Of course, you have to be familiar with the rules because they exist for a reason. But you also need to know when to just ignore them, or flat out contradict them.
This shot breaks almost every rule in the book. Composition. Lighting. Exposure. Focus. White balance. But, the emotion and life that pour out of it make it worth laughing at the rules. It’s one of my favorite photos of all time.
For a really good and fun overview of some decent photography rules, be sure to check out the Photography Rules group on Flickr – started by a fellow Calgarian.
I love it! Makes me smile!
Please tell me that’s your photo, D’Arcy. It’s brilliant.
Yup. I took it at Brian Lamb’s house during Northern Voice 2008 🙂
I love it! I have just ordered a Panasonic LX3, which has the option to shoot in 16:9 and when I scrolled down from your epigenetic post- which is how I got here- I thought that this might have been taken with one. But I sense you are more of an SLR person. Some lovely photos.
Thanks! I shoot with an aging Canon XT, and have been cropping all of my photos (well, almost all of them) in 2008 to 16×9 form factor so I can compile my 2008/366 project into a video with proper HD resolution.
Great idea for group. Does everybody can submit rules to Photography Rules group on Flickr?
Yeah. I didn’t start the group, but I believe anyone can join in – just pick the next number in the series, create the image, and post it to the group.