Lesson 20. Point of View: Control Your Lines

A couple years ago I tried to answer, for myself, this simple question: What makes a great photograph? My own reply was contained in three elements—lines, light, and moments. What we do with those three is everything in a photograph. If every student of photography learned to ask three general questions before they pressed the shutter button, their work would improve faster than any new piece of gear could ever do in a lifetime. Those three questions for me are: What is the light doing? What are my lines doing? Is this moment the most powerful?

You take a significant step forward in your ability to create strong photographs when you understand that you wield a great deal of control over the lines in ...

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