APPLYING COMPOSITION AFTER? One of the main questions photographers ask me is whether you can apply composition when you actually see the scene (or whether you use it as a tool to analyze your compositions after the fact). One of the best quotes to answer that question is from Henri CartierBresson, one of the pioneers of the genre of street photography and a master of composition: “In applying the Golden Rule, the only pair of compasses at the photographer’s disposal is his own pair of eyes. Any geometrical analysis, any reducing of the picture to a schema, can be done only (because of its very nature) after the photograph has been taken, developed, and printed– and then it can be used only for a postmortem examination of the picture.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson
In the two photos above, I took many different versions of the man’s hands. But while I was editing (choosing my best images), I had no idea which photograph to keep and ditch. When you are in a similar dilemma (deciding between choosing two images), you can apply the “golden triangle” (or any other compositional technique) to help assist your decision. For these two photographs, I ultimately decided to choose the image on the left side of the frame. Why? Because the apple in the top-left photograph better followed the diagonal of the golden triangle. In the other photograph (top right), the apple didn’t follow the diagonal as well. I have personally found that the more you analyze your photos afterthe-fact, the better your intuition becomes. 28