31 DAYS of INSPIRATION: Day 24 {Can You Cultivate An Eye for Photography?} (Nihao, Cupcake!)

This is the 24th post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

I think there is a huge misconception out there that some people just have an "eye for photography." Just like the notion that some people are "creative," implying that others are not.

What typically is not acknowledged, however, is that this eye for photography has hours, if not weeks and years of effort and practice behind it.

I've been told on occasion that I have an eye for photography. But the truth is, I have worked very hard for that eye. With hard work, study, practice and actively seeking honest feedback, I have watched myself improve over the years. And the better I get, the harder it is to make leaps in my improvements. This can get discouraging but I inch along in fits and starts anyway.

I have had some wonderful teachers, taking a class at my local community collge in California as well as spending weekends with professional photojournalists in intensive workshops. I've gotten some pretty brutal feedback. But you know what? I LOVE IT! I won't lie and tell you that it has never brought tears to my eyes, but once I pull myself together, I have the opportunity to go out and improve again. Without it my photographs stagnate.

What's my point? Cultivate your eye for photography. If you love it and want to take better photos? Study the masters. Read books on photography, take a course at your local community college. Learn the classic rules of composition - they won't steer you wrong.

I see so many classic mistakes that could be easily corrected or improved with paying attention to some very simple rules.

I say that without meaning to downplay how NOT easy following those rules are. A photograph is a moment frozen in time. It happens in a split second. You are capturing something that is not in your control. How many times have we frozen the wrong moment and it looks ugly, unbalanced and confusing? Most of the time, right? That is why we practice and take ten photos to hopefully get one decent one. The one where we capture a clear tender (or funny or emotional) moment in an aesthetically pleasing image. It is hard work. It is luck. It is serendipity. No?

For this last week of my 31 Days of Creative Inspiration, I plan to highlight some of those simple rules of good photographic composition that are often over looked or broken. I can always use a good review.

Today I thought I would talk about LEADING LINES.

All strong lines in a photo are actually LEADING LINES. The question is, where exactly are they leading you to? Not all LEADING LINES are good. Some lead you right out of the photo!

You don't want that.

Other strong LEADING LINES lead you right to NOTHING or

to nothing interesting

or to something distracting.

You don't want any of that!

You want leading lines to lead you in to the photo and keep you there.

You also want those LEADING LINES to lead you to the main subject of your photo. The place where you are led should be interesting, intriguing even, and should make you want to 'stay in the photo and look around.'

This photo of the judges tent at the 2011 LA Harbor Dragon Boat races is an example of a photo with very strong LEADING LINES. Do you see the curb starting from the bottom right of the photo, leading your eye right into the background? Then from the left side of the photo you see the line of the sand where it meets the ocean? It also leads your eye straight to the back of the photo. These are awesome LEADING LINES. They take you right into the photo. The horizon line from the left of the photo even leads you right to that same point.

So what is the problem?

There is nothing interesting at the intersection of those three very strong LEADING LINES! You get to the end and you are disappointed, bored even! Your eyes and brain just can't be bothered, so they quickly move on.

Can you see the LEADING LINES in this photo? They aren't as strong as the LEADING LINES in the photo of the judges' tent, but they are effective, nonetheless.

Starting from the right, the boy's arms almost connect and lead you right to the center of the photo. Starting from the left, the other boy's arm does the same thing - leading you right to the center of the action. From the top right, the door moulding leads you in to the photo and then we make a sharp turn down and follow that line also to the center of the photo. And finally, just left of center also on the top of the photo, the eve of the roof, leads us to the head of the boy in the middle and then the direction of his eyes take over and we are again led right to the center of the action.

The action, of course, is a play in the game. We see the boy's hand just about to place his piece in the classic game of Mastermind.

Isn't the destination of these LEADING LINES far more interesting and intriguing than the lines in the first photo?

By comparing these two photos, we see that not all LEADING LINES are created equal and it is not all about LEADING LINES, but rather what is at the end of those lines!

In an upcoming post, I will discuss what about this last photo distracts the viewer from the main subject, possible solutions and if it is a deal breaker for this photo. What do you think is the distracting element?