PHOTO CLICHÉS

The following story is an introduction to a list of photos that fall into the category of Photo Cliché. These are pictures to avoid, partly because they have been done too many times before. Any time you have an idea, type the idea into Flickr and see what comes up. What you see -  don't do that. But there are no absolutes in this field. Just gain some experience from this list and use it to make more informed photos.

Some years ago there was a conference of the Society of Photographic Education. During that conference there was a panel of New York gallery directors, including the infamous Ivan Karp from OK Harris in Soho. Someone posed the question, “How do you deal with looking at so many portfolios?’ Karp was quick to reply. “I have a list of photo clichés in my desk. I open each portfolio and compare the top photo with my list. If there is a match, I close the portfolio and go on to the next.”

He then began to recite the photo clichés on his list.

“• no pictures of the expressive hands of old people,

• no pictures of the gnarled roots of mighty trees,

• no dramatic sunsets,

• no drooling babies,

• no cute, cuddly pets,

• no self-portraits in rear-view mirrors,

• no pictures of cemeteries with or without dancing nymphets,

         • no pictures of motorcycles boys with or without pierced nipples”, 

and he went on, to a riotous response of laughs and applause.

When I first started teaching in Bucks County I got lots of picturesque photos of barns and covered bridges, so I added the rule of

• no pictures of barns or covered bridges.

Then I came to teach at Temple University, an urban campus.  The first new rules that were added were:

• no pictures on TU campus, and

• no pictures that could immediately be identified as typical student photos, including snapshots of roommates and drinking buddies.

• no hamming it up for the camera

even posing makes it look contrived. Try to be candid. Just closing the eyes of your subject makes them automatically more sensuous, and no longer self-conscious. This is a useful tip for self-portraits; close your eyes or look away from the camera.

• no pictures that look like they could have been shot at the family or company barbecue aka Snapshots. Snapshots are the photos that everyone takes without thinking about them. This is the anthesis of what we are doing in this class. We want photos we have never seen before.

• no pictures at sporting events

These too are like pictures of your friends or like travel pictures. There is nothing more boring that going to someone’s house to watch slides of their recent trip. 

These expanded to include the urban postcard set:

• no pictures of City Hall (or any landmark building)

• no pictures of the Love Sculpture (or any sculpture)

• no pictures of City Hall through the O of the Love Sculpture

• no pictures of City Hall through the O of the Love Sculpture, reflected in a puddle. 

This is basically a way of saying

• no pictures that look like anything that might appear on a picture postcard.

• no pictures that look like snapshots

(these depend on personal knowledge of the people or places in the photos).

The thing about shooting buildings and sculpture is that someone else has already made the art. Shooting these things is appropriation. We are looking for original work. [John Lennon said, “There are no new ideas in the world. Only new arrangements of things.”] And there are artists who’s whole career is about appropriation.

There are other sites in Philadelphia that have shown up in too many shots.

• Girard Prison

• Boathouse Row

There are other types of photos that seem to have been used up by the commercial world that should be avoided, including the following:

• no pictures of musicians,

every record album shot is trying to look like art

• no pictures of dancers,

Dance Magazine is full of photos trying to look like art

• no pictures that are obviously at photo shoots, film sets, recording studios, etc. 

these may be while doing work for some other class. 

• no pictures of kids on skateboards or bikes

like everything we see in bike and skateboard magazines

• no pictures of animals of any kind

they will just look like Nat Geo shots

This is basically a way of saying

• no pictures that look like anything that might appear in a Documentary.

These are photojournalism, which is neither better nor worse, just different from what we are engaged in here, which is subjective rather than objective.

Documentary photography is by definition documenting something i.e. informing us. What we want are pictures that pose questions rather than provide information that does not require a query.

Art vs. Commerce

• no pictures that could be fashion ads.

The bottom line here is that the motivation for making any of these pictures is to sell something, not to make any kind of personal statement.  These photos cannot be art – they are commerce. [Although there is no black or white in any of this.] 

ref: Sarah Moon who shoots art photos, sometimes while shooting fashion assignments. 

ref: Deborah Tuberville who made art photos into fashion shots, breaking down the barriers. She used many innovative techniques as well.

Graffiti

Do not shoot pictures of graffiti. There are magazines full of this. If the photos are just showing how the graffiti looks, it is more documentary than anything else. If graffiti shows up as the background where something else interesting is happening, then maybe that is cool. 

Text

Don’t use text that someone else has written as the main subject of your shot. Someone else has already made the art and you are just appropriating it. Make shots that are of your own creation.

SMARTPHONE-SPECIFIC PHOTO CLICHES

Here are some specific Photo clichés that have come up in Smartphone Photo classes:

Snapshots in general

• no selfies (the most obvious, with or without a selfie-stick)

This means not hamming it up for the camera, Making snapshots are only relevant to you and your friends.

• food pictures

Everybody seems to be compelled to take pictures of their meal to share to their friends, but no one really cares.

Lights

• lights

Finding great lighting is imperative, but taking pictures of lights themselves seems to come up too much.

• signs

Don’t take pickers of signs, especially those with clever wording. It is someone else’s cleverness you are using, and is not original.

• lighted signs

This is a combination of the previous two!

Sunsets

• sunsets

These are more postcard images. But the quality of light at sunset is amazing. Use that twilight to alter the emotional ambience of your scene without making the sunset itself the subject of the shot.

• fluffy clouds

• fluffy clouds at sunset

Landscape (that can make really great photographs, but…)

• trees

Mother Nature is already a great artist. If you want to take pictures of trees, they need to hone in on some special aspect of the scene. Get close.

• shadows

• shadows of trees

• shadows of trees created by sunsets

  Now I am teasing you, but you get the idea.

Vintage Clichés

• family photos on the wall

• heirloom objects

tabletop still life

table top still lifes with toys or sci-fi figures

• vintage cars or abandoned rusting trucks (on farms)

Cars

• get out of your car to shoot

make a commitment to get the best shot possible

• avoid photos in the rear-view mirrors

especially self portraits

Filters

There are a whole slew of filters in Photoshop that should be avoided at all costs. In almost all cases the effect of a filter takes over the photo. The same goes for filters in the Smartphone apps. The general rule is, “If the effect is seen before the content, then it has been overdone.” When any filter is applied it should be turned down so it is just on the edge of recognition. This usually makes the effect supportive rather than overbearing. 

This is the case for Toning as well -  there should be enough color to remove the photo from the world of dead black & white, making it warmer (or cooler) than normal, adding more emotion and feel, but it should be over the top or become pretentious.

HDR is another good example of a filter gone bad. It was designed to give you an exended tonal range. People have figured out, however, how to over-apply it to make ‘dramatic’ photos. These just look fake and photographically wrong.

Tiny Planets 

Please avoid using any variations on this new fad.

VIEWING on a P–ANGLE

Please do not turn the camera on an angle. This is known as a P-Angle, p being for pretentious. Here’s the story: You know when you go to a family picnic and your Uncle says, “Okay everybody, get together for a group picture”, and then just before he snaps the shot he tilts the camera on an angle. This is because he knows, even subconsciously, that he is about to take that generic family snapshot that is inherently a boring photograph. Tilting the camera makes it look like you’re trying to make an artsy photograph of something that is not all that interesting. [note: immediately shoot anyone who uses the term ‘artsy’ for they know nothing about art.]

Part of the aesthetic of shooting well-composed photographs is to frame the shot so it is obvious that the photo is being created by the photo-artist’s individual point of view. This has been called ‘constructed photographs.  This comes from considering the angle of view, the distance from the subject, and how things are lined up with the edges of the frame and with other things within the frame. One way to test this is to ask, “How does this photograph look different from what was seen when the shot was taken?” If it looks no different, then you are only capturing the appearance of the things in the photograph. What is far more interesting is your personal view of the things in the photograph.

note: also refer to the document ‘Passive/Active Shooting’.

MOTIVATION & INTENT

Sometimes it is not the appearance of the photograph that counts. It is the motivation of the photographer that is important. What is the photographer trying to share with you?  What is the essence of the communication?

This does not have to be some profound statement. It may only be some small part of the world they are drawn to, and then wish to share with you. If you find this same content interesting, then there is some similarity between you and the photographer. This is called resonance.

For this to work the artist must first be clear about what they are trying to communicate.

If they are not clear about their content, how can anyone ever understand what they are trying to say? If the motivation behind the content is indiscernible, then there is no communication.  If there is no communication then there is no art.

It can be so simple sometimes, that clarity can be the content!

Other times it can be buried behind layers of personal meaning, and only the surface is clear.  But still you can understand the depth of the feeling without knowing all the details. This is the emotional aspect of communication. EMOTIONAL discipline.

Other times it can be some ideas about the content.  Maybe the connection in a group of photos is the place or a series of events. This is an example of the conceptual aspect of photography. CONCEPTUAL discipline.

And even other times it can be the way a photo is made that can make it compelling. It could be some technical aspect of the craftsmanship. PHYSICAL discipline.

CONTACT SHEET SYNDROME

Another measuring stick of progress in this class is how much time is invested in shooting for each critique. It says in the syllabus that part of your grade is based on “an ongoing effort to produce quality work”. If you come in with a collection photographs that were shot in one session, this demonstrates a lack of effort on the student’s part. 

You cannot show a group of photographs that are so limited in scope. It will look like a Contact Sheet. When you shoot, you are encouraged to shoot numerous shots of each subject, playing with the proximity and angle of view in an effort to get just the right framing and composition. But in the end you have to edit these down to select the single best photograph from each group of shots. This is called Creative Editing. 

The photos can be of similar subjects but you must shoot regularly throughout the two or three week period between critiques to get a varied collection of shots. You cannot do two weeks worth of work in a couple of hours. You cannot ‘cram’ for this class. It is about the evolution of ideas and refining your personal vision. You must shoot almost every day. Even if you think you have no to time to shot, then you should shoot on your way from one place to another. 

You should have a consistent body of work of each critique. Within this, however, you should have diversity. The consistency should come automatically if you are aware of what you are drawn to and make a conscious effort to study your shots as you go, determining what works well and what does not, and continually refining the nature of your quest for what is meaningful to you, and how you can shoot it so that it can become meaningful to your audience. The diversity will come from shooting on a regular basis and continually expanding the range of your visual investigations. 

CRITIQUE PREPARATION

Critiques are where everyone shows their final selection of photographs for the given topic and everyone else comments on them. The idea is for everyone to work together to make all the photographs better. There is no one point of view that is correct in the Art world. It takes input from everyone in the class for us to learn how our photographs are being received. It is a matter of communication and peer review. If the feedback you are receiving is close to what you intended your photographs to say, then you are doing well. If you are getting a very different response, or people are missing your point, then you need further refinement in aesthetics and technique. 

You should be constantly posting photographs and looking at what everyone else is posting. This class is based in experiential learning. You cannot learn how to do this just by reading about it. You have to DO it, receive feedback, and then refine your work.

OVERVIEW

Here is an overview of what has to be accomplished during the next week, and during all critique weeks in the semester. It may look like a lot when all viewed at once, but take it one day and one task at a time and it is easy.

Monday  

Every third Monday is the due date of the next Critique. The posting should be done by 5 PM.

Before this date you should go through everything you have posted on-line (there should be more that the minimum number of prints already on-line) and edit down to the actual number of prints due (or a little bit over if desired). 

• the full number of prints required for the critique should now be uploaded
• reorganize the photos by content

• see the minimum number of prints on the Semester Schedule

• > Semester Schedule-701

you should have this Schedule printed and posted on your wall 

• add numbers above each of your prints so people can easily vote for their favorite

Tuesday

You have a day to look at what everyone has posted for their critique and formulate ideas about what they have done. You then have to make commentary on the photos of your classmates. The commenting period ends at 5 PM on Tuesday.  

• look at other people’s photos and comment on them
• base the commentary on 3 criteria: content, form, impact [3 Disciplines]
• > Commenting & Voting
• tell any story that the photos remind you of:

(sharing personal experience: resonance)

• cast a vote for at least 10 people in the class. Indicate which shot you think is their best
• if you see someone already has 5 comments, go on to someone else
• this will assure that everyone receives the same number of comments

note: no one will want to comment on your photos if you do not comment on theirs. 

This is another variation of the Golden Rule.

Thursday

You have two days to review all the comments you have received and write a Self-Evaluation that presents a synthesis of these reviews. The self-evaluations are due by 5 PM.

• review all the comments you have received
• write a synopsis of that commentary, again based on 3 criteria: form, content, impact 
• there is a handout explaining how to write a self-evaluation
• > Self-Evaluations
• determine which of your prints is the best (according to peer voting)

• The votes cast by your classmates in their comments on the class blog 

will help you determine which photo is the ‘best of the week’

• This photo is designated your POW (Picture of the Week)

• include the POW at the top the Self-Evaluation document
• please write the Self-Evaluation in MS Word
• use 12 point type
• use 1.5 line spacing (under Paragraph Formatting)

• start the document with a header as follows:

Your Name

Smartphone Photo 2831-section #, Crit 1 - B&W: Mystery

• name the file in a similar manner:

your name_self evaluation - crit 1 - section#.docx

• upload the finished Self-Evaluation document to OWLbox
• there is a separate folder for each critique

Fridays are the introduction days of new topics including aesthetics, techniques, ways of shooting, ways of processing (apps), etc. You should study and absorb this information quickly and, in a day or two, start shooting, processing and posting your photos to the class blog. You should shoot and post every day. That is part of the routine of this class.  

You can only really learn about photography by thinking, shooting, and posting on an ongoing manner [think, make, share]. This is an Art Studio course and it utilizes ‘experiential learning’ that is quite different from the ‘book learning’ as in most academic classes. Because of this, it is not possible to cram for a studio class. You cannot wait unit the day before the Critique is due to shoot everything. If you try this you will never learn how to shoot properly let alone how to think about what you are shooting or feel what your photos are expressing. Do not cheat yourself out of the education you are paying for. 

note: All students must participate and complete all phases of each Critique cycle. Failure to complete any segment results in failure of the entire critique. 

note: All Topics are defined and available on the professor’s web site at all times. If you want a head-start you are welcome to read those.

FRAMING and COMPOSITION

The widespread use of photography as a documentary medium presents photographs to the public that give it all to the viewer without requiring a response. This is one-way communication. The goal in this case is to impart information quickly and cleanly. These pictures will not keep the viewer's attention for very long. People are happy just to identify what it is a picture of and then move on. 

In the Art world we are interested in two-way communication. It is important, therefore, to make images that raise questions that involve the viewer in a conversation. Meaningful images inspire their audience to compare their personal experiences with those of the photo-artist, using the photograph as linkage.

This end is achieved by creating images with a sense of mystery. Photographs that are filled with clues rather than facts are far more interesting. The artist must be clear about the questions their photos raise. If the motivation behind a photo is confused then the best one can hope for is a confused audience.

In general, the assignment for the semester is to make photographs with mystery, passion and meaning, using light as the paintbrush.  The first endeavor is to imbue your photos with a sense of mystery using a whole series of visual tools.  

Extrapolation

An interesting technique is to take whatever you are doing and figure out the most extreme example of that. Extrapolate it out to its logical conclusion. Below are some shooting strategies, followed by extrapolations to their extremes.

M Y S T E R Y   t h r o u g h   c o m p o s i t i o n   &   f r a m i n g   

COMPOSITION

[strategy >> closeness/ proximity]

remove all the unnecessary clutter or distractions from the image

cameras do not have editing filters that the mind supplies for vision

look carefully at you subject - take your time!

position the subject inside the viewfinder 

get close enough to remove all unwanted background

make sure you fill the frame with only meaningful content

moving closer eliminates any undesired elements

if you can step closer and remove unnecessary things from your image

and the image is no worse, it has been improved, by default!

this is called "economy of means" - saying much with few words

[extrapolation>> fragmentation]

get so close that you literally fragment the subject, 

making it more abstract

focus on the geometrical structure of the subject

[strategy>> unique angle of view/ attitude]

establish a good shooting angle 

never shoot from eye level

much of our lives are spent looking at the world from 5' 6" off the ground

this is where most people see the world from, i.e. the most boring viewpoint

put a new perspective on things that may be somewhat ordinary

shooting from a unique angle shows the photo is through the photographer’s eye, 

not just about the appearance of the subject

[extrapolation >> bird’s eye/ worm’s eye view]

find an extreme viewpoint that is rarely seen

[strategy>> luminance]

light is the bottom line in photography

a camera is merely a box that captures light!

if you are shooting in flat light you will get a flat picture

search for great light 

“if the light sucks, the photo will suck”. It is that simple.

sometimes it is possible make photographs that are just about the quality of light

look for things that either reflect or refract light in peculiar ways

water is a good example of something that both reflects and refracts water

the other side of light is shadow - the absence of light

find things hiding in shadows, or emerging out of the shadows

[extrapolation >> dramatic lighting/ deep shadow]

shoot at dawn, shoot at dusk, or in any unusual or unnatural light

shoot at night and find shadows or hidden features 

FRAMING

[strategy>> corners have power]

look at the corners of your subject 

place important elements of the picture near a corner

“if the corners are great the rest of the picture will take care of itself”

a face pushed up into a corner looking across the page can be inspiring

[extrapolation >> cut things as they are pushed into the corners]

[strategy>> edges have power]

look at the edges

place important aspects of the picture close to an edge

align horizons or prominent lines with the edge of the frame

crooked pictures show a lack of attention

[extrapolation >> push horizons to the very top or very bottom of the frame]

this open up the space and extends the vision

make a painting out of your subject

“But for me the greatest joy is geometry. Its a sensuous pleasure, an intellectual pleasure at the same time to have everything at the right place. It’s a recognition of an order that is in front of you.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

shoot a picture that is blank except for the edge(s)

Shooting with Intuition

take several shots of each subject

you are not allowed to crop your photos

if you could you would not look carefully, thinking, “I can fix it later”

sometimes the best picture is over and inch or down two, and a second later...

A photograph is an “...Immediate sketch done with intuition and you can't correct it. If you have to correct it, it's your next picture.” -HCB  “The difference between a good picture and a mediocre picture is a matter of millimeters- small, small differences, but it is essential.” “And if I take the picture from there it's another arrangement of that. And it's very small moves I'm doing.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

refine your vision with each shot

take a shot, move closer, change your angle of view, shoot again, repeat

“You have to be yourself and you have to forget yourself so that the image comes much stronger, and what you want and what you say.” “And sometimes there's no picture. Alright there's no picture.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

TOPIC 1 - B&W + Toning = Mystery

The first Topic of this Smartphone photography class is to shoot in black-and-white, primarily to better learn framing and composition, and then so we can present a subject with a sense of mystery. MYSTERY is the key to make interesting photographs. If the subject of a photo is easily identifiable then people will not look at it very long. Make people work at understanding the meaning of the photo. Having your viewer to ask questions of the photo, rather than just receiving answers, is the key. [This is the difference between monolog and dialog. Artists are interested in having the two-way version communication.] 

Then we will add some warm tonality to the photos to impart a sense of PASSION into the photographs.

Shooting B&W

Both the iPhone and Android phones have a built-in black-and-white option in the standard Camera app. There is little or no room for adjustment with these apps however, so something better must be found. We need apps that will allow us to adjust several aspects of the photograph.

Tonal Range (Exposure) Control

Our first challenge is to find apps that will give us some control over the tonal range of our shots in general. This is sometimes know as ‘adjustments’. The dark end of the photo should be a rich deep black. The white end of the photo should be bright but not ‘blown out’ (completely white). Some people see high-contrast as a matter of style,  but excessively contrasty photos with either no shadow detail or highlight detail are technically not right. 

The other extreme is not good either. If the dark shadows are not really black the photo will look washed out. If the highlights are too grey, the photo will look flat. You have to find the sweet spot of a full-range tonality without going over or under. 

            

[When I was taught how to make ‘proper negatives’ the mot important quote was ‘If there is no photographic information in either the shadows or highlights then there is no picture, and this is incorrect processing.]

Today with Smartphones people seem to get away with doing almost anything in the name of style, and I am willing to accept that, up to a point. This new Smartphone medium is really changing the way photographs are seen, and this is really great! So let’s see how far we can go in the name of creativity and still make ‘quality’ photographs.

Toning Control

Our next challenge is to find a good app that will add a subtle sepia or warm-tone effect. This a more specific adjustment and is not so readily available by name. It may require using something called ‘aged’ or ‘vintage’ or ‘drama’ but some of these also play with the tonal range as well to make their effect.  So be careful but be adventurous.

The most important advice with this type of adjustment is: Don’t over do it! Just add enough color to warm up the photo. If the effect is too strong and people see the effect before they see the photo it has been overdone. 

Basic Smartphone Photo Apps

Some of the best known apps are listed below, but your challenge is to find something else in addition to these. This is where this class acts as a Research Team. Everyone will post the results of their research in a Recipe at the end of the critique blog. If you find something good you should post your Recipe before the critique so your classmates can benefit from your work. 

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

SnapSeed from Google (iPhone and Android) gives you the ability to alter the photo into B&W with numerous controls. It will not really give you a direct way to add some warm tone called sepia tone but by blending effects such as B&W and Vintage you can get there. It does have a wide range of other effects, all of which are very controllable. The list includes Selective Adjust, Tune Image, Straighten, Crop, Details, Black & White, Vintage, Drama, Grunge, Center Focus, Tilt-Shift, Retroflex and Frames.

 See the SnapSeed web page for full details. https://support.google.com/snapseed/ 

VSCO Cam (iPhone and Android) works with presets that are tweakable. Not the greatest range of control. Maybe better with color than B&W photos.

  http://vsco.co/blog/category/tutorials

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

Camera+ (iPhone only) Has 4 banks of ‘Filters’; Color, Retro, Special, Standard,(plus Analog and Hollywood for an additional fee), each with 9 variations, that are all controllable. Plus ‘The Lab’ including Rotate, Straighten, Tint, Duotone, Soft Focus, FIlm Grain, Sharpen, Blur, Saturation, Temperature, Exposure, Brightness & Contrast, Highlights & Shadows, and Vignette. DuoTone allow adding separate tints or tones to the shadows and highlights. 

  http://campl.us

Photo FX (iPhone only) from Tiffen, the camera filter company, is a very professional app that is very controllable. It has 77 filters organized into eight groups, 934 preset settings and 65 different color or black-and-white film looks.

  http://www.tiffensoftware.com/products/iphone-ipad-apps/photo-fx

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

Camera ZOOM FX (Android only) More an app for composition and shooting control than creative control, but a good app.

  http://www.androidslide.com

Camera FV-5 (Android only) brings DSLR control to the smartphone.

  http://www.camerafv5.com

History & Aesthetics

The first Topic involves shooting in Greyscale. This is important if you want to learn how to compose photographs. Color just seems to get in the way when trying to organize visual space.

[terminology: ‘Grayscale’ refers to a photograph having a full range of monochrome tonality, black to white. ‘Black & White’ technically refers to an image that has only black and white tones, i.e. a very hard contrast image. But since the first film was called Black & White film, the term is now used to refer to Grayscale photos.]

The first question that arises is, why make photographs in black-and-white? If you look at the history of modern photography the first photograph taken with a camera was shot by Daguerre in 1838 with an exposure that was several minutes long. It wasn’t until 1935 that Kodak introduced the first commercial color film called Kodachrome. That gives us a history of almost 100 years of black-and-white photographs. 

The difference is that early photographs were made with light sensitive material that was sensitive to all the light that was hitting the film. The prints worked the same way and rendered images in shades of gray from black, being the most dense, to white, where there was no pigment at all.

The Kodak color process is a three layer film with different layers responding to different portions of the visible spectrum, namely red, green and blue. This same processes is used today. To make prints from this film subtractive color theory is used that employs the colors cyan, magenta and yellow. The technology we are using today, consisting of a computer screen and an inkjet printer, uses the same basic theories. The screen is made of very tiny red, green and blue pixels. The ink in our inkjet printers is cyan, magenta and yellow plus black.

Even today with all of our technology we find that black-and-white photographs still have an enigmatic quality. They can transform a somewhat normal scene into one with drama. The photographs from the first century of photography had ‘feel’ because the chemistry was not really perfect back then. The early photographs were not really cold dead black. They had a warmer brownish tonality that added another layer of ‘feel’ to the prints. It wasn’t until the 1950s they we really had neutral tone black-and-white photo paper.

Many photo artists today turn to the black-and-white image to satisfy their desire to make highly emotive photographs. Then they treat their photographic prints with special chemicals that render them warm tone and even more evocative. Some just see it as the pure form of photography and shoot this way out of reverence. 

Our smartphone cameras have the ability to reduce a full-color world to black-and-white by using special software. We can also easily add a bit of warm tone quality. Working in black-and-white also makes it much easier to learn how to frame the subject in the viewfinder (aka screen) and compose the shot in a way that organizes the scene and creates a visual geometry. [ref: Henri Cartier-Bresson on the Research Pages]  When you shoot in color all the resulting reality seems to get in the way. People’s attention usually gets seduced by the color and we forget about the more formal qualities of the photograph.