to the edgy realism of photojournalism. Engage with the festivals and you will be entertained, informed and amazed.

The free exhibitions will be complemented by talks, debates, workshops and films. And for those who want to pit their skills against the professionals there will be an opportunity to do just that through a project open to all-comers.

There is a range of exhibitions, talks, films and other activities, you can find details at their website or follow them on Facebook