a cannon. Jared Polin, froknowsphoto.com, here with another super secret project video.

This time I want to talk about composition. I will be using a Rebel T3i, I have on here

a 16 to 35/2. 8 but to keep it more realistic to what most people starting out with, I am

only going to shoot it in the range of 18 to 35, because most kit lenses are 18 to 55s

and I am not going to go below F 3. 5, just to keep it more realistic. But when I say

composition I have here Kermit de Frog as my subject and he is an inanimate object.

So we are going to play around here, I don't even know what I am going to do, I haven't

even tried to compose an image here to see what would work best with just basically a

kit lens.

If Canon actually sent me kit lens this time, I would have used it, but they sent me a better

piece of glass, because I asked for it. But it still has to go back, I still have to send

it back soon. What I plan on doing here, is just going through different angles, taking

pictures and showing you what they look like to see how I am changing you the composition,

changing up my angle, seeing what works best. Because the best way to learn your composition

is to actually go out and see it and do it. So that's why Kermit de Frog is here for my

subject and just a little cut out, my mom made this in 1983 and it has been my doorstop

ever since.

She used to do a lot of ceramics and this is one thing she brought home in 1983 when

I was roughly 2 years old. So yeah, let's get to the composition video end of this or

the composition part of this and I will right back to use this Canon T3i, hopefully you

guys pick up some information from this, we will be right back. All right, so we are back

now, T3i in hand and this is about seeing and feeling the image. Sure there is not much

going on here. I just Kermit de Frog sitting over there and I have to find the image. If

you can practice this yourself and find the image with inanimate objects and things like

that you are going to train yourself to get much better when you are in an actual shooting

situation, all this practice of trying to find the right composition is going to lead

you on the right path to getting that composition when you're out there shooting what really,

really matters.

This is a great test. I have to sit here and work through the different, you know it's

not the biggest range of lenses, it doesn't go 18 to 55 like those kit lens, it's going

to go 16 to 35, but like I said, I am only going to shoot from 18 to 35 and at the lowest

aperture of 3. 5 and that's going to have to change as I hit 35 because most cameras,

when you don't have the 2. 8 lenses, are going to do that. But what I am going to do here

is try to find the image. I am just going to move around and search for it and we are

going to pop the images up on screen as I shoot them to see what we are getting. And

then see if it's good composition or bad composition, so you know really sometimes people start

out and they shoot like this. So let's see, that's a 35, full standing up, shooting the

child or whoever down at the low angle and it looks like this. What could you do to make

that better?

First things first, if this is my subject, I'm getting down on my subject's angle because

this is how you want photograph a child or subject on this low angle, boom, let's see

what this looks like, there you go. Now right now, I'm in aperture priority we are not going

to worry too much about exposures right now, because this is all about composition. So

there is, oh I thought I had a bug on me, I don't like bugs, there is the first image,

not every interesting, there's a second image, getting even better and like that angle, do

you see what I did it. I threw them off to the right-hand side, now let's put them right

in the middle, so using this Canon, I hit this button over here, the top right corner,

it lights up the different focusing points. And then I select the middle one and hit okay,

so here he is right in the middle.

So now you can see the picture basically in the middle, look at the difference between

the first one, he is off to the right hand side. And the second one, he is right in the

middle, which composition is stronger, that's up to you. But I like him throwing off to

the side, because that to me is a better image. Now what would a vertical look like, do we

want them right in the middle, like this, do we want to focus and do this? You know,

you are just getting a different feel for what's going on. Could we come here and shoot

an even wider shot or do I want come over to here and be like all right, Kermit, let's

see what we have got, let's work with you.

Oh right there, Kermie, so here we go again. I am picking my focusing point, by hitting

that center button and moving all the way over to the leftmost focusing point, I think

I am still learning how to use this bad boy. And there we go, focus right on his eye from

this corner, all right, there we go. I want to get more of his body in there, so I am

going to go wider. And here we go, now, I threw them off to the left hand side, but

I got his whole body in there and that's looking much better than the shot before. The shot

before is good, but look at the tree right in the background, it's like he has got a

tree coming out of his head. Let me focus, lock in, you see, now you see this tree coming

out of his head. That's not good, how can we -- how can we fix the tree coming out of

the top of his head.

Well, we could move slightly this way and be like, all right, I don't want the tree

coming out of your head. So let's go vertical and now the tree is off to the side focus,

focus, boom. Now we see the difference in where the tree is much better than the tree

coming out of the top of his head. So really what this is coming down to is just seeing

what's going on in the frame, what's going on in the background, what's going on in your,

just in your sidelines. It's all about seeing, it's not just about where your subject is

what your subject is doing. He is not moving, I have to move myself, many times, when I

am shooting models, I don't ask them to move, if they are in a bad place, I will move myself

and the last resort is ask them to move, because I want to -- you know I want to see the image.

I am always looking, I am always looking through the camera, going all right, let's see, what

could be the right angle, because you want to look through the camera, because that's

what your image is going to be and not so much, always just looking not through the

camera, you want to use the camera, to see what your frame is going to be, because then

you are going to see what's going on. So those are just some simple examples of what I am

thinking about when I am looking through the camera and shooting the pictures, was there

a distraction in the background, would he look better at a high angle or a lower angle,

would he be better right in the middle, could he be better to the left or the right, and

these are just basic composition things that are going through my mind, every second when

I am a shooting a picture.

When I am looking through the viewfinder, am I looking right at the subject all the

time, no, I am focusing on the subject, but I am checking the outer border, is there something

protruding through the outer border that doesn't need to be there, is there a distraction.

I don't know, but that's what I am looking for and what I am thinking about. So that's

about it for the basic thing on composition right thing. I hope these images help you

out, I hope it give you a little bit of inside into what I am thinking about, so you can

try to think about that as well. So that is another super secret project video, this time

composition with Mr. Kermit de Frog, Kermit, thank you very much. Jared Polin, froknowsphoto.com.

See ya.