"I bet if you did a survey among non-photographers, showing a picture of -whatever- centered and one obeying the rule of thirds, they would prefer the centered shots."
I know I should get out of macro forums cause they seem to be filled with people who really aren't interested in personal growth as photographers, and I'm close to calling it quits and sticking to just shooting. But I had to respond...
Nope. Centered shots are pretty boring. Even when the subject fills the frame I avoid centering. In the bird photo you linked there's nothing above or below it (it was a centered image of a bird in flight -nope, not even remotely macro), so it only works cause there's nothing in the frame to give it some perspective. But although it works I'd delete it cause there's nothing in the fame to give it a sense of perspective, and overall it looks pretty dull -in short it's boring.
It's at this point that any kind of filter I might have just shuts down...
Even though it's filling the frame I didn't center this preying mantis -it's in the left side of the frame looking toward the right . Why? Because it's a classic portrait composition technique that just works.
For everyone: I swear I'd give real money if the macro community just shot with the rule of thirds in mind. As it stands right now most of you are producing some of the most amazing razor sharp snapshots. Yup, snapshots cause the primary concern is with getting every little pixel as sharp as possible. Lighting, composition, story telling, all of the things that separate a photograph from a snapshot?! Why bother. Can't see the photo cause the pixels are in the way...
Joe public is looking for images that look good edge to edge, something that he can save to his PC (or phone) as wallpaper. Poorly composed, poorly exposed, razor sharp images are are at the end of the day poorly composed and exposed and they are the reason why very few people outside of the macro community take macro seriously. No matter how much time you spend in post stacking an image if the composition is off and the lighting sucks then congratulations you've just spent a lot of time and energy creating an image that no one outside of the focus stacking community will look at twice.
I know that all sounds harsh, and I know that being honest hasn't made me popular with the macro community. But it's the truth as I see it. The vast majority of macro photos absolutely stink. Take a look at any other photographic discipline and you'll see some amazing photos, and being in the top ten means that you're work is most likely being published. Get outside of these forums that seem to be controlled by people obsessed with getting every pixel razor sharp and you'll see some awesome macro photography.
I absolutely hate social media, and yet there are better macro photos on Facebook and Instagram than I've ever seen on any forum. Images that actually inspire me to be better. Either you all learn that there really is no "box", no hard fast rules that you have to follow, and you make a name for yourselves as photographers that happen to shoot macro or you continue to participate in the circle jerk that is the macro forum community where you continue to take the most uninspiring images on the planet and pat each other on the back for doing so. Yes, I know that last sentence isn't gonna go over well. If you really care about your work as a photographer, or how the general public views the small world, then you won't be pissed off. You'll see what I've written as a challenge...
If you only want to cater to the general consensus on most macro forums , or if you only want to go for a nature walk and record what you see, then I get it. But just don't expect anyone outside of that tight little niche to take you seriously...
At 54 sometimes I can't tell my inner voice from my outer voice. No regrets...
1 comment:
You're absolutely right. Most macrophotographers focus on the sharpness of the picture and completely forget about the composition. This is especially obvious to me, since I came to macro photography as a professional painter after 15 years of studying classical painting in the three best academies. As we are talking about the final picture in any case - it doesn't matter if the photograph or the painting canvas - the first thing that catches the eye is the composition. Thought, originality, color, sharpness - seen much later. It's amazing how few macrophotographs think about it at all. I am standing to hand to you, dear colleague!
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