Composition and Robert Capa

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Eye-level

Banned
If are like me you have probably studied various magazines and books dealing with composition and it seems like the rule of thirds sort of dominates the business if you will. Well here is a very interesting link to a story about Robert Capa and how he composed along the diagonal. It is a fascinating read and looks like a good composition tool to put in the bag. Enjoy!

Robert Capa | Adam Marelli Photo
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
Nice link Jeff, thanks for sharing. I'm getting a bit sick of the whole rule of thirds. I'm trying now to compose more for impact, if it ends up in thirds, it's by accident.
 
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DW_

Senior Member
Nice link, thanks! Composition is a pet subject of mine. My favorite photo-comp author is Michael Freeman. His books should be in everyone's library - they're thorough and complete and extremely useful. I especially like his comments on color theory. Similar to music theory, concordant and discordant notes have their equal in the world of color. Scientific but not really science but nevertheless extremely interesting.
 
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Eye-level

Banned
I share the same exact sentiments Rick...I'm going to try and explore some of this diagonal business...when you think about it that recent train shot of your's with the plane in the sky and the cloud is sort of composed on the diagonal...

The B&W information in the above link deserves a very close inspection as it is very enlightening...
 
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LensWork

Senior Member
Fist, I did not click the link, so this might be in the article, but wasn't it Capa that said "If your pictures aren't good enough, then you are not close enough"? (or something to that effect)
 
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Eye-level

Banned
I think so...he is also the guy who was at Normandy and shot a bunch of blurry photographs and then put the damn camera down and ran like all hell! :)
 
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Carroll

Senior Member
Eye-level said:
If are like me you have probably studied various magazines and books dealing with composition and it seems like the rule of thirds sort of dominates the business if you will. Well here is a very interesting link to a story about Robert Capa and how he composed along the diagonal. It is a fascinating read and looks like a good composition tool to put in the bag. Enjoy!

Robert Capa | Adam Marelli Photo
Click to expand...

I browsed through the article, and bookmarked it to go back and re-read and study. Thank you, Jeff.

It kinda shotguns the rule of thirds, although I can see the application for both, and maybe even just your own natural sense of what looks good. Connecting the 4 corners diagonally does make your imagination light up....

I like the quote: “If your photos are not good enough, you are not close enough.” Robert Capa

Appreciate the tip-
Carroll
 
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Mestre

Senior Member
Michael Freemen has a great book about composition, " the photographer's eye"
It goes far beyond the thirds rule.

As a photojournalist, Capa had that motto, since most of his pics are war related. By being close enough he ended his career in French Indochina.

If you like Capa's style, read about Don McCullin or, for actual war photographers, "the bang bang club". One of the members is from my country.
 
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Eye-level

Banned
Freemen has already been mentioned in this thread..must be good

I'll check out McCullin...know all about the bang bang club...is it Silva that hails from your country? Sad deal what happened to him recently but at least he survived...a few of his friends didn't have it that way...those boys went to hell with Nikons strapped on...
 
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Mestre

Senior Member
Yes, Silva. He a tough guy, Portuguese tv follows him very close after the mine incident but he's already shooting his Nikon on sports events, although he wants to return to the field.

McCullin is the closest to Capa I ever read about. In the last years he's been shooting landscape and portrait to "calm his soul". I'm now reading his self bio "Unreasonable behavior". He is the guy with the story that his camera saved his life in Camboja, as it deflected a AK-47 as he was running for cover. He only noticed it when he arrived safely to friendly lines.
 
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Carroll

Senior Member
Mestre said:
Yes, Silva. He a tough guy, Portuguese tv follows him very close after the mine incident but he's already shooting his Nikon on sports events, although he wants to return to the field.

McCullin is the closest to Capa I ever read about. In the last years he's been shooting landscape and portrait to "calm his soul". I'm now reading his self bio "Unreasonable behavior". He is the guy with the story that his camera saved his life in Camboja, as it deflected a AK-47 as he was running for cover. He only noticed it when he arrived safely to friendly lines.
Click to expand...

Link to photo of a REAL TOUGH camera (al least claimed to be McCullin's camera)

http://www.fine-grains.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/bullet-hit-Nikon-F.jpg

Good thing he didn't have a 5100 then...can't imagine it would deflect a 22 caliber small bore.

Carroll
 
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westmill

Banned
Yes ! Im a bit of a McCullin fan too ! I love Cappas work though.
My Idle though, is Bob Carlos Clarke, who saddly commited suicide a few years ago. ( Muppet )
Nice idea for a thread Jeff :D
 
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