Photography as an art is one of our most realistic representations of the world that we have, It can capture extraordinary detail in a way that no other medium can. This can be a double edged sword in that we can often get complacent with the realism and forget about the artistic. In the “Developing an Artistic Eye” series of articles we will be discussing artistic properties as they pertain to photography and will develop ideas on how to best use these properties to produce stunning works of art.

We’ll begin the series by discussing the concept of composition.

I believe that the first part about understanding any concept is to define the word or words used to describe that concept. As defined by dictionary.com a composition is:

• the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole.
• the resulting state or product.

This definition shows why we will be starting with composition; because the composition is the image we are creating. We are not taking pictures, we are creating compositions. From the definition we can gather that if we are to create a good composition, or even just a composition by definition, the parts or elements of our photograph must come together to form a whole. If our composition is dis-jointed then is it a composition at all?

So with this understanding we can move into discussion on the techniques for creating compositions. Then in future articles we will go into the elements of design followed by the principles of design; we will then wrap up by coming full circle and seeing how those elements and principles effect our techniques and begin to form the whole in order to produce a good composition.

Alright, no more delays lets jump into the techniques!

The choice of purchasing a new lens shows that you are interested in diving a little deeper into photography. So with so many choices on lenses how do you decide on what would be the best next lens? Well there are a few things we need to think about before we venture into specifics.

Ask yourself these questions:

What do I want to be able to do with my camera?

Find photos that you really appreciate and ask yourself, how did they get that shot? If I were to recreate this shot what would I need, how would I do it? If possible speak with the photographer.

Do I want to be able to shoot things far away?

Do I want to capture a large amount of a scene?

Do I want to shoot things that are really small?

What will the majority of my shooting situations look like? Will it be low light, fast moving subjects, or perhaps studio portraits?

Through the answer to these and similar questions you will find the answer to what lens will make a perfect companion to your photographic expeditions. Lets look at some lenses and see how the different types can relate to the different answers we get from these questions.