Attention Rule Breakers

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I know many of you are rule-breakers. Proud rule-breakers! Dedicated rule-breakers. Uber-creative rule-breakers. Breakers of all kinds of rules because that's how you roll! For the most part, I'm not. A rule-breaker that is. But that's okay. I get by being old school because, heck, I'm old plus everyone knows all this rule-breaking stuff was invented by today's hipster-type digital photographers, which I'm not.

But let's say you are. A digital hipster who breaks the rules or even someone who isn't a hipster but still breaks the rules and, one morning, you get up and, over your coffee (or latte, if you're a hipster) you think to yourself, "You know what? I think I might shoot some stuff today that falls well within the guidelines of those rules I usually snub, ignore, or have little use for."  Hey! Stranger things have happened.

But here's the rub: You've become something akin to a dyed-in-the-wool rule-breaker. Rule-breaking is the creative essence of your photography. It's woven into the fabric of your photographic being. Or, perhaps you just aren't too edumacated regarding the rules. Either way, today's you're lucky day!  Famous rule-employing photographer, Steve McCurry -- he's the guy who shot that muy famoso pic of the Afghan girl -- and an organization called, The Cooperative of Photography (whoever they are), have put a little video together to help educate you on the rules of composition and, in one fell swoop, how to use those rules in photos as well. Trust me. It's good stuff!

Now, before you read the article and watch the video let me mention something-- Most all of these rules can still be employed to various extents even if you're not a globe-trotting photographer like Steve McCurry and, like me, you mostly shoot pretty girls, for instance, in front of a seamless background. How cool is that?  Very cool, if you ask me. Which you didn't but I did. (Asked myself, that is.)

Here's a link to the article with the rules of composition video. Enjoy. And learn. Or just enjoy. Your choice.

http://petapixel.com/2015/03/16/9-photo-composition-tips-as-seen-in-photographs-by-steve-mccurry/

In the pretty girl pic at the top, I employed some of the same stuff shown in the video. There's diagonals (I especially love diagonals and arms and legs offer great opportunities to use them) symmetry via that "S" curve, a center dominant eye (even though it's looking down), plus I filled the frame cuz I don't bother with silly questions like, "Is the frame half empty or half full?"  I usually just fill the fu... I mean it.