Exercise: Object in different positions in the frame

In this exercise I look at the impact of the position of an object in the frame. I have presented the images captured in order of preference, with my favourite image at the top. As the images become more uncomfortable, awkward and less desirable I have described why I feel this is the case.

MIDDLE LEFT

In this image the subject is prominent and ones eye is drawn immediately to it. The placement of the subject lends a balanced and comfortable feel to the image. There is enough mass to the background such that even with its lack of interest the background is able to balance out the image with its extremely prominent subject.

MIDDLE

This image feels comfortable and balanced. However, this image feels somehow static and lacking in design. Ones eye is drawn immediately to the centre of the frame and there is no movement from there. I do feel this is a successful image. However, this image is less enjoyable to me than the first.

TOP LEFT

This image feels awkward. The subject is in a corner and so the background has a great deal of mass to it and in my view takes on too much importance in the composition. The background somehow overpowers the subject and the image feels unbalanced. I do feel this image is dynamic and exciting, even more so than the first image. However, the balance in the first image is more attractive to me than the movement and dynamic nature of this image.

FAR LEFT

As in the previous image the background overpowers the subject and the image is unbalanced.

I am finding it very difficult to articulate why I find this image less pleasing than the previous images. At first inspection this image should have been second in my order of preference. However something about it just does not work for me. I think this might be because the subject is slightly too close to the centre and therefore there is enough mass to the water on the left side such that the image becomes unbalanced and awkward without the dynamic nature of the previous two images to help it.

This image feels unbalanced and gives me a sense of claustrophobia. The subject is overpowered from above, below and to the right. It seems the subject is being pushed up against the left side of the frame and has nowhere to run. This composition could be of value in a scene where the photographer wants to project claustrophobia or awkwardness. In this scene this was not my intention and the image does not work.

My comments relating to this image are exactly as for the previous image. There is a sense of claustrophobia, imbalance and awkwardness in this image.

This exercise was valuable in helping me to understand the concept of balance better. In addition to this I can see that there will be times when I can use an awkward composition to support an image and emphasise the emotion being conveyed.

Exercise: Fitting the frame to the subject

I spent a long time thinking about an interesting subject for this exercise.  I was asked to select a subject that is compact in shape,  clear in appearance, and affords me the opportunity to take a photograph of it from close by and far away.  I realised that the term compact does not necessarily mean small and is used here to describe a subject that has defined borders and an identifiable shape.

I decided that the London City Hall would make a great subject for this exercise while also providing a visually stimulating and interesting subject to capture.  Unfortunately I was forced to conduct this exercise in relatively bad weather with failing light and without the use of a tripod.  I do plan to return to this location when the sky is more interesting however overall I am pleased with the results I achieved.

Results
The four photographs required for this project consisted of taking photographs with no consideration to composition, with the subject fitting the frame as tightly as possible, a close up photograph without any of the edges of the subject showing and a photograph with the subject occupying 1/4 or less of the frame.  There results of this exercise are below.

No consideration for composition

Tight fit to frame

Close up

Subject 1/4 frame or less

I was extremely surprised at how different each of the photographs above looks.  I realised now that as I view a scene I have preconceived ideas with regards to how a photograph of that scene will look.  By looking at the subject through the viewfinder and at different distances and angles I realise that a wealth of creative possibilities are available that I had not considered when first surveying the scene.

I created several crops from the photographs I took to explore further possibilities.  I have presented these crops below.

I have cropped the above photograph with a landscape orientation and have tried to eliminate unnecessary areas including the foreground and on the left side of the frame.  I have placed City Hall in the top right of the frame and included Tower Bridge in the background.  I feel this is an aesthetically pleasing crop which has areas of interest in the foreground as well as in the background.

Here I have chosen a square crop.  While this shape of crop may be required for certain types of frame or placement I found that this crop did not work for the scene that I was capturing for this exercise.  The curving shape in the foreground is abruptly cut off on the left side of the frame and this leaves this interrupts the flow of the photograph.

The above crop is vertical or portrait.  I chose to place the subject in the top of the frame.  This frame is not pleasing to me for two reasons.  Firstly the curving and flowing structure in the foreground is abruptly cut off and interrupted on the left side of the frame.  Secondly this composition does not include significant features of this scene including Tower Bridge in the background.

This panoramic crop aims to include as much areas of interest from within the scene as possible while eliminating as much of the rather unintersting sky as possible.  In order to fit the main subject, City Hall, in I chose to rotate the frame.  This angled view gives the scene a dynamic feel.  I find this crop to be visually pleasing.  This is a crop I would never have thought of trying before conducting this exercise.

For this final crop I have chosen another panoramic view.  However, this time the scene was not rotated and this results in much of the main subject being eliminated.  I feel this crop does not work for this scene as the missing part of City Hall results in the photograph feeling incomplete and far less interesting than the previous crop.

In summary this exercise taught me to view a subject from a variety of distances and angles.  My favourite crop was the penultimate one.  This was particularly pleasing as that is a crop I would never have attempted in the past.

Exercise: Panning with different shutter speeds

Panning involves following the movement of a subject with the camera. A fast shutter speed can freeze motion while a slow shutter speed can result in an exposure in which the movement of the subject is apparent.

For this exercise I once again strived to pick a subject out of the norm. I decided to elicit the help of my twins and photographed one of them as she flew past me on a swing.  I also decided to try the exercise on passing cars.  My primary reason for doing this was to have one set of photographs where the movement was in a single direction.

Results
In order to take these photographs I set my camera to the Shutter Priority mode (Tv) and allowed the camera to choose the aperture needed to correctly expose the picture. All photographs were taken with my Canon 50d camera body with the Canon 17-55 2.8 IS lens attached.  Please click on any of these photographs in order to see a larger version.  Each photograph is labelled with the associated exposure settings and this is far easier to read on the enlarged view of the photographs.

Capturing my daughter as she hurtled past on a swing was challenging.  The movement I had to track was an arc.  I had to be close to her in order to prevent the frame of the swing obstructing my view and this meant that the movement was also rather fast.  It was a cold day and so I could not afford to spend too much time shooting for a perfect capture.

I am extremely pleased with the results and feel I managed to keep some element of her clear and in focus in all of the pictures.  The first photograph is almost abstract in nature.  While her face is clearly distinguishable the rest of the photograph has taken on the appearance of an oil painting.  As the shutter speed is increased the background is easier to view however the sense of movement is maintained in all of the photographs up to and including the photograph taken at a speed of 1/125th of a second.  After this the photographs look more and more static.  At 1/1000th of a second the subjects look completely static with the only thing giving away movement being the angle of the chains attaching the seat to the swing frame.  One of my personal favourite photographs was taken at 1/125th of a second.  This photograph shows clear movement however one can still distinguish the background relatively clearly.  I also find the photograph taken at 1/15th of a second extremely pleasing due to its abstract nature.  If I had to pick one of the two it would be the one at 1/15th of a second.

Carrying out this exercise while only worrying about movement in a single plane made panning much easier.  Furthermore, as I was standing quite far from the cars and could see them approaching I was able to set up more easily.  It was an extremely dull day and so in order to achieve the faster shutter speeds I was forced to raise the ISO setting that I used.

Once again the photograph taken at the slowest aperture is almost abstract in nature.  The background is blurred but so is the subject.  This was due to the fact that I found it hard to keep the camera locked on the subject for the duration of the exposure.  However, I feel I did a good enough job of this such that the subject is clearly identifiable as a taxi.  In this first picture the background is completely undistinguishable and it is impossible to tell where this picture was taken.  As the shutter speed is increased one is able to identify the location this picture was taken at for the first time in the shot taken at 1/60th of a second.  By 1/250th of a second there is little motion blur aside from the wheels of the car.  and from 1/500th of a second onwards the movement of the car is completely frozen (including the rotation of the wheels).  My favourite picture in this sequence was taken at 1/60th of a second.  One is able to identify where the picutre was taken and yet the subject is clear and not blurred.  This gives a great feeling of speed to the picture.