composition video: The nose room

Welcome to my Lair

The nose

As everyone is aware we all have a nose. Some big, some small, yet we all have a nose.

When shooting a conversation you always want your subject to have nose room. What I mean by this is that you need to give your subject enough room to create the illusion that the person is talking to someone just off screen. When we give our full attention to someone we don't look at other things or people, we look directly at them, open up our ears and listen to what they have to say. Its the same way in film. You shoot whoever is talking because at that moment they are the peak of our interest.

What is the ideal nose room

The rule I always go by when shooting is the rule of thirds. The first thing I will do see which way this person is looking. For example lets just say I am getting a close up of my subject. If he or she is looking stage left then I will position that person the left side of my viewfinder. Their nose would be in the center of the screen.  If it was a medium or long shot I would still use the rule of thirds to set up the shot.

When to break the rules

My professor told me in class "don't break the rules unless you are intentionally doing it." I use to think "oh I can just break the rules when I want and create my shot the way I want to."  As I got a little older and wiser, I started to realize that when you break the rules you must imply a reason for it. You don't want to break the rules just because you like the shot. So I warn you, please make sure that if you do break the rules to make sure you, 1. shoot a safe shot and 2. leave all doubt at the door. So my advice is to only break the rules if you truly understand what your shot is portraying.

Picture of the day
I leave you with a rule of thirds photos today. Are they my best no, but they do give you an idea of what I am talking about. I will see you on the flip side, later

"To change the world you must first share your story."