Wild Art: Photos of Halloween, election night and the Texas Stampede Rodeo

by Laura Seewoester

Wild Art: Halloween, election night and the Texas Stampede Rodeo

(Click photo to see entire gallery)

Waxahachie WWII Weekend on the Square. By Flickr user Steve Reisman.

This week our Flickr community has shared their photos of Halloween, election night shenanigans and the Texas Stampede Rodeo that was at American Airlines Center over the weekend, among other things.

Tips and Tricks

Composition Part Deux: Disturbing the Frame. "Disturbance" basically means cropping something out of the frame that one might ordinarily think belongs in there. While I don't suggest necessarily chopping the top someone's head off, when you put a little thought into it disturbing your frame can accentuate the subject by zeroing in on the most important part of the image (someone's face, eye, or just their hands). There are, of course, a few rules to keep in mind when playing around with your framing. Never chop someone off at a joint, be it wrist, elbow or knee. You want the viewer to have an idea of what the subject looks like beyond what is shown in the photograph. The main idea here is to get closer. Turning a portrait into a detail can often create a more compelling image.

A perfect example is the photo in today's gallery of the potter's hands. Notice how you can see a lot more of the texture of the potter's hands with the water dripping down than you would if you could see the whole person. Also notice how the image is cropped just beyond the wrist. If it had been cropped at the wrist, the hand would look like a floating limb.

Photo by Laura Seewoester

Here you see that my other half is acting like a big dork. You can tell we have probably been drinking and can see that we are at a restaurant.

Photo by Laura Seewoester

In this picture, however, not only can you read the labels of the beer more clearly and see that yes it is in fact beer, you really get an up close and personal look at just how silly said other half was acting. The restaurant in the background is not important, nor is the top of his head or his arms. It's the look on his face that is the meat of what makes this photo so priceless. Also note how all of his joints are intact in the photo, none of them have been chopped off and therefore no "floating limbs."

JP Bute contributed his face to this article.