Posts by Robert Rodriguez Jr
Finding the Essence in Your Photograph
I’m sure you’re familiar with the feeling of walking into a beautiful scene that stops you in your tracks. You consider the various compositional options, you raise the camera, and suddenly it’s busier than you first imagined. There are too many highlights on the left, a tree blocking the better tree, a foreground that was…
Read MoreComposition Is the Skill You Never Stop Learning
When I teach composition, I start with a simple observation: the rules are the easy part. You can learn the rule of thirds or the basics of leading lines in an afternoon. What takes years to internalize is what composition actually is beneath those ideas. Here’s what I’ve come to believe, after many years of teaching composition…
Read MoreThe Only Thing That Ever Made a Great Photograph
Kevin Kelly has been photographing seriously for 55 years. He’s the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, a futurist, a prolific author (including photography books), and someone who has thought as carefully about technology as almost anyone alive. Here is what he recently said about his camera: “I’ve been seriously photographing for 55 years and the best…
Read MoreYour Print Is Not a Copy of Your Screen
There’s a question I’ve been thinking about for a long as I try to help students become better at printing their work: Is the monitor your source of truth? Most people don’t hesitate. Of course it is, that’s the image, that’s what I edited and that’s what I want the print to look like. And I…
Read MoreThe Invisible Weight of Mental Habits
Think about the last time you went out to photograph. Before you even raised your camera, many decisions had already been made. What kind of light you’d look for, what subjects would catch your attention, how you’d compose the frame. Even what you’d consider worth photographing at all. But here’s the thing: your habits made…
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