https://www.bennettfilm.com/EssentialTheory

 

 This video focuses on the fundamental compositional principles that go into making a compelling photograph. Instead of technical aspects of photography, I explain more about the art of photography–telling a story through images and creating thought provoking photographs that move others. It consists of 7 chapters, breaking down what can specifically be done in order to create a composition that is concise and powerful. You will see detailed explanations of each principle, personal stories from the field, and many image examples where these concepts are demonstrated through both my successes and failures, so you can know how to implement them into your own photography as well as what you can avoid. You will learn how to better organize both wide and intimate scenes, understand and compose abstract scenes, create visual flow, draw attention and focus to your subjects, know what to include or exclude, pre-visualize images, and influence the viewer's eye to look exactly where you want them to.

Once you are able to see light the way I do, you will realize there is no such thing as bad light, and be able to create scenes all throughout the day–no longer limited by weather conditions and factors that are out of your control. The second installment of this series focuses on the many different qualities of both direct and indirect light that you can encounter in the field, how to anticipate them, and creative and effective ways you can utilize them in order to create compelling images with strong visual flow. It consists of 7 Chapters in order to cover my entire approach to photographing natural light from sun up until sun down. You will gain a clear understanding of the nuances of light, the role that light and shadow play in composition by accentuating certain elements and hiding others, and how to pair subject matter with the kind of lighting that will best complement it in order to create a cohesive scene with a strong sense of subject, depth, balance, visual flow, and mood. I also show several different ways you can photograph ordinary light in order to make it appear more spectacular.