Main subject??

[Nickcanada]

Main subject, focal point, call it what you will but does a photograph need one to be intresting??? I ask this because in a thread that will remain nameless I had suggested that a picture should have a main subject. This theory was argued with but I never got a chance to continue that discussion so what do you think??? can a landscape photograph not have a main subject and still work??? I don't think so.:confused:

[coldrain]

Of course it can, if the landscape is the subject.

[Nickcanada]

I guess I should qualify "work". Can you make a great picture and by great I mean classic without a main subject. A main subject could be anything of course, a tree, a snow covered mountain tip, a reflection....

[JTL]

I have sold many photographs that have no "subject" in the traditional sense. "Does the image work?" is the only question, and a subjective one at that. Yet, given any one image, you will find more people agreeing than not agreeing on whether a particular image "works" or not. Rules are only the beginning. Learn them well and then learn to break them effectively. It is the path to artistic transcendence...

[Nickcanada]

Great response, I've just been thinking about how to make my pictures beter and more intresting but as you have pointed out there really are no rules to good composition. I guess the trick is learning to spot the right combination of lines and colours in the world around us to record... I've got to stop thinking about this kinda stuff. I still think every good photo I've ever seen has a spot that draws me into the picture and wont let go.

[JTL]

Here's a nice example. There was a beautiful image (IMO) posted on the Panasonic thread that won Photo of the Day over at Steve's. No real subject, and technically not a good "photograph", but a compelling image none-the-less...

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=150373&postcount=1

But, I didn't really say or mean to imply that there are "no rules" to good composition. There certainly are. And the rules should be learned for anyone even semi-serious about photography. But, don't get "stuck" in the rules. Learn them and learn to break them. Knowledge about your gear, about light, about composition are all necessary in order to produce consistantly good images.

[Nickcanada]

I agree, that is a nice picture but it doesn't give me that tingle. This guys work is something special to me. http://www.dissidentimages.com/images/

[forno]

No subject can work IMO, you just have to have an image that is techincally A1