There is a genuine skill to framing photos, and Advanced Composition from Photzy is an e-book that aims to help you improve that skill. The smallest changes can sometimes make a big difference. So learning about what works best is a great idea.
The question is whether Photzy’s Advanced Composition is a good way of learning these things and putting them into practice. This review will give you a clear idea of what the e-book does well and how it might be improved. And we’ll tell you if we think it’s a good buy for you.
Is Photzy’s ‘Advanced Composition‘ Right for You?
Becoming a photography composition expert is hard. It’s not something you can learn in an afternoon. It takes months of practice to really train your eye to take better photos instinctively.
The advantage of an ebook like this is that you become aware of different composition rules. It does shorten the trial and error period.
This can dramatically reduce the time needed to implement them in your photography with success.
It’s worth noting that this is an advanced-level composition ebook. Your technical knowledge about photography isn’t particularly relevant when it comes to composition. But you should have a basic understanding of your camera and elementary composition.
Photzy does offer a basic composition ebook if you’re looking for the fundamentals. It is worth learning about key compositional rules first. These advanced ones will be easier to implement, and you’ll learn faster.
‘Advanced Composition‘ is a detailed and organised guide that helps you master composition. You still won’t learn it overnight, but the ebook will set a clear pathway for your advancement.
The ebook costs $27. Photzy‘s website lists this as a special discount from $130. In reality, you can always get it for the discounted price.
What You Can Expect
This is the 2nd Edition of Photzy’s Advanced Composition. It offers a comprehensive expert guide presented in an easy-to-understand form. It features three essential skills: pre-visualization, anticipation, and timing. These skills are crucial to composing. They are the base of the 12 advanced tools for composition, which form the second part of the book.
They are the following:
- Format
- Space
- Balance
- Shape
- Lines
- Spot Color
- Color Wash
- Contrast
- Rythm
- Juxtaposition
- Movement
- Depth of Field
The tools are well explained and illustrated, although in a somewhat sketchy form (I’ll get back to that below). They are well laid-out and interconnected.
At the end of every chapter, you can find a shooting assignment and a quick quiz. The assignment involves applying the compositional element. It’s an easy and motivating way to practice. The Self-Check Quizzes reflect on the content of the recent chapter. There are, however, no solutions provided, so you have to go back to the chapter to get the correct answers. Both are great for quick self-training.
The book also comes with extras in the form of two short cheat sheets. The first is about The Seven Steps of Pre-Visualization. These steps help you create the image in your mind before shooting it. It’s a nice recap for the book’s first few chapters.
The other one is about Analyzing Composition. This cheat sheet sums up the content of the book in a bulleted list. If you struggle with understanding an image to its full depth, this one will be your good friend.
Areas to Improve
I have mixed feelings about this photography ebook. On the one hand, it represents real value for a significant number of photographers. By no means is it a bad-quality product.
But it also has flaws. Some of them could be solved with a tiny bit more care.
Despite the title saying Advanced Composition, it’s sometimes oversimplified. In other places, it doesn’t need to be so complicated. Take a look at the page below – the text does not summarize what’s happening in the photo.
Sadly, the book has other instances where the writing doesn’t match the illustration. There are also places where you have to go back several pages to find the image the author is mentioning.
There’s one more thing. Most of the images are stock images, often free stock images. They are beautiful and fit the purpose of the book.
A downside is that there’s no mention of their creators. When you see a great photograph, you might want to know its author and what’s behind the image.
I would have also liked to see more of the author’s photos, especially where there are graphics sketched over them. Including original images would give me greater confidence in the author. It would show his ability to implement the compositional tips in his own work.
What I Personally Liked
The ebook promises to change your interaction with the scene. It seems to do that well, indeed.
Taking your compositions to the next level requires a shift in approach. It is not enough to concentrate on what you see. You also need to use your imagination to pre-visualise the scene before it happens. This book focuses on how to approach composition, which, to me, is a great plus.
I assume that after reading the ebook, your art will become more conscious. You will take away valuable information, techniques and tools. It will also show you the mindset that can enable you to create stronger imagery.
How Well Does It Work?
As an experienced photographer, I have still learnt new things from Photzy’s ebook. It helped me a great deal in revising my processes and making me more conscious in photography.
Sometimes it’s just about that. You might have a lot of passive knowledge, but you need a catalyser to bring that knowledge out.
On the other hand, you can gain a lot of invaluable information if you only have a basic knowledge of composition.
This is the reason why I recommend this ebook.
Let’s see an example. According to the ebook, my own image below applies the following ‘rules’ of composition:
- I have cropped the photo to a 4:3 aspect ratio, further emphasising the gate and removing compositionally unnecessary areas.
- All leading lines are proceeding towards the same subject: the gate. This results in a visually balanced, clearly understandable composition.
- The deep orange tone of the gate and the blue hour lighting create strong color contrast. This also highlights the main subject.
- The leading lines and the subject are placed along the golden ratio and spiral.
- Darker tones on the left also direct the viewer’s eye towards the gate.
The resulting photo has a well-established natural flow. All its elements are working towards a common goal.
Alternatives
There are many useful products about composition. They all compete for the attention of aspiring photographers. Here, let me point out a couple.
- If you prefer hardcover books over ebooks, I recommend David Präkel’s Composition. I have learnt a lot from this book. Präkel’s way of explaining is much more theoretical, but he also covers more. The book shifts quite a bit to the fine-art territories of photography. I also like his writing and his photos better.
- Another one is the Visual Flow: Mastering the Art of Composition ebook by Ian Plant. Plant approaches composition from a different perspective, by the flow of the image. For that reason, the two are not comparable. This ebook fits together well with ‘Advanced Composition‘.
- For a more elementary ebook on composition, Photzy offers ‘Understanding Composition’ instead.
Conclusion
Overall, I recommend Advanced Composition.
It does have strong competition. If you’re looking for an expert guide on photography composition, you can find better-written and illustrated books with more knowledge.
But Advanced Composition does excel with its concise and interactive approach. You can check out the ebook here.
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To standardise and compare our product reviews, we’ve decided to use a scored-based ranking system. To learn more about interpreting these numbers and how other courses measure, please visit our review roundup page here.
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