Street Photography Composition: Transform Your Photography Using Science

Are you ready to change the way you see the world and compose your images? 

Join me, Polly Rusyn, to learn the science behind seeing and how to speak the brain’s visual language. I’m a bit of a geek and have always loved figuring out how things work, and that goes for photography too! And I don’t mean the technical side. When I began doing street photography I was desperate to figure out why some photos worked when others didn’t so that I could improve my own. So I sought out the work of "the greats” and I reverse engineered them, I studied them, and I learned about psychology too. So while street photography is usually seen as an art, I want to teach you the science!

Using examples of my own work you’ll learn about:

• The Gestalt principles of visual perception and how to apply them 
• The filter in your brain that can be programmed to fine-tune your observation
• The power of your frame and how to use it wisely
• How geometry plays a key role in photography composition
• How to take intriguing photographs with and without people

Before we dive into all the science I’m also going to kick off the class by sharing with you what I believe is the formula for a great street photo and you’ll get a simple framework to apply to your own work whether it’s at the time of shooting or afterwords when picking your best shots. This first lesson is the longest one because it will give you a great foundation for the rest of the class.

This class is designed for anyone with curiosity, the desire to create, and a camera (and it can be your iPhone!). It’s aimed at beginner street shooters but photographers of all levels can have fun with the principles and the ideas I share. The result will be that you will start to see, think about, and frame the world in new and exciting ways and your confidence in your own creativity will grow.

I believe everything is learnable, and here are the headlines of what you will learn in my class:

Lesson 01: The Secret Formula

The importance of ideas, the blueprint, and a mindset shift

Lesson 02: Brain Language 101

Three men in white coats and the Principle of Symmetry

Lesson 03: Space Invasion

The Principles of Separation and Proximity, and the power of the frame

Lesson 04: Algorithms + Patterns

A magnificent brain filter and the Principles of Similarity and Repetition

Lesson 05: The Magic of the Triangle

The Principle of Closure

Lesson 05: Dimensional Illusions

The Principle of Continuity and street photography without people

Are you in?

Let’s do this thing! Can’t wait to see what images you create.

FULL DISCLOSURE: 

1. This class does not teach you the basics of street photography practice but you can get and introduction to that in this free guide.
2. I have a preference for sunny day photography, although some flat light photos are included as examples in the class. However, assignments are achievable in all lighting conditions.
3. All my photos were shot using Fujifilm XT-2 with a 23mm f2 Fujinon lens, or with a Fujifilm X100V, and processed in Adobe Lightroom.

Music by Penguin Music via Pixabay