For this week’s video, which I published a couple days ago on Youtube, I went to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado in an attempt to photograph the ten elements of composition in 24 hours.
It’s the first time I’ve done this sort of video so far, and I had fun with it. If you’ve never seen the Great Sand Dunes before, you’d be surprised at just how big they are. The tallest is a whopping 750 feet tall (230 meters), and it certainly feels like it when you’re climbing up!
I’m still working out the best ratio between videos like this rather than standard tutorials from the studio. What I can say is that we’ll be doing more challenge type videos in the future, because I think they’re a good way to explain and teach concepts without coming across as too dry.
Anyway, if you want to see the videos on time (every Friday afternoon), I highly recommend subscribing to our channel. It looks like a lot of Photography Life readers have done so already, but if you haven’t, now’s the time. I can’t guarantee that I’ll post a separate article on PL’s homepage every time I publish a video, because I don’t want to spam our non-video-watchers every week.
So, without further ado, here’s this week’s video on the ten elements of composition in photography:
I also recommend checking out the article I published on this topic in 2018, in case you missed it.
And let me know below (or on Youtube under the video) if you have any feedback! Same goes if you have a preference for more field-based videos like this, studio tutorials, composition/creativity videos, and so on. The one thing I’m not planning to do is gear reviews, especially “gear war” clickbait, because there’s enough of that already :)
I just subscribed to the YouTube channel. Glad you have one . I love the Photographylife articles I’ve read over the past several years. I have learned so much , thank you . Now I’m sure I’ll enjoy the YouTube channel just as much !
Thank you, Troy! I appreciate the subscription and hope you get a lot out of our videos.
Great video! I’m sure it’s tough to think about composition, take the photos, and talk about it all while the video is rolling. You nailed it.
Matt, sorry I just saw your comment but thanks for saying so! You’re right, it was a juggling act for sure. Most of the sections required multiple takes. And strategically putting photos over the video to cut between two different takes :)
Spencer, another fine piece of instruction. Thanks.
The 11th element is your red Honda Element. Treasure it, for it’s irreplaceable. My ‘07 is still strong nearing 200k.
Yes! Awesome that you noticed. It’s made a couple cameos in my videos so far and probably will make more. Couldn’t wish for a better photography car. And zero mechanical problems in almost 15 years now. (Apart from a squirrel a few years ago that thought some of the wiring was food – not sure that counts!)
Thank you for this excellent teaching video. I took notes and will be out looking to identify and photograph these elements.
Sure thing, Dan, glad you liked it!
Good video ! I went to the Sand Dunes this fall but did not get anything like the shots you got – because I still tend to point and shoot without thinking…I can see with practice it can improve..going to Moab this weekend and will think before clicking on these above points. Thanks!
Thank you, Claire! Moab is awesome, I’m sure you’ll get some great shots.
Dear Spencer, thank you for your articles and videos. This one was very enjoyable – guiding us through your day was both entertaining and inspirative. If I could have a wish, I would appreciate if you could stay with the example photos for a wee longer, possibly explaining what and how works in the particular photo. I understand the video cannot be too long as it must have its flow and rhythm, but as I listen to you and then see a quick snap, I feel I am not properly fed by what you are “teaching” at the moment. But I do not want to tell you what and how to do what you are doing :) Maybe there is an inspiration for one of the next videos – what about taking some of your distinctive photos, talking about them and showing their strong (and maybe even week) qualities? Something like constructive criticism of real work. Please do not take this as a negative comment, I really like your posts and work!
Thank you, Richard, and I appreciate the feedback! I agree, the photos aren’t up for a long enough period of time here. I’ll make sure to fix that next time around.
I’ll also try to brainstorm ideas for a “self constructive criticism” video. Been wanting to do something like that for a while. I’m still not sure what format or title would work best to interest viewers, but I will make that video eventually.
Great video, thanks a lot Spencer! Please keep announcing them here because I am not a regular Youtube user (too old for that fancy stuff ;-)).
Greez from Germany, Andy
Thank you, Andy! I’d rather not send out essentially the same article every Friday, but in the meantime I’ll keep doing what I have been doing. Still, whatever solution we decide on will still allow you to hear about the videos. That might mean an email notification, a sidebar widget for each week’s video, or perhaps an update every two weeks instead of each one.
[sorry keyboard gremlins hit Post too early] … to the horizon. The challenges are to compose key elements into arresting compositions. The late Galen Rowell quipped along the lines of ‘Leading and Pleasing the Eye by balancing Optical Phenomena – Principle of Visual Harmonics’
Absolutely, Dr Cotterill. Happy you liked the video!
Scale is an important element of composition in its own right. To some degree, the scale of an object determines whether it counts as a point, a shape within the composition, or a structure for the composition. But that only tells part of the story, and if I had to add an 11th element, scale would be the one.
As for your mention of patterns, I agree – patterns can be a repetition of colors, tones, shapes, lines, points, and so on. They bring together a lot of the other elements.
Thanks for the video and well done surviving the cold! Books and discussions on composition flow on and on, which is important to maintain discussion. Some tend to lump elements into more abstract concepts, perhaps to try and capture themes.
One such treatment I find useful is the quest to capture Scale, and especially a nested scaling of key elements, from Near (ie Close) to Far. Our species’ quest to seek out patterns benefits. So an element close up scaling out into wider / larger patterns. These can be Points, Lines and other shapes, and equally colour. The similar colours in Lichens, for example, scaling from the a rock / patch in the foreground out toward the horizon… Another of subjects can be plant/reptile/bird, small pond, peak…. One rough rule (so up to break!) is to scale by Ln (Nat Logs) from a few feet to a mile or more:, say through
Good stuff, Spencer. I was at Death Valley last week, and certain physical elements such as textures, lines and tones were a treat to shoot.
Regarding balance, I would add that under certain conditions, depending on the intent of the message to be conveyed, left leaning or right leaning image works quite well. Although one might construe as unbalanced images, I shoot one-side leaning pictures now and then, and I like them…
Thanks, Venu! You’re quite right that imbalance can be preferable at times. It gives images that tend to be more dynamic, or even tense, depending on how far imbalanced the shot is. Balanced images are more peaceful, which was my goal for the shot in this video, but I didn’t mean to imply that it’s always the way to go.