Scott Kelby's Crush the Composition

[Realist]

So I decided to type the word "photography" into youtube today, and this video looked interesting. I sat down for an hour to watch it, and it was a very inspiring and reassuring video. It doesn't teach you how to use a camera and doesn't teach you just the rules of photography, but the process that photography is. I have to say it's nice to know that professional photographers take lots of bad shots before they get a good one. I know I go through a process of trial and error every time I shoot just as he's describing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpHMuK7Htic

[Iguanasan]

Thanks for the tip. I'll load it onto my iPod for the bus ride to work tomorrow morning.

[jude01]

I love Scott Kelby, his books are great. He has such a funny sense of humor and I have learned a lot from him. I'll watch this tomorro.

[missyinmuskoka]

Someone from Scott Kelby's team is doing a one day photoshop crash course in Toronto on Wednesday if anyone lives in Toronto and is interested. here is the link
Toronto, ON | KelbyTraining.com

[JAS_Photo]

Y'all know how I feel about Scott Kelby already.

[theantiquetiger]

Just finished watching it, thanks it was great and informative!!!

[Iguanasan]

I've got 27 minutes left.... great information but I'm hoping he ties it all together in the last half hour.

[Realist]

Glad everyone liked it, I was just glad because it was a refreshing change from all the other how-to videos.

[Iguanasan]

I finished it on the way home. I liked the first bit but I didn't like the rest. He starts out saying that we haven't done enough for composition over the years. With sarcasm he says leading lines, rule of thirds and shapes/patterns and, bang, your done. Congrats, you have everything you need to know about composition.

Then he starts to go on about how you have to work the scene but he never really provides any deeper insight into composition. I agree that you have to work a scene. That information was very pertinent. But he didn't really talk about the composition of those shots.. what made them better. It all came down to what he liked. He'd scan through a bunch of images and say... "No. No. No. No way. No. And that's the one you finish in Photoshop." Why was that the one you finish in Photoshop? That's what I wanted to hear him talk about for the last half hour. What makes the last one in the set better than the others? In a couple of cases he alluded to distracting elements but like the picket fence in the lighthouse shot the distracting elements were very freakin' obvious and that's not always the case. I just felt like he missed an opportunity to take composition to the next level.

Maybe he doesn't really know himself.

[Realist]

Maybe he doesn't really know himself.

Well I'm not sure anyone really knows the secret to why something is better than something else. You can't put a formula like rules of composition and automatically get a good shot. Art is not a science, and I think that art is something people will never fully understand.