Of rule of thirds and composition...........

Every now and then we've heard the importance of the rule of thirds and their significance in compositing our photos. In bringing out the best in your subject, and making them work.

Simply put, the rule of thirds is placing the subject in question on one of the 4 placements on the imaginary lines in your pic. But, lest we forget that it only covered a third of the photo. So what happens to the other two thirds then?

For me, its about striking a good balance between all of the aspects in the pic that make the composition works. If the FG, BG, didn't work...or even worse, over powering the subject....than to me the picture doesn't work. The other 2/3rd of the pic has to work in tandem with the main subject and vice versa.

Ohhhh btw didn't 1/3 plus 2/3 equals to = 1 ?

Street shooting...a character study.

For me, portraiture is about the character study of the subject in question. Street shoot somehow brings the best in a character.....because there's no pre-planned poses, props or controllable lighting. A good shot brings about the character of our subject in the final output. The 'feel' as some people say.......to show sorrow, misery and hardship in a 2 dimensional art piece needs a bit more patience and understanding of our subject's character. One has to feel their sorrow to transmit that same feeling from the subject onto print.

Of sharing knowledge and art........

There was once this Sifu who instructed 2 of his disciples to each go and seek out a different kung fu style each (one attacking style, the other defensive) so that they can share out and exchange them once they are back. One is a senior disciple, the other a junior. And to motivate them, as part of the task, the Sifu organized a friendly sparring session to pick out the winner among them.

But there’s a catch though……..they can only spar using the skills that the other disciple has taught them.

2 months had past…..and both had past on their knowledge and skills to the other. The day of the test of their new found kung fu skills came by….and they sparred, in front of the other disciples and their Sifu.The match ended with the senior disciple clearly won by a mile…..out witting and out muscling the junior.

Then the Sifu asked the others of their opinion who had won the match……the answer was rather obvious......its the senior disciple.

But the Sifu answered differently…for him, the match was not won by the senior. He actually had lost. The only reason the junior disciple lost instead of the senior is because the senior had not imparted all the knowledge to his colleague but received instead, everything that the junior disciple had learn from the task.

Every one was stunned……later the senior admitted his selfishness and made amends.

This is a real story........

The Sifu is Yip Man.
And the junior disciple is Bruce Lee.

‘Art is the expressing of oneself feelings……honestly and unselfishly’