Photography Composition - How To Get Good 

I do this so often, that I'm kinda addicted to this way of capturing pictures. I need to somehow force myself to frame a shot differently. But this method works so well that it's so difficult to go away from it.

Your production skills, your presenting style, your choice of topics and your content in general are all excellent, but they would be nothing without the images to back it up. I don't know what it is about your photography (and maybe that's half the fun of it) but I genuinely think you are amongst the absolute best out there. You have taken some of my all-time favourite images, and many of them stick with me long after the viewing, unlike the vast majority of content. I know it's all subjective anyway, but thank you for doing what you do.

I often use it with natural frames, leaves/trees mainly, it's either you hate it or love it, but I like how it makes the subject stand out more

Many thanks Roman. Your photography channel is consistently the most helpful and inspiring out there.

Excellent. Love the boat behind the tree. Thanks for sharing

So so so good! Such a simple exercise with extraordinary results. Roman, you consistently put out these small snippets of golden info, please keep doing it! Thank you

Thank you so much for these crystal clear examples. Helps cement this in my brain. Also I enjoy seeing all the travel locales you visit - great channel and content!

Fantastic videos as usual Roman. I like that he shows working examples of blocking and why the make photos better. I'm a film photographer so I'm limited to 36/39 shots and every single one needs to work well through that lens. Tips like yours I've implemented in my work and I've gotten better photos with it

Thanks,you’ve given me some great ideas for shots. This helps when there doesn’t appear to be much inspiration.

Thanks Roman. I’ve gotten used to framing subjects, but never really considered ‘blocking’ the distractions, even though it’s largely the same technique. I need to keep watching your videos…….!

Hi Roman - I have just bought and read your book. It is the best explanation of how to take meaningfully good pictures I have read so far. Really helpful. And I have re-read the chapters on light, composition and story telling several times. Hoping that this plus 10,000 hours will get it into my head :) Many thanks.

Hey Roman thanks for this video! I find this format very helpful.

Awesome photos... something I am working on in my own photography. These are masterful. Cheers!

Thanks Roman. Will practice this way of shooting!

I have just come to Busan and I'm gonna try this! thanks :)

Really good video, cheers Roman. On the way to London this weekend and will be tapping into this technique

Blocking is a great technique! Thanks for the real life demonstration. Two observations: First, you have a very patient girlfriend! LOL! Secondly, at the very beginning of this video I notice you do something I don't see often. You shot using the EVF twice. I go back and forth on this. But, sometimes I think I compose better with the LCD. I haven't done it enough yet to be totally comfortable. I'm so accustomed to bringing that thing up to my eye and use the EVF. Again, thanks for this clear, real world demo! Have a great weekend.

Fabulous video, thank you

thank you so much for this video

Great tip, thanks

Very useful info here.. Thanks

Many thanks, Roman, for working secret

This approach is also good for walking with a prime. When the story fits better for a longer lense you just frame it. It also helps to keep the sense of perspective at the shorter lense level.

Busan looks epic, be researching a bunch of photo spots there for a while Ill be there at the end of the month and into April for the cherry blossoms

thanks for the tip and the demonstration and thought process, I find there is a lot of visual noise in cities during daytime (lots of parked cars)… it also reminds me of Saul Leiter who went more abstract with this; cheers from Montreal and have a great trip !!

I really like all the examples but to be honest some of the ones shot specifically for the video fell flat to me. The yellow crosswalk in the one photo being blocked in particular was a shame to me as in the photo where you can see the full scene I think it acts as a leading line that draws your eye towards the subject. I also the first light house didn’t quite need the technique if you had just walked forward a bit so that the light post wasn’t in frame. Other than that though I think it’s still a great technique to keep in mind as it obviously worked very well in all of the pre shot example photos and it was still a great video!

This makes a lot of sense. We need to look at a lot more than just our subject.

Having come back from a 3 week stint in Japan last month, I'm keen to see your journey and what you manage to capture. I think I read you saying you're there for 3 months? Great time of year to go but man that's a long while...I'm sure you'll have a blast!

Fantastic video. And I love the shot of the man on the bench with the bird. A nice bit of luck considering you were using some intentional foreground and the bird added the extra dimensionality that makes the image special.

dean street picture so awesome 👍👍👍👍❤❤

Good ideas.

great video

I can see this working well with travel and landscape photography but not for street photography, unless the subjects are far away in the distance and not really recognizable as such, and unless there's no more than one or two of them.

Great video! Learnt a lot from this👌🏻 Off topic, but where did you get that thermal looking top you're wearing? Looks super comfy😅

I lived in Seoul for 14 years, miss it.

I dismiss taking pictures because of messy bits in the scene, what a creative way to take them differently and block stuff out!

Whenever I’d see your Eiffel Tower picture in the past, I’d just assume you got lucky with a gust of wind. Great picture btw

effectively

Thanks for another great video. I have to echo @marsman's comment below as I've been using the "blocked" method for some time. As an amateur hobby photographer , I have found that my best photos have been blocked, initially by accident. I'm in the process of my winter project of reviewing & culling the herd in my photo library & critiquing my compositions. Blocking is ahead in the keeper department.

Taking notes, let's see if I got this right... Roman tried to frame Dean for shooting someone in the street in Soho...? Serious face on: the boat and lighthouse examples kind of put me in mind of Gustave Doré's black and white illustrations - a dark 'framing' foreground (and background) with a spotlit subject in the midground. YMMV. Either way, I like the effect of blocking. That'll be my project for this coming week.

Interesting composition technique but it sometimes gives a voyeuristic vibe I'm not sure I like. I'll need to experiment to figure out when it can apply to suit my tastes. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

I'm curious, would it also look good to have the foreground be in focus with the background blurry? There's a bush with gorgeous flowers on it outside my building and a stone wall maybe 5 meters behind it, I think the photo would look great!

Do you use a longer lens (or crop) at night (you tend to use 50mm still?) like for the dean street shot?

Odd question, but what camera strap are you using in this video?

Looking forward to the Japan videos!

wow, you're using osmo pocket 3 now for vlogging?

Just remember…of you decide to shave off that growth under your nose and on your chin/neck, it’ll hurt quite a bit 😅

Is your girlfriend a photographer?

Well, usually I really like your street photography photos and videos. They have really inspired me for some time now. But the shot of the red lighthouse with the blue post, the one through the railing and the street shot, I thought were just awful. To me, and I accept my opinion may be completely out of step with other people's, they looked like photos taken simply to show how 'arty' the photographer is and hold no real photographic merit. Sorry Roman.