Photography to me is quite a strange subject to try and analyse, more often than not you get images that seem to break all the rules but still somehow work. I honestly have learned more out of my flukes than intentional compositional study.

@cfrost87

2 жыл бұрын

I got some photos of a song sparrow as a train was going by in the background. The train car was bright yellow, giving the background some cool color.

@georgeliu3028

2 жыл бұрын

That's cool

It's lovely to hear you talk about Negative Space and explain that empty space is different to neg space. It really frustrates me to hear photographers and judges, not understand this. I've come to photography from an Art background and was taught that negative space defines the subject. It is a common exercise to draw something ie a pair of scissors, by drawing the shapes around them. Great video today. For me, composition is King, everything else is secondary.

@NigelDanson

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks - completely agree

@Adzdiary

2 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/pp1qk5OjaNOomtI.html

@Adzdiary

2 жыл бұрын

🥺🎥👉💰👉📷

wow, excellent. Composition in a nutshell - 23 minutes of video consisting of about 23 years of analysis, experience and development in photography. As impressive as it is helpful. Thank you!

Even the pictures that you use as examples of what to avoid look amazing, the the good ones look stunning. I think what puts them over the edge for me is the lighting. I recently got into photography, and I find it's fairly easy to forget to consider the shapes the light make, and the pictures you showed here are just amazing.

Nigel, this is one of "those"clips to me: so full of useful advice and examples that it warrants watching again, and making notes. And the way you explain things makes so much sense. I immediately understood and related to the points you were making. I think taking time at a location is something everyone *can* do. Even me. 😉So thanks so much for this.

This is one of the best talks about composition I’ve seen, and I’ve watched a lot of them! Thank you so much.

Thanks Nigel, super useful tips! Breaking the cycle with a 'why' question is so important as you say, because talent and flukes can only make so many good photos. This is where I think you need a foundation in theory to be able to evaluate, and you do such a wonderful job presenting theory without making it feel like theory.

Review stage definitely a key component to the learning cycle. In the Fire Service, the process was called structured debrief and same principal as photography i.e. what went well, what didn't and what you would do different the next time. Hope you get your MRI soon Nigel and you can embark on your journey of recovery

I think to have the mindset of "how will that look from different perspectives/angles?" is a good one to carry with you whenever you shoot landscape images. This allows for the creative arrangement of the elements within your shot(s). For those who may struggle with getting good shots, it is often a good idea to actually shoot a bunch of images from these different viewpoints/angles and to then critically analyse them once you get back into your editing software back at home. This gets you into the "Why?" area much quicker and as a matter of course.

Taking enough time is the key in creating a compelling art. This includes taking a lot of photos, analysing them, revisiting the same places over again and again, observing and many more.

Great advice! I should definitely take more time evaluating why some of my images work or don't work. The feeling of being in an incredible landscape but not figuring out a working composition really is a tough one.

You're BEYOND helpful, your photos are so beautiful, absolutely captivating. I am so grateful for your tips, these videos are so encouraging and helpful!

Absolutely amazing video! Nigel you're amazing

Really useful tips. I really like how you emphasised how you can learn better composition. Just because it doesn't come naturally doesn't mean you can't improve and get better. Good life advice, not just for photography!

Thank you, Nigel, for such an enlightening video on composition. I fit into that category of those not naturally gifted when it comes to composition. It was very helpful to see your examples of what worked and did not work in your photography. I do appreciate you sharing those mistakes as well as what you got right. For me, although all the tips you gave were extremely relevant, I had one point that I related to quite a lot. It was at the very end of the video when you talked about taking time, "having an apple." I love travel photography. However, I don't always have the luxury to have an apple and take in the scene that is before my eyes. I am often rushed when doing travel photography. It was very refreshing to hear about the problem you had in Antarctica when you didn't have enough time to explore a scene for very long. Thanks for this great video and the tips you gave us.

One of your best yet in my opinion This video really resonated and deals so well with issues that will be common to so many of us. It takes real discipline to avoid being 'lost' in the experience, slow down, and really think hard about the compositional elements. Great piece of work. 👏

Thank you, Nigel, for another interesting, informative video. I question everything in life, as a normal matter of course. So indeed, the question 'why' in photo compositions should be my priority - why it is working, or why doesn't the same scene work. You are an inspiration with your great information. Hope your knee is less painful, as time goes on. No doubt Pebbles is thinking and hoping the same!

Thank you for this amazing walk through! It explains to me why in a lot of situations, I look at my photo, feel like I captured something important but the picture just does not seem right. I need to think more about light and shape!

I value your opinions on composition very much and learn the most when you hop on your ipad and use the pencil to draw out the elements in the photo and really break it down for us in your videos. Thank you for doing that. I don’t see any other photographers on youtube doing that. Great work, as always.

@NigelDanson

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much

I really love the way you explain your thinking with regards composition and how you find elements that can connect and tell a shared story. It's something I constantly try to do and hearing you explain your thought process was really refreshing. Great video :)

Thank you for the samples and analysis, they help me understand why most of my landscape photos don’t work. I might not remember all of them the next time I take photos, but will make sure to keep 1-2 in mind at a time

Definitely one of my favorite tutorials.Thanks, Nigel. My personal trick is listening to some music that organizes my mind very well while trying to figure out what is the suitable composition.

Great one Nigel. Thanks for all the tips. I’ve got the same shot of the rocks and Mads at Dranganir (of course I was standing next to you!) and converted it in B&W; I like how it emphasizes the shadows and the contrasts in the image.

You really help me with what I think is the hardest part in photography!!! You videos are not only inspiring but soooo informative!!!!

Excellent set of tips, Nigel. Giving yourself enough time to be able to take your time is a big one.

Fantastic video! I love how you are interactive and draw on your photos and really explain it, makes it easier to follow! Thank you!

Very useful info about needing to know WHY your photos are unsuccessful to be able to improve. one thing I would add, if your struggling to figure out the why, trying comparing the bad photo to one of your good ones. Or someone else's good photo. This way you can look at the differences to identify elements that make an image look good or bad.

Thanks Nigel. Great video! Using examples of bad shots vs great shoots really highlights your tips much more than any other videos I've watched on composition. What would be really great if at the end you put up a picture, pause and asked the viewer to find the mistakes or the what makes the photo great. Sorta like a pop quiz to affirm the knowledge gained. 10/10 video!

Really useful content. I get such a lot from this sort of review of what works and how to make your photos better. Thanks!

As an amateur photographer, I've always thought of these aspects of the art as "ineffable." That is, certain things work (and certain things don't) for reasons that I was never able to articulate. This video tears away some of that veil of mystery, and I think it will help me articulate some of those "ineffable" elements.

This is amazing and delaightully clear, this makes me think in all of those things that seems to me noisy in my photos, inspires me to create walls with all of this posibilities and anotations, there are plans for create a photo studio with some folks I know, if that makes somewhere, I definitley will take all this advices to, thank you Nigel!

Thanks as always Nigel for being the consummate teacher. There are many good points here to consider back in front of my photos in Lightroom. Thank you! One point that stood out for me, near the end, is about taking enough time. Ideally, no question, having a lot of time to size up the environment will help. However, it can be a bit of a geographic luxury. Relatively speaking, the sun rises/sets notably more slowly in England than in the more southerly location where I live. The light is changing much more quickly here, and even when I get to a location well before sunrise/sunset, I often don't have a lot of time to size up a given lighting situation because it's morphing quickly. Getting there early definitely helps, but even then I don't often have the time to sit and have that apple.

Thankyou Nigel..great revision and reminder to be intentional when viewing potential landscape scenes.

This is my first Video Ive watched from you now and Im impressed how much I need to think about when I take a photo. Thanks for this🙌🏼

Another cracking video! I do admire how you analyse a photograph and draw out your advice and tips.

Thanks, Nigel for showing a super great video, this video teaches and explains a lot about how to take better landscape photos, very cool video!

Great advice on composition. Thanks Nigel!

Finally! I found a video about how to actually COMPOSE a photo. I've loved my journey of learning about cameras, photography, and how to edit photos, but finally, I come across a video on what to shoot and why. For the longest time, I've been looking for a video explaining these concepts.

As a beginner, I think my major issue is that I think many of your "mistake" examples look great. If I can't tell what's good from what's bad, how can I improve at all?

@STRAlGHTxEDGE

2 жыл бұрын

I'm a last year photography student in college. The experience of it showed me how subjective it all is. Different teachers will always have different opinions or give different feedback, some of their tips are even the opposite of what I saw in this video. Neither of them are wrong. Art changes constantly. What he shows works for him, take this video as inspiration, not as a set of rules and find out what works for you. When analysing your photos write down what you like and what you dislike to keep in mind during your next shoot. Do what you think is right as long as you try to accomplish your goals.

I'm going over countless videos right now, these pointers are amazing, thank you. Not once held a decent camera, can't wait to get practicing!

Thank you! You gave me so much to think about and put it all into context. I now understand the concept of negative space because you explained it so well and showed us the other elements that come into play. I can’t wait to go back out and take photographs exercising the concepts I learned here.

Fantastic video! Very helpful tips for some self-reflection and to improve my compositions. I'll absolutely be putting these into practice.

Great video Nigel. Due to your fantastic advice, I’ve challenged myself to identify strong elements in other photographer’s images and write positive comments. Using your criteria helps provide specific feedback and hopefully this will help others feel appreciated too.

Very generous to share your experience to all of us. Thank you with feelings..🙏

Thanks Simon great advice as usual . Can't wait till next week.

Great video! Thanks a lot for the tips you shared!

Really enjoyed this. Great tips & easy to understand explanations. Thank you

Another awesome video! Thank you!

Top notch Nigel thanks a lot for sharing all this info you rock 🤘

Not to boast, but I feel very lucky to have been able to detect most of these mistakes on my own in my time in photography. Took me a really long time, but it all makes sense, if you sit down and think about it! Negative space, elements agreeing with each other, tying them together... Having someone tell you that this does not look good for this reason, or this looks good for that reason, really makes you realize how right they are, and I finally realize all my ideas really do stand! This really did help me understand that I'm going the right way, and gave me ideas for my future amateur photography. Thank you for this!

This finally made some sense to me how important composition is and what it is thank you very much for your time I really appreciate it

This is my first time watching, experiancing your video. This is wonderful. It works for anyone to see and learn and not only for starters, it is very very good for experienced ones as well. Thank you.

Great presentation, it’s awesome to learn while viewing stunning photos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise with examples of what to do and not do, much appreciated 🙏

I am not a photographer but this video is still really interesting to me. You are very good at taking pictures!

a really neat and contraversial lesson that makes sense when you really think about it: In landscape photography, a photo taken with a wide angle lens is most likely going to be worse than a photo taken with a long / telephoto lens (such as a 70-200mm). The reason is just a matter of odds / difficulty of composition when you're on two feet and are limited by where you can physically be relative to a scene and what objects you can work with within the scene you're inside of. With a wide angle shot, it will almost always flop if you don't have a decently sized, well lit, obvious point of interest, with a supporting foreground / background, without a "clean" frame that doesn't have extra distractions in it, with leading lines that lead to the subject... the list goes on and on. With a telephoto zoom (70-200 lets say), you can be much more precise in what you're choosing as the point of interest, you can compress the image and have more control over its layers, the negative space, etc. So is one lens better than the other for landscape work? technically no, but in practice yes, a wide angle lens is rarely going to be the right choice, because of how incredibly hard it is to position yourself to find the right image at the wide end of the range. Of course I take both when I'm on a hike, but the 70-200 get's used about 98% of the time, and when I finally pull out my wide angle and use it, I almost never love the image afterwards (except once in a while of course)

Very helpful explanation and I think you have developed a natural feel for composing by practice and iteration. There is a big difference between finding reasoning in why a photo works "after" the shot has been captured, and proactively using this knowledge whilst live composing (because one probably does not have the necessary experience, yet). It's good to know the basics, but my advise would be to take as many shots as you can, analyze them afterwards and try to figure out "why" some photos work better than others. You'll gradually start to take less "random" pictures, and you'll get a feel for it naturally. I really enjoyed your video and I also like watching people "explore" their own work from years ago!

Very helpful and thoughtful, Nigel. Thanks!

Thank you for inspiring me and probably a lot of us regular viewers. Great examples

I would like to thank you. your videos have helped tremendously. have slowed down and started to observe more and I am now noticing small things in my photos that I found myself going back to the location to correct the composition by repositioning my camera then comparing the photos to pin point my errors. once a gain thanks

Great talk about photos. Not many people critique photos. Thank you so much

Excellent tutorial. Thank you.

Thanks for making this really quick but densely packed informative piece. I just subbed because you didn’t spend half the video telling me about your channel but went right into the crash course. Thanks and will be checking out all your other vids!

Nigel thanks for these excellent videos, they're the best I've found on improving landscape photography and I really appreciate how they go beyond just the basics. I was wondering if you had any advice or videos on shooting in narrow landscapes such as canyons?

Thanks so much for this video Nigel. So helpful, it's almost criminal that we get videos like this for free!

Awesome video, keep up the good work. Thank you!

Killer video Nigel and some goregous images, I really liked that one from Madeira.

I find using grid lines helps me and using the rule of 3rds. It forces me to think about composition whilst on the ground setting the shot and how elements balance out in the frame.

Heaps of great tips! Thanks Nigel

Nigel, thank you so much, this was terrific. I am a landscape painter rather than photographer, but good composition is the same across all media.

What I love from this is how I've realized I've been using negative space Incorrectly as shown, But as of recent after getting tips from some fellow photographers, I've been goinh through images where things are able to breathe, and I've started to see what I'm lining up when I'm shooting. I think by studying my good compositions and making them mental images and going out and practicing to make images that aren't EPIC, but compostionally correct has helped me overall. I still have great takeaways from this, but it definetley confirmed errors I've been making for a long time.

Thank you so much Nigel - killer tips ( much needed by myself !) I will be practising these for years to come.. Kind Regards from Ireland !

Excellent stuff. Thank you 🙏

Great tips & process, thank you

Great video Nigel, very helpful

thank you. a real pleasure to benefit from your advice. You are explaining very clearly those details wich distinguish good photographies from excellent shots!

first vid i have seen from you, really helpfull and interessting, will keep watching you in the future, big thanks!

Great set of tips Nigel.

thanks Nigel, all good information

I think all your pictures are fabulous!

Terrific! You've just taught me a lot in a little time. Thank you. Subscribed. 😉😉

Thanks for this great informative video Nigel. I am off to Sutherland and Caithness next week and these tips will come in very useful in hopefully taking better photos! Most of these tips are my failings in getting good photos. Thanks again.

Hi Nigel, thank you for the video. When you're at a location, sometimes it's hard not to overcome by the 'scene'. From now on I'm taking some apples. So hard to slow down. An apple a day keeps the doctors away! . . . . . and makes for better images. Appreciate all the hard work. Jay Maisel (photojournalist) focuses on three elements in a photograph: LIGHT, COLOR, and GESTURE. Landscape photography . . . Gesture? Enveloping fog, rolling clouds, long exposure (ND) seascapes. Learning to not just look but see.

Thx a lot! Very simple explanation and correct approach to landscape photography! Resp.

You are an excellent communicator. I appreciate the quick "inside stories" behind some of the picture. Also your use of the Ipad and the pen is very effective. Btw, i have seen the black church of Budir 4 out of 5 times on trips to Iceland but with this beautiful perspective at 16:00 .

Thanks a lot for all the info.. Deff a lot of points on struggling with 😊👍

Awesome.. thanks for sharing

Great video. Very helpful!

Great video. Learnt so much in 30 mins. The best

This is a great video with a lot of potential. I love seeing the notes on the tablet-- that is super helpful. It would be fantastic if you could make a more succinct version of this for sharing with my photo students.

Well explained. I learned a lot 💯

Very very helpful guidance. i am an absolute novice hobbyist photographer who has moved away from mobile phone photography, to what i will call proper photography. I am starting from the beginning & the content of Your videos Nigel is very helpful. I have an old Sony NEX 5R mirrorless camera with kit lens & also 200 zoom. The camera is only 16 mega Pixel & I was going to sell it all & look for a more upto date mirrorless, however after watching your recent video I am going to stick with the NEX 5R for a while until my photography has improved. At this stage of my hobby I don't think having more mega pixels & better auto focus etc is going to be noticeable in my photos. Thanks for creating such informative videos

Great tips, excellent video

Very nice video 👍 Thanks for sharing this 😊

So much good advice in such a short time!

Hi Nigel, a great lesson about photography. Thank you :)

Recently watched a video by Chris Perea, and she quoted Ansel Adams - There's nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. Not sure if that's actually something he said, or if it's just attributed to him. Regardless, those words ring true to what you're saying. Taking time to find your best shot is worth it. I think I read that Ansel Adams spent four nights waiting for his best shot for Moonrise Hernandez.

Well made video! experienced ideas

Thank you, that was helpful

always liked your shot at 7.31 , quite graphic with the 3rds rule (square for the grasses) and a the lines. Thumbs up 👍👍

Thanks for this Nigel. Very informative as usual. The rocks at 20:00 are the Rocks at Ribeira da Janela in Madeira. I have almost exactly the same positioning of my shot, even to the point of the waves hitting the rocks at the same time! But I shot it landscape. A portrait view would have been so much more powerful (as yours is).