Help With Composition

I'm pretty new to photography - I've been collecting gear, reading info, and taking photos for just over 3 months now.

I understand the basics of exposure (much thanks to Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure"), but I find myself struggling with "seeing" great images. I find that some of my images are at best aesthetically pleasing, but I feel like I fail to capture really great images. I'm sure that this is because the only thing I really know about composition is the rule of thirds.

Can anyone direct me towards any resources (online or offline) that might help teach me some of these principles? I was going to start with Bryan Peterson's "Learning to See Creatively", but it seems like it gets mixed reviews (unlike his nearly universally praised exposure books). Any suggestions are appreciated!

I think this is where almost everybody stuggles...
After you've understood a good deal about the technical side of things, and aquired your gear, you realize that the main limiting factor... is your level of creativity.

Now this is where I like POTN the most. People are more than willing to share their photos and how they were shot. Great place to learn.

The best thing to do is visualize what kind of photos you want in your head, and then attempt to recreate it via your camera. I don't have many photos, but I have a very few that I am especially proud of.

I might start with a search that yielded this http://www.bing.com …study+the+great​+art+works
or maybe this sticky https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=53846

JLateralus wrote in post #10343905
I'm pretty new to photography - I've been collecting gear, reading info, and taking photos for just over 3 months now.

I understand the basics of exposure (much thanks to Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure"), but I find myself struggling with "seeing" great images. I find that some of my images are at best aesthetically pleasing, but I feel like I fail to capture really great images. I'm sure that this is because the only thing I really know about composition is the rule of thirds.

Can anyone direct me towards any resources (online or offline) that might help teach me some of these principles? I was going to start with Bryan Peterson's "Learning to See Creatively", but it seems like it gets mixed reviews (unlike his nearly universally praised exposure books). Any suggestions are appreciated!

I think this is where you have to start stepping outside photography resources and look at design books in general. I'm currently reading Design Basics by David A. Lauer and Stephen Pentak. I'm sure there are better books out there but it's what I had available to me. I've found almost all of the topics covered in the book can be transferred over to photography in one way or another.

For example, Part 1 of the book covers unity, focal point, proportion, balance and rhythm - complete with examples from known art pieces.

Load your image & see how it works in the Composition Adjuster.

Composition Articles library

My current thought on the topic of composition is that less is more. Just the essentials in the shot, nothing unrelated or distracting. There are probably exceptions, but that is what I am trying to work on right now.

I liked The Photographer's Eye. Read a book and then try to apply the information in steps as it's presented. You can just shoot objects around your house. The more you practice the better you'll get.

I just bought "The Photographer's Eye", myself. Great book.

One thing that few beginning photographers understand is perspective and how to control it in images. Controlling perspective can be a very important part of getting good composition in images.

Several of us on the forum put together a very comprehensive thread on the subject of controlling perspective in images. Please read our "sticky" (now found in the General Photography Talk forum) tutorial titled Perspective Control in Images - Focal Length or Distance?.