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    Photographic Composition: Because a Technically Perfect Photograph Without Good Composition Is Of No Interest To Anyone
    Photographic Composition: Because a Technically Perfect Photograph Without Good Composition Is Of No Interest To Anyone
    Photographic Composition: Because a Technically Perfect Photograph Without Good Composition Is Of No Interest To Anyone
    Ebook109 pages1 hour

    Photographic Composition: Because a Technically Perfect Photograph Without Good Composition Is Of No Interest To Anyone

    By John Waaser

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    About this ebook

    John Waaser was the perfect person to write this book. As a student, both at Mount Hermon School for Boys and at Northeastern University, where he studied Mechanical Engineering, he was elected Vice-President of the camera club for two years running, four years total, where his principal duties consisted of coming up with the topic for each meeting, and securing the educational material for that topic from top companies such as Eastman Kodak and Ansco. It also fell to him to find someone to proctor the discussion, which about half of the time, he did himself. He later became a freelance photojournalist, and for two decades, he principally photographed motorcycle races, and other motorsports-related activities, including an occasional road test and other features. As a journalist, he showed an ability to take a highly technical subject and break it down so that ordinary people without a technical background could understand it. He took any number of portraits of up-and-coming racers as well. He did a few portfolios for models, and he photographed a few weddings. He spent about a year as assistant editor of a biweekly tabloid newspaper, where he wrote copy, took photos, set advertising, and laid out the pages. He owned Adpho Graphics, a photo studio and advertising agency, in the early 1970s. His personal hobby has long been night-time available light photography outdoors, where he frequently hand-held exposures of up to 30 seconds. He had his own photo lab at one point, where he processed film and prints including both black-and-white, and color negatives, and color transparencies (slides) as well. He constructed a film dryer and an enlarger stand with variable height easel shelf, and published articles and photos of their construction in “Popular Photography” Magazine. For several years, he was listed on the masthead of “Cycle World” Magazine as their Eastern US Contributing Editor. He has owned a computer store, and has owned digital cameras since they had VGA resolution or less. He now owns an Olympus E-PL1 camera with two lenses, and carries several phones and/or tablets at all times. He also taught an adult education second-year photography course at a local community college for two semesters, while one of their regular professors was on a sabbatical.

    John felt that it was more important to teach people how to take GOOD pictures, before teaching them the technical intricacies of photography. He lists several examples of photos he sold that were terrible from a technical standpoint, but were superbly composed, or grabbed in a hurry and very flawed as a result, but caught a moment in time that was important. So this book talks about subject placement, background, foreground, color, separation from the background, and other topics which are important to ensure that the photo simply looks good.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Waaser
    Release dateOct 1, 2017
    ISBN9781370797127
    Photographic Composition: Because a Technically Perfect Photograph Without Good Composition Is Of No Interest To Anyone
    Author

    John Waaser

    John Waaser is the editor in chief, the guy who makes our stuff look so good, and the owner of Crossroads Publishing. (He is open to editing work for other writers, but he is not cheap!) Educated at Mount Hermon School for Boys and Motheaten University, he is the brains around here. He has owned a computer store and several other businesses, and he currently lives in a crappy double-wide mobile home on a little over three acres, down south, where he moved after he got scared driving 18-wheelers and two-wheelers over snow and ice for too many years. But hey, at least it is paid for! He currently drives an Isuzu Hombre pickup truck, and has a Dodge Stratus, which he insists is the best car he ever owned, with a Datsun 1100 Sport Coupe and an MGA Twin Cam Roadster also dear to his heart though no longer in his possession. He has a Ninja 250, he still has a 1974 Ducati 750 Sport that he bought new, with 2200 original miles on it, but life in storage has not been good to that bike. His collection also includes an old Honda CB-77 Super Hawk, and a Yamaha RD350C that has been converted to a cafe racer, with Factory (brand) pipes.That bike will lift the front wheel while you are still heeled over in a turn, if you get on the gas in second gear. Riding on one side of one tire can be exhilarating! He had a professional color photographic lab in his home, where he turned out up to 400 8 x 10 color prints in a single week, back in the day. He currently has a pretty good collection of old film cameras (including a black Nikon F, brand new in the box, (but the dealer sold the Photomic finder off of it, and substituted a Pentaprism finder instead), but uses his HTC desire 816 and his Windows phone and his 4G LTE Galaxy Tab S 8.4" tablet along with an Olympus E-PL1 camera with two lenses. His computers include an H-P Elite Book 2560P which came from Joy systems as a refurb, and he has a Dual-Xeon Server. He is currently getting together a bank of images for stock photo sales. He has Siamese cats, the male named King, and the female named Anna. He used to have a Shep/Black Lab cross named Blackie, whom he loved a lot, back in the day, and would consider another lab or lab mix if one came along. He has several sheds full of memorabilia, though most of his old negatives are all gone, along with the collection he once had of all of his published work including as Assistant Editor of Cycle New East, and Eastern US Contributing Editor of "Cycle World" Magazine when it was owned by a division of CBS, Inc. He is working on getting some solar energy going, and currently uses a generator for most of his electricity.He has close to 50 blueberry plants and some raised beds for veggies. He gets his green thumb from his Uncle Gordon, who was the President of the American Dahlia Society back in 1940. He is working on the first part of a series of books to comprise a photography course, and will do some books over time on gardening, alternative energy, and other how-to subjects.

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      Book preview

      Photographic Composition - John Waaser

      Crossroads Publishing of Florida

      P. O. Box 222

      Worthington Springs, FL 32697

      www.cpubfl.com

      All rights reserved

      This document is geared toward providing exact and reliable information regarding the topic and issue covered. The publication is sold with the idea that the publisher is not required to render legal, accounting, officially permitted, or otherwise qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the profession should be ordered.

      - From a Declaration of Principles which was accepted and approved equally by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

      In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

      The information provided herein is consistent, in that any liability, in terms of inattention or otherwise, by any usage or abuse of any policies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utter responsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held against the publisher or author for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly or indirectly Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

      The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance.

      The trademarks that are used are without any consent, and the publication of the trademark is without permission or backing by the trademark owner. All trademarks and brands within this book are for clarifying purposes only and are the owned by the owners themselves, not affiliated with this document.

      Introduction:

      John Waaser was the perfect person to write this book. As a student, both at Mount Hermon School for Boys and at Northeastern University, where he studied Mechanical Engineering, he was elected Vice-President of the camera club for two years running, four years total, where his principal duties consisted of coming up with the topic for each meeting, and securing the educational material for that topic from top companies such as Eastman Kodak and Ansco. It also fell to him to find someone to proctor the discussion, which about half of the time, he did himself. He later became a freelance photojournalist, and for two decades, he principally photographed motorcycle races, and other motorsports-related activities, including an occasional road test and other features. As a journalist, he showed an ability to take a highly technical subject and break it down so that ordinary people without a technical background could understand it. He took any number of portraits of up-and-coming racers as well. He did a few portfolios for models, and he photographed a few weddings. He spent about a year as assistant editor of a biweekly tabloid newspaper, where he wrote copy, took photos, set advertising, and laid out the pages. He owned Adpho Graphics, a photo studio and advertising agency, in the early 1970s. His personal hobby has long been night-time available light photography outdoors, where he frequently hand-held exposures of up to 30 seconds. He had his own photo lab at one point, where he processed film and prints including both black-and-white, and color negatives, and color transparencies (slides) as well. He constructed a film dryer and an enlarger stand with variable height easel shelf, and published articles and photos of their construction in Popular Photography Magazine. For several years, he was listed on the masthead of Cycle World Magazine as their Eastern US Contributing Editor. He has owned a computer store, and has owned digital cameras since they had VGA resolution or less. He now owns an Olympus E-PL1 camera with two lenses, and carries several phones and/or tablets at all times. He also taught an adult education second-year photography course at a local community college for two semesters, while one of their regular professors was on a sabbatical.

      John remembers the time he met the playwright Terrence McNally. Terrence had just produced his first play, then, at the Yale School of Drama. He had a crippled dog named Charlie, who he adored. John took a portrait of Charlie that Mr McNally said captured Charlie’s essence better than any photo he had seen. John sent him several prints of that photograph, one of which was a large (16 x 20 or 20 x 24-inch) print that was Sepia Toned. Sepia toning was a process for black and white photographs that converted the silver in the image, to a compound that was much less sensitive to light. Several years later, one of the photography magazines stated that Terrence had become an avid amateur photographer. John has often wondered if his photograph of Charlie drew Mr McNally into photography as an avocation. And since the photo is probably still in good condition, John frequently thinks about whether it still graces a place of honor in his home. And he would like to think that you might become an avid photographer after reading this book.

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1: General Discussion

      Chapter 2: What is the relative size of the subject?

      Chapter 3: Location for the shoot

      Chapter 4: Subject location within the photo

      Chapter 5: Lighting

      Chapter 6: Background

      Chapter 7: Foreground

      Chapter 8: Viewpoint

      Chapter 9: Color

      Chapter 10: Special Considerations for Portraits

      Chapter 11: Fireworks!

      Chapter 12: The Eclipse

      Conclusion

      Bonus Reading HOW TO BUY A CAR

      Bonus Reading SOLAR ENERGY

      Copyright information

      Introduction

      Other Books from Crossroads Publishing of Florida

      Chapter 1: General Discussion

      I felt it important to discuss composition before even telling you how to operate your camera. For one thing, the owner’s manual for the camera has more specific information in that regard, and you should consult that and practice using the camera until you are quite used to the functions of that particular camera. But the biggest reason why I thought composition was the most important

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