Rabbit Thought of the Day

The Golden Section Rule: It has been found that certain points in a picture's composition automatically attract the viewer's attention. Similarly, many natural or man-made objects and scenes with certain proportions (whether by chance or by design) automatically please us. Leonardo da Vinci investigated the principle that underlies our notions of beauty and harmony and called it the Golden Section. Long before Leonardo, however, Babylonian, Egyptian, and ancient Greek masters also applied the Golden Section proportion in architecture and art.

To get a clearer sense of these special "Golden" composition points, imagine a picture divided into nine unequal parts with four lines. Each line is drawn so that the width of the resulting small part of the image relates to that of the big part exactly as the width of the whole image relates to the width of the big part. Points where the lines intersect are the "golden" points of the picture:

The modern camera is capable of many things. It can focus for you; work out exposure for you; select a suitable shutter speed or aperture along with a multitude of other functions. However useful you may find these functions the one thing a camera can't do is compose your picture for you. It has no idea what it is pointing at and it has no idea what you are trying to achieve so you are on your own.

If you are using an 'auto-everything' camera like a digital compact or program SLR then your main area of control is going to be in the composition of your photographs. Sadly nobody can tell you how to take a great picture as to some degree it comes down to your ability to 'see' a picture or the potential to create a picture. Having said that; there are a load of 'rules' and techniques you can use to improve the final look of your photographs. We will look at a few of the popular, effective and easy to implement techniques that you will be able to start using right away. 

MPs are to vote on the emotive issue of cutting the abortion time limit on the second day of debates on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.  An amendment to the government's bill has been put forward to reduce the upper time limit on abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or less.  

Health Minister Dawn Primarolo insists there is no evidence requiring the abortion laws to be changed. She told BBC News: "There is no science that shows us that the survival rates have changed since we took the decision to have the time limit at 24 weeks."  

She also said the government wants to protect the right of women to choose. However, David Jones, a professor of bio-ethics, said research on the survival rates for extremely premature babies was "disputed".  

Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who put forward the amendment to change the abortion laws, said she believes the right of a woman to choose has its limits. She said: "If a baby feels pain as part of a barbaric abortion process - which is what happens post-20 weeks - and if we know that baby could live if it was allowed to be born, then there comes the point when that baby has rights which are of equal parity to the mother's."  

Previous attempts to force a vote on lowering the abortion limit have been defeated, but as there is a free vote on the issue, an unknown number of MPs may choose to stay away, or abstain. That increases the chances of those campaigning to lower the limit to 20 or 22 weeks, who claim to have the backing of 200 MPs.  

No matter how the vote goes it will go against some individual’s moral stance, some people are against abortion altogether, as for me, I feel that a 20 week limit is adequate, and therefore the limit should be lowered.

MP’s have voted to back hybrid embryo research in a sometimes heated debate the vote to ban research was defeated on a free vote by 336 to 176. I fully back this type of research if helps to find a cure for some of the genetic diseases then that must be a good thing. However, there must be strict controls. There will always be some mad scientist who will push the boundaries beyond that intended; I doubt we will have some animal/human hybrid walking around but some will try to see if it that is possible.

Before you show anyone those hundreds of holiday photos or the 2 hour slide show, edit your work. Take out all the doubles, all the duds, the out of focus and generally crap. Only show people the good stuff and your standing as a photographer immediately increases. Pro's can shoot a load of rubbish like anyone else; they just don't show it to anybody.