How about advice on composition?  The shots I take which get the most positive
comments usually are taken from an unusual angle.  One shot which I
particularly like is a stone stairway in bright sunlight.  I had the camera
about 2 ft off the ground and about 10 feet to the side of the stairway.  The
picture exaggerated the worn stone steps, because you could see the wear
patterns in profile.  Also, the bright sunlight played off of all the leading
edges to further highlight them.  The vertical sides were in the shade and
highly textured.  

How about you - any advice/experience to pass on to the conference readers?

6 responses total.

It sdeems you did what I try to do...almost never make your primary subject
the center of the photo.

In theatrical/visual arts (also seen in movies and on TV) you can usually pick
out triangles.  One main subject with two secondary elements which give
greater focus to the main one.

I went out West last November and took a lot of good shots, but when I
reviewed them, all my subjects were absolutely dead centered.  I couldn't
believe it, but I forgot one of my principles!

Well, if you explore the triangle theory you'll soon discover you can stretch
and distort the 'triangle' an infinite number of ways.  You can even creat
smaller elements which are triangles themselves, but together become one point
of a larger compositional triangle.

Dead-centered primary subjects can be strongly effective when supported by
the secondary elements of the composition.  Even with something like a 'head
shot' against a blank background, the shapes of the blank spaces on each side
of the face (and the amount along the top, over the head) become points of
the compositional triangles which can make, or break, the effectiveness of
such a photo.

I plan to make a trip out west again this year, and my emphasis will be on
composition.

try taking random shots.  go down the street or to a park or anywhere.  focus
at a certain distance, then begin shootin with no compositional intentions.
close your eyes even and spin around while you advane film and click off
pictures.  hold the camera out at odd angles with no thought or idea of what
you are taking pictures of.  of course you will have some bad shots, but you
may be suprised to find you get some very interesting pictures as well.  not
a technique to use all the time, but a good experiment to try now and then.

Reasonable technique if you have the money.  Also the "5 frames/second"
feature on many cameras can give you unexpectedly good results in some action
shots, also costly.

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