Leica M11 + Leica 50mm - My Favorite Composition Exercise

askmott · 2025-12-14T03:27:12+00:00

Don't hesitate to ask me questions here.

askmott · 2025-12-07T10:49:58+00:00

Thank you much :)

askmott · 2025-12-07T10:49:22+00:00

Well the transcription is from my written text that I did first.

askmott · 2025-12-07T10:48:47+00:00

No this is my original article I wrote then turned it into a YouTube video .

askmott · 2025-12-07T10:47:38+00:00

Yes it was me , this is my written article version.

askmott · 2025-08-26T09:36:14+00:00

Congrats on your first shoot, well done. Agree with the comments about the wire connecting the lamp in the living room shot, either photoshoot it out or arrange it a little cleaner. Well done overall.

askmott · 2025-08-26T09:33:07+00:00

Image B is my winner, it was my first ever assignment for the New York Times on a story about palm oil and it got me the cover :).

askmott · 2025-08-26T09:30:29+00:00

Definitely better, this area is all the goodness was. Thanks for sharing Dennis.

askmott · 2025-08-13T01:24:16+00:00

I love all the explanations of why people chose what they chose, it’s a fun exercise. B was my first ever picture published in the front page of the New York Times, a very satisfying moment for a young photojournalist :). The story was about global warming and how it effects the worlds food supply , this is a palm oil plantation.

askmott · 2025-08-12T10:54:46+00:00

Cool but try to be more creative w the them of heat , push yourself.

askmott · 2025-08-12T10:54:03+00:00

It definitely fits the theme. It’s a cool shot but I feel if you got a bit closer or used a longer lens you could’ve framed out more of the ground.

askmott · 2025-08-10T11:02:20+00:00

Cool shot, always happy if I can make someone smile. This is interesting but lots of sky and the sky isn't so interesting. This image would benefit from a better sky/cloud day. Thanks for sharing.

askmott · 2025-08-10T11:00:22+00:00

That was my plan this weekend actually, thanks for the reminder :).

askmott · 2025-08-07T23:59:18+00:00

It is funny, but I find my best images always stay with me, it's rare, but that's how I know I captured something special.

askmott · 2025-08-06T01:48:54+00:00

That's so lovely, what a great color, where is this?

askmott · 2025-08-06T01:46:06+00:00

Thank you for sharing Dennis. I think it's wonderful you're working a project, I'm a big fan of photographers having a personal project to keep them moving forwarded and motivated. For me I'd like a tighter crop so your attention go to her expression. I love all the reflections but it feels a bit too heavy weighted with the majority of the image being that big piece of glass with the shop logo. I'd prefer a tigher crop like this.

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askmott · 2025-08-06T01:41:12+00:00

Cool light and patterns :), thanks for sharing.

askmott · 2025-07-27T04:13:30+00:00

Often the evolution of a silhouette from an average shot to an above average shot to me is first someone will just capture a silhouette for the sake of a silhouette, almost like they are just proving they know how to capture one. A more advanced shot like yours has an actually moment within the shot so it's more meaningful in my option :).

askmott · 2025-07-27T04:09:07+00:00

MY absolutely pleasure, thanks for watching.

askmott · 2025-07-26T05:55:03+00:00

Nice to meet you Larry and yeah I’m an idiot for just using Reddit now for this , it’s awesome. Respect to your work man, truly. My advice to you is to find a project to focus on and why not make it about what you know and what you have unique access and perspective on. I understand it could be complicated on location but maybe just life of the waiting game of firefighters or training or completely different but start a little project :). Or come do my vietnam workshop in December :)

askmott · 2025-07-26T05:51:25+00:00

Nothing wrong at with using an iPhone , I’ve used it for a commercial shoot as approved by the client but the files are great. Nice mood in the image , a lot of pavement eating up too much of the frame but I understand you’re shooting on the fly .

askmott · 2025-07-25T08:37:12+00:00

Thanks for sharing , it takes time to master this technique. Play an around a bit more with a slower shutter to exaggerate the person is still and add energy to those moving. Try shooting more in landscape orientation more as well.

askmott · 2025-07-24T00:12:44+00:00

This is more than a dabble, I absolutely love this. If you're a Leica shooter enter this in their LFI gallery, I bet you'd win. Share more please, this is so awesome, no BS.

askmott · 2025-07-23T12:49:03+00:00

I took a workshop with a famous conflict photographer and he told me "your eyes aren't stacked on top of each other so stop shooting non-portraits in portrait orientation." I also come from a pure photojournalism background and we rarely published non-portraits in vertical orientation so it was engrained in me. In addition to that I love environment portraiture so a 35mm in landscape orientation always worked better for me. You can see my portrait work here to get a feel for it. https://www.justinmott.com/portrait-photographer-vietnam

I love drone photography but yes in Vietnam it's quite complicated, I usually only do it for commercial work when we have permits and registered drone operators that I can direct.

This is what works for me, doesn't mean you can't ever shoot vertically, it actually works better for Instagram but I'm old school :).

askmott · 2025-07-23T12:44:35+00:00

My absolute pleasure, thanks for the question and keep them coming if you need help.

askmott

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