Tips on "seeing" the composition.

[jsinon]

Since I'm mostly into nature/wildlife/landscapes I thought I would post this here(mods feel free to relocate if you see fit).

Anyway, this past weekend I was in the White Mtns. of New Hampshire shooting lupines, and frankly was overwhelmed more often than not. I was finding it hard to "see" the composition when presented with a large field of these flowers. I wanted to take "photographs" not just "snapshots." Now sometimes it just jumped right out at me and shouted, "this is the photograph" quite often it was more of a "holy cow, what do I shoot" I spent a lot of time just standing there spinning in circles looking for "the shot"

Can you point me towards any books or online resources, or give tips, to help me see more creatively. I would really like more of my keepers to be from pre-visualizing the image than sheer dumb luck:confused:

Thanks.

[WaltA]

As far as books go, I liked "Photography - the art of composition" by Bert Krages.

He talks alot about forms, lines, shapes etc that help you make creative images out of everyday scenes.

Also, "the photographers eye" by Michael Freeman.

The best exercise I've found is just going out there and taking pictures. Then when you get them on your PC, critique them as to what you don't like about them. Then go back and take them again and see if you can make them better.

Hope that helps.

[Mike]

Some online resources:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm
http://www.ephotozine.com/learn/techniques