Comments on: Learn to See Abstractly

By: Solo

Solo — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:35:15 +0000

I am fairly new to photography though I do have a good working understanding of most visual media. Reading this tutorial and other articles in the popular photography press is leaving me a little worried, as there seems to be a lot of talk about ‘creativity’, ‘art(y)’, ‘response’ etc without much in the way of informed or instructional visual communication.

I am sorry guys but shooting without purpose and deciding ‘what it means’ after, is very very easy, notwithstanding that these and other images I see often demonstrate advanced technical ability. But is that enough?

Are photography communities happy to be technicians who need to explain the meaning in their work, if there actually is any? Even something as recognisable as a portrait can be planned to lever known principles relating to composition, presentational codes, even lighting, and yes there are rules and conventions that can be learned and then applied in highly creative ways. Beyond a hunch or a gut feeling.

What if the portrait of a high powered politician or business man needs to show vulnerability, or confidence in the portrait of a fragile octogenarian? How do we tap into the decoding mechanisms of our audience, plan to elicit a calculated response that might be offered without the need for an explanation?

I am not trying to offend here, but I am struggling to find informed approaches to meaning beyond great technical execution. Help me out!

By: Chelsey

Chelsey — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:17:14 +0000

This is one of those things I could definitely work on… I seem to get stuck in a rut of shooting from the same angles or perspectives!

By: Bim

Bim — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:22:26 +0000

Good article. I always take my photos abstractly. Lining up things and looking at the contrast between different buildings and objects.

By: Dory

Dory — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:01:09 +0000

Well, I must be doing something right... I have one from the Arch very similar to the one you have here! I took this 11/07. Great article! I need to be looking for more abstract shot opportunities!

By: photo retouching

photo retouching — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:09:55 +0000

I recommend your tutorials to a lot of beginner photographers as it is really clear and easy to follow. Once they master thier compositions, they never look back.Thanks

By: Dulcie Andres

Dulcie Andres — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:11:39 +0000

This tutorial on abstraction was clear, informative, and interesting. And your photos clearly illustrated your point. Thanks for the information. Well done.

By: Ilan

Ilan — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:05:36 +0000

Too many link on my previous comment apparently, so It’s awaiting moderation. My bad :S I’ll leave only one.

When I started taking photos, the first thing for me was architectural abstracts.
I found an easy technique – My only guideline was to always try and remember that photos are 2D so I pictured my surrounding in the same way.
After learning to “alter” my vision according to desired result, I tried to implement the same rules on different things, like nature for example. It worked :)

Here is New York in semi-abstract – http://www.ilanbresler.com/2008/07/simcity.html

By: Guillaume Lemoine

Guillaume Lemoine — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:54:16 +0000

Thank you for putting this so well into perspective.

For some reason I also appear to have this “into the corner” taste for composition.

I also find that breaking the horizon, shooting into diagonal by trying to have another line that the horizon aligned with a border of the frame (a perspective from the side of a building for instance) gives more dynamism to the result.

Like in this album for instance.

By: Ilan

Ilan — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:40:53 +0000

When I started taking photos, the first thing for me was architectural abstracts.
It was easy for – My only guideline was to always try and remember that photos are 2D so I pictured my surrounding in the same way.
After learning to “alter” my vision according to desired result, I tried to implement the same rules on different things, like nature for example. It worked :)

Here is New York in semi-abstract http://www.ilanbresler.com/2008/07/simcity.html

And here is nature shot – http://www.ilanbresler.com/2009/02/fractures.html

By: Dave Kozlowski

Dave Kozlowski — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:50:59 +0000

I believe that once a new photographer truly learns how to ’see’ his subject as Andrew explains in this post, there is no holding them back. Once you ‘get it’, there is no turning back. After learning how to compose well, it’s difficult not to compose well if that makes any sense.

Andrew, I try to make objects lead off into the corner of the shots also…somehow it just completes the shot, and makes it ‘feel’ right. Great post!

Here is a link to some of my abstract-style images taken recently.