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I am so excited to share this weeks photo challenge from No Bad Foto with you all! Because the next few lessons are so short, the Photo Ladies decided to move up our lessons to every week instead of every two weeks.  I’m hoping that this will keep me on my toes more, and that I’ll end up using my camera more often instead of waiting until the last minute to get the lessons done.

Chris and I took a quick road trip down to Disney last weekend, and I was excited to use the opportunity to try all the techniques I’ve learned on different scenes in the parks.  Out of two days, I came home with almost 1,200 pictures.  A crazy amount, and only half are useable. But, I was able to test out the techniques I’ve learned though this class and I was really happy with the results.

This week was all about photo composition.  After reading Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition by Bryan Peterson and starting The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos, I got really excited to take my camera out and start using everything I learned.  Those books, combined with all that I’ve learned from No Bad Foto, have been incredibly helpful in the ways that I shoot and set up scenes.

Composition is all about telling a story with your picture.  In order to take a great picture though, you need to know what to look for and how to see beautiful scenes that are all around you.  No Bad Foto gave us three easy steps to get started composing better pictures today.

1. Tell a story.  What is the idea behind your photo?  What is your theme or subject matter?
2. Emphasize your story.  Does your photo convey the message you want it to?
3. Simplify your scene.  Take out all the distracting elements of the scene and focus only on the elements you wish to convey.

If you use the above tips every time you take a photo, chances are you’ll get great shots. Your photos will be more visually appealing as well.

What I really loved about this composition lesson is that it challenged me to think about the message I was sending with my photos and what the best way was to convey that message.  Since I was using my wide angle lens 99% of the time I had to get creative with a few of my shots.  Not be afraid to sit on the ground and look up, get close to a subject, or go wide resulted in some of my favorite pictures that I’ve ever taken at Disney.

I am really loving these lessons!  I feel like I’ve learned so much already, and I’m even more in love with my camera now than I was when I got it!

If you want to see more of my Disney Photography, you can find it here.  And if you’re participating in the photo challenge and like to write about it on your blog, don’t forget to link up your post below!

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What do you think?

What are some of your favorite shots to take?  Wide, close-up, or looking upwards?  I love all three!

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