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Stage 5: Advanced techniquesC13Advanced

Advanced Composition, Perspective and Visual Storytelling

Go beyond the basics: visual hierarchy, subject isolation, layering, perspective control, photo essays, visual narrative and developing your own style.

11 lessons 55 minutes of reading Course exam
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11 lessons

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Lessons in this course

  1. 1

    Advanced Visual Hierarchy

    Learn advanced visual hierarchy: primary and secondary elements, how viewers read a photo, Gestalt principles like figure-ground, and building a reading path.

     5 min
  2. 2

    Subject Isolation and Visual Emphasis

    Learn advanced subject isolation: combining depth of field, light, tone, color, background, lens, position and timing to separate any subject.

     5 min
  3. 3

    Complex Scenes and Controlling Visual Clutter

    Learn to compose in busy scenes: finding order in chaos, working the scene, tangents and edge control, juxtaposition, and simplifying while keeping context.

     5 min
  4. 4

    Layering and Depth

    Learn advanced layering: multi-plane compositions, atmospheric perspective, overlap and scale, separating layers with light and tone, and lens choices.

     5 min
  5. 5

    Perspective Control

    Learn advanced perspective control: perspective as emotion, exaggeration and flattening, forced perspective, how much to correct verticals, and lens tilt.

     5 min
  6. 6

    Converging Lines and Architectural Viewpoints

    Learn one-, two- and three-point perspective, vanishing points, dramatic upward and downward views, diagonals for energy and creative architectural views.

     5 min
  7. 7

    Reflections and Visual Ambiguity

    Learn to create layered reflections in windows, puddles and mirrors, play with scale and orientation, use visual puns, and balance mystery with clarity.

     5 min
  8. 8

    Sequences and Photo Essays

    Learn to build photo essays: narrative and thematic types, variety of images, pacing and rhythm, pairing images, captions and how many images to use.

     5 min
  9. 9

    Building a Visual Narrative

    Learn to build a visual narrative: story arcs, characters and change, point of view, showing rather than telling, and narrative inside single images.

     5 min
  10. 10

    Editing and Sequencing a Body of Work

    Learn to edit a body of work: selection criteria, cutting off-topic favourites, editing in rounds, honest feedback, sequencing and knowing when it is done.

     5 min
  11. 11

    Developing a Recognizable Visual Style

    Learn what photographic style really is, the choices that create it, how influences become your own voice, why presets are not style, and how to grow it.

     5 min

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