I don't know about that. I'm convinced that some folks start photography with an innate sense of composition. Whether they were born with it or developed it via some other conduit which they have long forgotten, I don't know. From your posts, I suspect you are one of these blessed people. The rest of us mortals, however, need help. Perhaps it would be more palatable if we called them starting suggestions instead of rules?
Since I am not a great musician, nor am I a golfer or a poet, and since such examples are given, I feel free to use as an example something I am a master at, high power shooting. There are rules: proper stance or position, proper orientation, proper clothing, proper gun handling and placement, proper use of the sling, sight picture, breathing - even timing for heartbeat, trigger control, considerations for (doping) the wind and for the best, mind control (some call it chi). I was worse than mediocre until I started using the tools. Each one can produce a serious increase in score. I am no longer conscious of using most of the rules (some of which I've had to modify - for me). After years of practice, they've become pretty much a second nature. Damn good thing to. If I had to bring all of them to mind with every shot, I'd probably never finish in time and for sure I'd slack off on one while I concentrated on another. Frankly, it's like learning to drive a manual shift car. At first you consciously try to apply the rules correctly (push in clutch, pull out of gear to neutral, place in next gear, don't bang it, let the synchronizers work, let up the clutch until it catches, give some gas - not too much, not too little, don't let it slip it to much or the clutch will wear unnecessarily, thank god I got to second gear! Now for third! Well I don't think about any of that any more. I'm still applying the rules, but unconsciously and, of course, much more smoothly. Sometimes I have to deviate. Sometimes there's no time to wait for the synchronizers. The point is that you're right. Great golfers no longer think about the angle of their shin-bone or whatever, they just do it. Nevertheless you can bet your sweet ass that Tiger Woods learned the rules somewhere along the line, modified them to suit himself and made them second nature. Regards, Bob.... -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!" - Benjamin Franklin From: "Mike Johnston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > That's not to say you can't and should not break the rules. The > > rules are a starting point and that's all. But, like I said earlier, you need > > to know the rules before you break them with any intelligience. The best > > pictures are the ones that break the rules because they add tension to the > > image. > > THERE...ARE...NO...RULES. Full stop. > > > > But, don't kid yourself, those photographers who create these > > magnificent rule-breaking images on a regular basis are quite aware that > > they are breaking the rules. > > Oh, pish-posh and balderdash. Great photographers no more think about "rules > of composition" than great composers think about their childhood > finger-exercises or great golfers think about the angle of their shin-bone. > How many great poets do you think can diagram a sentence? > > If anyone in my hearing right now is troubling their brains about some > species of nattering nonsense they read in some dreadful little > all-about-photography book somewhere, please take my advice: FORGET ALL > ABOUT IT. You can't reduce pictures meaningfully to "rules of thumb," either > before or after the fact.
