[Pavel]

Many of you are experts on composition, but you may still not be aware of all the rules and it is not fun breaking them, if you do not know them. Here is a nice summary of them. http://www.photozone.de/Technique Matthew, how about having a competition on how many rules we can break, using this list? You could select and anounce the winner, who would be awarded the priviledge to post a photo in the busy critique section of this site. Pavel

[enviroguy]

Hi, Pavel! I had a brief look at Photozone. It appears to be an interesting site with plenty of useful information about many things photographic (including a bit on composition). Another useful resource. Regarding rule breaking, I am reading a wonderful book by Freeman Patterson. He advocates "thinking sideways"; creativity follows. Thanks.....Dennis

[Pavel]

I know the site is great for equipment freeks (only lens freeks actualy - where do you think I get my ideas about lenses) I hope to borrow the book from you enviroguy. Pavel

[enviroguy]

The book I was refering to is "Photography and the Art of Seeing" A visual perception for film and digital photpgraphy, by Freeman Patterson, published by Key Porter Books. The author doesn'rt talk much about cameras. There are thousands of books available about the technical aspects of using cameras. Most cameras nowadays are capable of producing wonderful pictures. It's the human behind the lens that determines, for the most part, the real quality of the image. This book is about expanding your imagination and ways of improving your visualation and thus your art of photography. I find it is a very inspiring book by a most accomplished photographer whose work and writing I have been following for some time. He is often published in Photo Life, arguably one of the best monthly photography magazines anywhere.

Regards.....Dennis

[matthew]

Carlyse, pretty much any book by Freeman Paterson will contain lots of useful ideas like the one Dennis mentions. "Photography and the Art of Seeing", "Photography for the Joy of it", and "Photographing the World Around You" are typical titles. (I may not be word-for-word correct on all of them, but those are about right.) They don't really talk about how to use a camera in the technical sense, so if you're looking for information on choosing settings I'd suggest 'understanding exposure' by Bryan Peterson, or a more general information can be found in the National Geographic Ultimate Field Guide to Photography. Freeman Patterson's books are about creativity and play, as well as about understanding compositional concepts like balance, rhythm, and so on - something that technical manuals don't really cover. You can find a list of his publications on hit web site: http://www.freemanpatterson.com/books.htm (conflict of interest alert: not only is he a fellow Canadian, he's also the past president and a lifetime member of my camera club.)

[Zig]

St Thomas Aquinas is a good starting-point for aesthetic theory. A shortish version could be summarised by reading chapter 3 of James Joyce's A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man. Giotto, Caravaggio, et al.
Old paintings, honestly!

[shuttertalk]

Hey good resource Pavel... I was thinking that you could almost do a complete study/assignment on each of the principles (hint hint assignmin )...

By the way, the "Golden Mean" was new to me - haven't heard that one before.