Okay, I have a bit more time now, and after re-reading what I wrote I think a couple of points need expansion.

Keep in mind it's been more than a few years since art school, so I'm almost sure to be less than precise with my terminology here.

Focal point (or focal area):
this is one of those rare hard rules in art; any composition must have a focal point. If you don't consciously decide where your FP will be, it's still there, but it's decided by happenstance. Thus, it's always best to be deliberate about FPs.

Basically, you want to frame everything in terms of your focal point if you want to achieve solid composition. Here are some considerations in how to do this:

Design/flow: when possible, try to pose your figures and objects, and arrange your lines, so that they point towards the FP, or contribute to the flow of the composition, or both. For example, when a figure's forearm can be pointed towards the FP, and you lose nothing by doing so, and especially when you contribute to the flow as well, then go for it.

A note on flow; think in circles here. One ideal flow is a continuous circle around the area of the golden mean (or "rule of thirds"), with the FP somewhere on that circle. One crucial idea in flow is to avoid leading the viewer's eye off-canvas.

Contrast: placing the area of highest contrast (whether the contrast is one of value (light/dark), color, detail (high vs. low) strategically around or near or leading to the FP is an ideal way to solidify its primacy.

Other Stuff
The rule of thirds: this is just a sort of shorthand for the golden mean. Divide your canvas horizontally and vertically into thirds; the lines, and especially the intersections, are great places to put your FP (and important elements in general).

Tangents: tangents are a big no-no. A tangent is an element that just barely touches something (like another element or the edge of the canvas), but doesn't overlap. Tangents tend to ruin the illusion of depth, create confusion in the viewer, and contribute to poor composition in general.

edit: tangents are elements that touch and are at different depths - it's okay to have things touching, if that's what you intend.

Along similar lines, there are certain framing issues. Don't cut figures off (with the edge of your canvas) at the knees, elbows, or in general at joints. Place a bit of one side of the joint or another into the composition.

More on the L-Shape, or rather shapes in general. It helps a LOT if you can start to think of your compositions in different terms, through different "lenses" if you will. It's a lot like seeing your work with a different pair of eyes, and you shift constantly to evaluate them in different terms as you go. Look at your comp and just see and think in terms of value (light/dark). Then do the same for lines, then color, then design, etc. To get this all back to shapes - if you learn to look at your comps this way, you'll start to see each element (line, value, color) as shapes. Work with these shapes (in the broad sense, the overall comp, not in the nitpicking sense), and try to be conscious of them, because your viewers will be impacted by them (probably unconsciously).
Protip: to help you see your comps as comps, try looking at them without focusing your eyes (focusing in front of or behind the comp). If you find that difficult, just squint. You'll find by relaxing your eyes or squinting when evaluating a comp, you can get a very good impression of the broad strokes (in terms of value, color, etc.)
Oh yeah, one last tidbit; long shots (camera further from subject) distance the viewer from the subject mentally (they may for example suggest loneliness); close-ups do the opposite. Upshots (camera pointed at subject from below) place the viewer in an inferior mental position to the subject (my guess is it's the whole child/parent thing, but that's just my guess) and suggest power and dominance; and downshots do the opposite.

Message edited on: 09/29/2004 15:33

Message edited on: 09/29/2004 15:40