The Essential Composition eBook

Photographer Richard Bernabe has published two eBooks, Essential Light, that I mentioned recently, and this Essential Composition. As the name implies, this is one eBook about composition, something so crucial to photography that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of books, ebooks, articles and even videos about it. So, is there really a need for another work about composition, going from the traditional Rule of Thirds to other options all and each author share with their readers?

I really believe there is. As with Essential Light, Photography's Lifeblood, this eBook is a good piece of reading for those looking for solid foundations to their photography. The author is not just a widely published photographer and writer from South Carolina, USA, with images used in magazines, advertising campaigns, calendars, and large format photography books all over the world. Richard leads photography tours and workshop throughout the United States and the world including Belize, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Iceland, and Switzerland. And he draws from that experience to write eBooks like the two mentioned here.

Like Essential Light, this eBook, Essential Composition, a Guide for the Perplexed, is a 40 something page eBook (45 to be exact) that besides showing you some compelling photographs that will make you want to go out and do similar (what I find is always good, because it means you feel you can do it, and that's a good standing point to evolve in photography), but as I wrote, besides the photographs shares with you some important notions about composition.

Richard Bernabe goes around the Rule of Thirds, and also says that rules are to be broken, and that you've heard a thousand times. But he adds two things people tend to forget: he calls them aids, guides, tools and not rules, or at least shares that he feels they should be presented as compositional aids more than rules, and then adds that you should not just broken them to be a rebel, but because you've a good reason to do it. Because, he says, they do work to get things properly positioned in the frame. And can be of great help to people just starting out and not knowing what to do with all the elements in each photograph they take.

I must say this kind of wisdom appeals to me, so I am attracted to eBooks that put things this way. Richard Bernabe takes you into a discovery path that explains why you feel he urge to "walk into" some photographs - and how to do the trick -, how geometry can improve the way you build the relation of elements in images, how repeating patterns can grab attention of viewers,  the importance of balance in your photographs, how to use color, light, perspective and much more.

At the end of the eBook Richard Bernabe emphasizes, however, that all "what has been presented here is only a guide and should not be interpreted and followed as dogma. Every one of the ideas, rules, and principles here ought to be broken. They are guides to help you see. How, and if, you use them is entirely up to you.

Let me add my two cents of reasoning at the end of this note. Essential Composition can be classified into a class of eBooks that give you wisdom in small doses. Don't get me wrong! I like books with extensive use of text, even photography books, because I believe that contrary to what is the notion these days, a good text will always captivate the reader, no matter how long it is. The modern days concept of presenting short texts for shortness sake I find is stupid and drives people away from one of the most rewarding pastimes: reading.

This said, I also love eBooks that can give you small doses of wisdom. While reading through Essential Light first and now Essential Composition I loved the intense use of short notes with beautiful photographs. Although there are some longer texts on some pages, Essential Composition offers you lots of pages with a photograph and a comment that will make you think or rethink your take into a specific subject.

Reading those notes I felt that this way of presenting information makes eBooks like Essential Composition good to read daily, just to catch a phrase that you'll digest during that day. It is an interesting way to look at the eBook, and surely a good way to keep  with your photography practice.  Even if photography is a hobby for you, buy this eBook, and read through it; then, after maybe a week, open it daily in a page, read the notes and use it to freshen your way to look at the world, when you commute to and from work. Your photography will benefit from this exercise.

This concept is not different from the one you'll find in books like Tao Te Ching, from the Chinese sage Lao Tzu, that can be read one page at a time. In fact it was the first analogy that came to mind and led me to recover my old copy of the Tao from the bookshelf. I remember reading through it religiously when I was a teenager, around 18.  Although the Tao Te Ching is somewhat ambiguous, with texts that range from political advice for rulers to practical wisdom for people, there is a certain correlation to Essential Composition: the Tao text is fundamental to both philosophical and religious Taoism. The eBook from Richard Bernabe is essential to understand how to place orderly elements in Photography. And both share knowledge in small portions.

So, now go and get your copy of Essential Composition, for $8. Tomorrow your eyes will see the world differently!

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