Scott Kelby: Crush the Composition | B&H Bild Expo

Scott Kelby spills the secrets that most photographers aren't talking about when it comes to composition. Understanding the basic rules is important, but knowing how to work a scene will advance your photography skills.
More from Scott Kelby
- scottkelby.com/
- kelbyone.com/
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0:00 The 2 Main Things
12:00 The Basic Rules
18:30 Working the Scene
28:58 How to Get the One Shot
30:53 Changing Your Perspective
34:25 Sharpness
36:12 Simplicity
38:27 Miscellaneous Tip
46:10 Quality of Your Subject
50:44 Recap
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[@tanweercaa]

The best quality of this man is, HE IS HONEST. No one dares to show his low class output. Congratulations Scott❤

[@Rocky-eq3ng]

I came here for photography lessons, I stayed for the humor 😅

[@johnw.3636]

Can we see all of the photos being mentioned? Not all of us were in the auditorium. 🤨

[@rolandrickphotography]

That’s a B&H problem since ever. I don’t know why they don’t show the presentation full frame and put the presenter PiP to the top or bottom left corner.

[@johnw.3636]

@@rolandrickphotography Exactly! It's so annoying.

[@jt_lancer]

A presentation about photography you can’t see 🤔

[@markothwriter]

i searched around for the boat dock photo with the red boat that he mentioned. could not find anything.

[@aidanpowers7176]

​@@markothwriter I believe it is Red Wall and Rope, Singapore by Jay Maisel

[@RS-Amsterdam]

99% of the info we all know but we all watch this till the end. Thanks for sharing

[@stevehageman6785]

Mr. Kelby is a great teacher.

[@stillsimotions9078]

Those are the best spent minutes this year. I learned so much even if I am in this photo business for so long. Scott is an awesome teacher.

[@BandH]

Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed Scott's talk!

[@tomlew55]

I began my photography journey in high school back in the late 60's. Things were so different back then because you couldn't spray and pray (without going broke) then digitally post process your work. There was a Time Life series of books whose philosophy on composure remained with me my whole life. It gave me the basis of what I still do today which is attempting to capture the moment. I am a huge fan of Ansel Adams and what that man went through to create stunning images. Yes, I do post process my photos, but my most favorite ones have minimal to no enhancement. I had a career that allowed me to raise my family and retire at a young age. I started to do weddings and events, but it turned into a job I didn't want or need, so that only lasted a couple of years. I'm luckily financially secure, so at my age it's all about the love of the art.

[@captynrj]

at 5:45 I almost died in laughter. The man. is. honest. Love Scott Kelby!

[@ba553y]

I have auto play on and a crtain video just finished and I was supposed to close YT immediately but didn't and this video starts. I was going to stop it and moved on but as it starts, from Mr Kelby's first sentence, I was captured. Didn't know how I spent 20 minutes glued to it. Incredible teaching, fantastic learning for me. thanks.

[@elmonijhoff1627]

yeah same man

[@leegibson9121]

I'm so glad KZbin recommend this video. It's extremely useful and very funny. There are lovely photos shown. The tips and advice are really helpful, and delivered with style. Loved it.

[@joshuamontgomery0]

Thanks Scott! Real encouragement for my portfolio!

[@JohnMarkYanson]

To be totally honest, didn't think Scott Kelby was this good of a photographer. Thought he was just another overrated camera guy who is going to talk about how great of a photographer he is without making any sense. But after watching this video, I now understand why he gets to run his own photo contest worldwide. This has to be one of the best, if not the best video about photography so far. Thank you Scott! You are not a good photographer, but a really great photographer and a human being! Cheers!

[@natet5959]

This was very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

[@yao4738]

Scott Kelby’s simply the best, I love how humble he is and keeps praising other photographers, but IMO he is the best photography educators out there, these advices are simple, straightforward and incredibly powerful once you understand them! I have never enjoyed someone’s keynote as much as his! How can I follow more events like this? I would love to attend one in person!

[@BandH]

Couldn't agree more! To stay up to date on our events, subscribe to our newsletter: bit.ly/48DDdkF

[@gregpantelides1355]

This is incredible. Thank you, Scott!

[@dvongrad]

Thirty years ago, I was customer tech support for a font and clipart company that was acquired by Aldus and soon thereafter by Adobe. It was a great experience before I moved on to software development, but I still keep in touch with my colleagues from those days.

[@rolandrickphotography]

To B&H: Please show the presentation full frame and put the presenter in a tiny PiP in the top or bottom left corner. This will conceal the sleeping director. 😉

[@cismeo]

"Back to bad" was my favorite shot though, BW you got a timeless shot.

[@elmonijhoff1627]

I'm so grateful for showing your entire shoot. I had this confrontation on my work where I took product photos for my boss and he looked at the photos on the camera whiteout me knowing and was then asking me in front of the entire team why some photos are unsharp in a rude way. He made me look like a fool since everybody knows I'm so much into photography

[@joelwexler]

Some people are just dicks.

[@wilfri14]

I looove this class right here the man make sense

[@abettermousetrap]

This was an amazing talk. The fact that he showed all his ''mistakes'' to get the one shot was brilliant. Great teacher. Kudos from the Maritimes

[@BandH]

Scott Kelby is such a great teacher. Thanks for watching!

[@paullanoue5228]

Another great Kelby video. Practical photography advice punctuated with humor.

[@BandH]

Those are a couple of the reasons why we enjoy his presentations!

[@MyJeanf]

Amazing Scott as always. I just went through all my Instagram as deleted aa the average shot. 👍

[@PizzlesTechTime]

This has helped me incredibly and I have not even gone out and shot again. My issue is the fundamentals are not printed in my brain. Along with culling photos and finding the best ones. I need to go easier on myself pick the best photos and narrow it down. Too many final images is making my work stand out less. Thank you so much

[@cameronempey8350]

Brilliant! Thanks for the amazing advice!

[@joanl3115]

Great presentation 👏‼️

[@pathdoc1701]

Alwasy entertaining and educational!

[@hlpvinod]

Thanks Scott. I leaned something, other than composition today.

[@jackmatthews9390]

This was so helpful. I like his teaching style and examples selection.

[@glenblaven]

Brilliant speaker. Deeply insightful. Thank you .

[@richcarpenter5652]

Love love the model stand in comparison :) so fun!

[@Henry30065]

Absolutely the best, most interesting and enjoyable online lesson on composition I have ever been privileged to see. Outstanding Scott!👌 Henry.

[@BandH]

Thanks for watching!

[@grandpawjeff8710]

Good video. it reminds me of the saying "you're known by what you Show not what you throw"

[@rolandrickphotography]

At 1:41, John Thomas Smith at the end of the 18th century is probably only the first who can be researched. I’m pretty sure the past painting masters already used it, they had it from the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Minoan culture and then we lose the track. True original ideas are very very very rare 😉. Figuring out how anti gravity or warp drive works, that has a chance to be the next two ones.

[@martinlennon4673]

Amazing and well presented 👍

[@local.minimas]

6 minutes in and I can't stop watching

[@G8GTJav]

Great lecture. Thank you. Now to check that Kraft box...

[@mastersquinch]

with that last one, the way I want to think about it is capturing what is beautiful or interesting about your subject. If you can't think of one, then pick a different subject. But that doesn't mean that there's nothing compelling about it. I've seen photos of pebbles that look awesome lol.

[@tedbrown7908]

Working the scene is like a forensics team working a crime scene to collect all of the evidence at the scene.

[@lewharrington1422]

This is So true! I’ve been having the same experience. Looking through my old negative files recently I noticed that there were on average 6 exposures to produce a great shot. Now with digital ….

[@raykleiner3151]

Henry Cartier Bresson was arguably the most renowned master of photograhic composition ever. His method was based on geometry which he used to great effect,

[@samuel.e.glover]

I always enjoy your content!

[@ljcbvideo]

Great show! My other job is teaching English and exactly in the same mind set... most people just want to learn grammar....! And when I ask them what they're interested in, they just have no idea!!!!

[@nigelhoward7403]

Brilliant

[@MarcLerchs]

Sobrilliant. So refreshing. Greetings from Belgium. Marc Lerchs.

[@koosfranken6115]

Thanks Scott, it is an awesome presentation

[@tonycampbell-wd3cp]

Great video. Very helpful !!

[@marekward6202]

That's a really good video. I learned a lot. . Thanks.

[@ulhasarolkar]

Thanks ... love your advicel

[@majorleo704]

Where is the second part of Photography which applies those composition techniques?

[@fearlessmadamex5685]

So good.

[@johnclay7644]

informative content.

[@The_Idea_of_Dream_Vision]

Loved the this. ❤

[@yuepeters8428]

no

[@neitaashley7598]

No eyes on the macaroni and yet eyes on the background. That’s eyeroni.

[@AnandaGarden]

Tremendous.

[@livinglifeontheedgechaos.1957]

Again a great presentation by one of the best but I have to say when he was talking about Joe's shot of the fireman he stopped at counting two flashes we all know Joe there was probably 53 flashes LOL

[@Stop-All-War]

B&H - where are all the photos????

[@josharpman]

I thought I would see the Taj Mahal series again 😊

[@ronmasters751]

Saw 35mm film rolls from Diane Arbus. One of her great iconic captures was the only image she made that day. Negatives on either side were from different locations. A lot of her shooting was sparse like that.

[@matthewdouglas2373]

What's the point of shooting in a cool location if you shoot wide open and then add even more blur in post?

[@rolandrickphotography]

I wished they advertised burger A and I’ll get B served. At least in Europe it’s unfortunately the opposite. 🥴 47:30

[@DEVUNK88]

there is an angle at which everything dangles

[@ronmasters751]

Speaking of really stupid design mistakes, why do lecture videographers spend all their time on the speaker, and skip or minimize the slides that illustrate his ideas?

[@dergelenkspreizer5272]

Hmmm. Working the scene seems to be for digital folks I think. I can't afford having only 2 good ones of my 36😂

[@artursandwich1974]

If the rules haven't changed so long - perhaps they're good guidelines after all? We admire the works of grand masters of art (painting, photography) because their works are pleasing to the eye for the adherence to the rules. They're psychologically sound. People who look for guidance on composition usually have no idea what to look for/ are stuck to even more boring symmetry/ do not trust (perhaps justly so) their instincts on the subject - or all of the above. Learning the long-established rules which have helped many masters create masterpieces over centuries, perhaps isn't a bad idea. Also, it's great to break rules if you know which ones you're breaking, why and to what effect. So if you don't believe the value the book carries, perhaps don't mention it, instead of ridiculing. It's (to an extent) like "cars have had four wheels for hundreds of years, how long are we going to stick to the same, boring rule?". Remember the guy who designed a submarine not according to established boring rules not so long ago? He had even bragged about breaking the rules of design submarine crafts... And I'm not saying this lesson is bad, worthless and wrong. Scott Kelby is too much of authority, also to me, and I like his ideas and teachings. Just saying that old rules don't need a ridicule.

[@danielspenner3683]

People forget, that rules merely describe what is by average perceived as beautiful. Rules however by no means create beauty.

[@TravisHenson777]

You think you can just post a fun talk by a likable guy and make me forget that I don’t have my x100VI yet? If so, you’re right. 😂😭

[@erbterb]

B&H is teaching us to work on publishing live lectures online. They publish bad lighting, half the slides, no window in window video etcetera to show us over the years what they go through to that final video where everything comes together. 2025, perhaps?

[@pudding2675]

not gonna lie, as much as I love all the free educational content on the tubes, but this grains my gray matter to a pulp. How did anyone ever think that it is a great idea to just not show slides in a prez while there is direct references to the slide being made is just beyond me. Double the worse considering the topic at hand is one of the most visual ones there could be: Imagery.

[@26BloodKiller]

Exposure is the easiest part of photography. Composition is something every photographer needs to know.

[@gburgMD]

What if I'm happy with my photography? Can I pat myself on the back?

[@user-uc7gf9kf4v]

Can you please show more of the slides and less of Scott ! If one can’t see the slides it’s rather pointless

[@SgtStash]

Shout out to the lazy A/V record team that couldnt bother to show visuals during a presentation about visuals.

[@user-lf9lm9mq8s]

Excellent viewpoints on composition. Please break the rules…. Perhaps there are no rules, just get that emotional response to your photos

[@asifmmhashim_spazio9124]

Wonderful! But when will we have an escape from this worst background? :(

[@bobroberts6155]

Anyone else thought many of his shots were over sharpened and saturated? He seems obsessed with post processing to the point of shots having an artificial ‘processed look’. That’s great if it’s the style you are looking for but, to me, the skill in post processing is to look like you haven’t done it.

[@tarjei99]

In my mind, the violonist should have been sitting in front of the church with her violin resting on her tigh pointing up.

[@aerozg]

Why not share his presentation screen live as default, and cycle through the cameras as necessary. We don't really want to look at the presenter, but the thing that he is presenting. It's about content, not the person. Unfortunately i see this with many many interesting presentations like this, accross the social media. Poor editing skills. I would expect B&H to know better.

[@rajeshjantilal9023]

gosh this guy has changed....

[@rajeshjantilal9023]

8 minutes into it- TALK ABOUT COMPOSITION????dude...no stories maaaannnnn!!!!

[@BunnyHop12]

This video is LIT 😊❤ Thank you Scott 🙏 But cmon, is it cut & edited by a drunken monkey??? Lots of times it's showing him on the stage talking instead of showing what he's doing with the pictures or showing the actual pictures that he's talking about. Infuriating 😬🤦🤦🤦

[@daretoseeit]

🛑I wish B&H could change that stage background (really agly and annoying)

[@bartromanowski1262]

Good talk, but the chromatic aberration on these images is driving me up the wall.

[@emmanuelleregent]

Why mocking french People ! It's rude ! 😢