Photo Composition, and use of angles - Ian Niblack

In my book, Photography: The guide to taking beautiful digital pictures, photographs and compositions, I have learned so much. So, I decided to share with you about what I have learned regarding angles and photo composition.

In Photo composition, you are supposed to imagine (Or Utilize) a 6 section grid overlaying your photo as you're taking and editing photographs. The grid is used to guide where your place your subject within the frame. If you about how to line up the subjects features to where they should be on the grid, then you can keep your photos from looking tacky and unprofessional. But as soon as you properly line up the subject, you photo can look 10x better. Certain parts of the subject should not be cut off by the frame, like the top of their head, or any of their joints. (You can see how i used to this to help make my photo look more professional below)

I also used a low angle. When using angles, you have to consider what parts of the subject you are trying to capture, as well as how you want them to look within the image. In my photo below, I used a low angle to help capture the size of the mountain compared to the small subjects. With the way my subjects are approaching the mountain and looking onward, it really makes this candid shot feel hopeful and brave, as if the subjects are going to "conquer the mountain"

Crosshatching Continued

            In my first crosshatching post, I wasn't completely satisfied with the result, so I decided to do another post using the crosshatching technique. In the first blog, I noticed that I didn't add enough lines and cross over many lines to create a clean gradient. So in this blog I'm going to try to blend the two methods that I've done in my past two blogs. This means that I'm going use dark and light shading, along with the crosshatching technique.

  As you can see in the picture, there wasn't much shading like in my previous blogs, but in this one I just wanted to get used to the technique of crosshatching and I think I have mastered it. I said that I was using both which I did because in the collar, and how it contrasted to the shirt. But you can see in his hair that the lines are crossing, creating a soft blend of gray. Although I said this is crosshatching, I should be more specific because their are many ways. This style specifically is a mix of fine crosshatching, and tick crosshatching (Willenbrink 57). The reason why I chose crosshatching is that it has a good composition. Composition is, "the arrangement of elements in an artwork. A good composition entertains the viewer, while a weak composition may make the viewer feel indifferent toward the artwork" (Willenbrink 64). This is why I want to increase my level of crosshatching.

Bibliography: Willenbrink, Mark, and Mary Willenbrink. Drawing for the Absolute Beginner: A Clear & Easy Guide to Successful Drawing. Cincinnati, OH: North Light, 2006. Print.

Do you think I've mastered crosshatching, if not, what should I improve on?