Exercise: Positioning the horizon

A frame can be divided in to multiple areas. This division can be due to a number of characteristics such as colour, or light and shade. In this exercise I used the horizon as a dividing factor. I placed the horizon at a number of positions within the frame and captured images.

Horizon at bottom of frame

With the horizon at the bottom of the frame the sky becomes the dominating element of the composition. This composition feel extremely unbalanced and I do not feel it is a successful image.

Horizon at bottom third of frame

With the horizon placed at the bottom third of the frame the sky maintains its position as the most dominant element in the image. However, as more of the foreground is visible the image does work and has a dynamic feel about it.

Horizon in middle of frame

In the frame above the horizon is placed centrally within the frame. The ground and the sky are equally balanced and the frame is relatively static. In this particular image there is still a slightly dynamic feel as the hill in the foreground is sloped. However, this slope is overcome by the general balance in the picture which gives it a much more static feel than any of the other compositions in this exercise.

Horizon at top third of frame

With the horizon placed at the top third of the frame the image produced is dynamic in nature and interesting. The eye is drawn across the foreground and then on to the sky. In my opinion this image is successful and interesting. I prefer to this image to the other horizon placements (which have no foreground interest) due to the interesting nature of the ground in the scene.

Horizon at top of frame

With the horizon placed at the top of the frame the ground becomes the dominating element within this composition. Since such little of the sky is visible the image produced is less interesting than the compositions where there is more sky visible. This image is dynamic as the eye is drawn along the ground from the bottom of the frame towards the horizon. However, the images with more sky visible were preferable and I do not feel this image really works.

Horizon in middle of frame with foreground element

In this final image the horizon is placed centrally. However, while this previously produced a static image the presence of foreground interest overpowers the central horizon giving depth to the image and creating an interesting image. In my opinion this was the most successful image taken in this series. The eye is drawn to the flowers in the foreground and then discovers the horizon, the ground, and the sky afterwards.

Exercise: Balance

In this exercise I identified the dominant parts of a sample of my images. I noted these dominant parts by drawing rectangles around them. Following this I explored the balance in the photographs by looking at the rectangles on scales. The results of this exercise are below.

While this picture of my daughters playing in their paddling pool seems unbalanced I still feel it works well. The eye goes from my daughter in the foreground diagonally to my daughter in the background who occupies less of the space. This movement gives a dynamic nature to the picture.

This photograph of a skateboarder in mid-air is well balanced in my opinion. The skater himself is centrally placed. The large column to his right is balanced by the much smaller dark coloured area to his right. I feel the dark colour adds weight to that area so a much smaller area is required to balance the large column to the left of the skateboarder.

The more central placement of the houses of parliament helps to balance out the larger area covered by Big Ben and the railing on the bridge.

In the portrait above my brother is centrally placed and my daughters are placed on either side of him symmetrically. The picture is therefore balanced.

This photography of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is completely symmetrical and in my opinion is perfectly balanced.

My daughter forms one element in this composition and is clearly one dominant part of the image. However, I feel the mass of the backdrop also forms a point of interest. While my daughter is much more dominant than the background, the greater area of the background helps to balance out this image.

I found during this exercise that when there were very few dominant components on a simple background that the dominant components were very easy to identify. However, in more complex images such as that of the skateboarder it was much harder to identify the dominant components within the image.

In this exercise I have learned that I have tended to have a good sense of balance in my images. However, balance is not completely necessary to create a good image as is shown in the picture of my daughters in their paddling pool.

Exercise: Focal lengths and different viewpoints

In this exercise I explored the differences in the image captured when a subject fills the frame when a long focal length is used and when a subject fills the frame when a short focal length is used. To carry out this exercise I found a subject with some depth to it. I attached my 70-200mm lens to my Canon 50d camera and set the lens to 121mm, the longest focal length I could use to capture my chosen subject. I composed the scene such that my chosen subject filled the frame. This involved me walking away from my subject first. I then attached my 10-22mm lens and setting the lens to 10mm I walked towards my subject until it once again filled the frame. The results can be found below.

Focal length: 121mm

Focal length: 10mm

You may be wondering why I set my telephoto lens to 121mm rather than 200mm in the first image. The reason for this is that the subject was on top of a hill and were I to walk any further away than where I was when I captured the first image the ground would have obscured the subject.

The two images captured are dramatically different even though the field of view has been maintained by changing viewpoint. In the first image, taken at a relatively long focal length, the image seems flat. The back wall of the hut does not seem too far from the columns at the front. The columns are parallel and even and the proportions of the hut seem even and as they were observed with the eye. The image captured at this longer focal length feels clean, orderly and in proportion.

In the second image, taken at the shortest focal length available to me, the hut feels much deeper. The back wall of the hut is clearly some distance from the columns at the front. The columns themselves are no longer parallel. Instead the columns form diagonals, sprouting out from the ground and exploding away from the centre. The roof appears to be far flatter than in the first image. The diagonals formed by the columns give the second image a more dynamic feel than the first image.

Exercise: Focal lengths

In this exercise I explored the effect of the field of view when the focal length is changed. My camera was mounted on a tripod and I attached my 70-200 telephoto zoom lens to it. Starting with the lens set to 200mm I took a series of images reducing the focal length of the lens for each shot. When I reached the minimum focal length of the lens I replaced it with my 17-55mm lens, being careful not to move my camera during the process. I then repeated the process with this lens.  My results are shown below.

Focal length: 200mm

Focal length: 165mm

Focal length: 127mm

Focal length: 93mm

Focal length: 75mm

Focal length: 55mm

Focal length: 46mm

Focal length: 35mm

Focal length: 23mm

Focal length 23mm, cropped to have similar field of view as 200mm

I observed that as the focal length was reduced the field of view was increased. I noticed that the centre of the wide angle image shot at 23mm is simply a reduced version of the image taken at 200mm. I have shown this by cropping out the centre of the 23mm image and placing it above.

Calibrating My Computer Monitor

I went out to shoot for some more exercises today but the incessant rain drove me in to a fantastic camera shop by the name of Park Cameras. This place has a large internet based business so the prices are always keen. I ended up buying a device to calibrate my computer monitor. The difference post calibration is really quite astounding. My images which I have dutifully been processing in Lightroom and underexposing a little as they seemed too bright all look too dark now.

I am not going to go back and edit photographs I have already submitted. However, there should be a big difference in future uploads. I am guessing that on uncalibrated pictures my future pictures will look too bright. However, I will be happy in the knowledge that my prints will come out as they look on my screen.

The Art of Posing: Techniques for Digital Portrait Photographers by Lou Jacobs Jr.

Keen to increase my skills in the area of posing subjects I read this book, written by Lou Jacobs Jr. This book was very different to most photography books I have come across. Rather than describing poses and instructing the reader on how to create them, this book instead provides much broader advice.

The Art of Posing is made up of a number of sections with each section being written by a different (American) commercial photographer. The photographers describe their target demographic and touch on how they market their business and how they go about creating images that will be commercially successful. As such the book covers much more than posing. However each of the subjects touched upon is covered only lightly as each of the photographers provides their view and perspective on the same topics.

While this book was interesting to read I did not find it of particular value towards posing people at my current stage of development.

Exercise: A sequence of composition

In this exercise I explored the practical process of composing an image. I found this exercise to be extremely challenging. I had many attempts which failed for one of two reasons. Initially I suffered from shyness. I felt odd about taking candid pictures of strangers. However, as I explored the genre of street photography more and more in my personal reading I became increasingly inspired. This inspiration emboldened me to the extent that by the end of this exercise I was able to go out in to the street and shoot with very little fear or self consciousness. As a side note, I hope to explore the area of street photography far more extensively going forward.

I took two sets of pictures which I felt were worthy of use in this exercise. They were both taken on the South Bank of London, an area rich in culture and variety. My first set was of a person selling Indian soft drinks alongside a man made beach alongside the Thames. My second set is centred around a fishmongers in Borough Market, near London Bridge. I have chosen to use the second set for the purposes of this writeup but both sets can be found by clicking here.

Using my 17-55mm lens attached to my 1.6x crop Canon 50d camera I captured a relatively wide angle view of the fishmongers stall that I was interested in by choosing a focal length of 17mm. The market is under cover and busy so getting a wider view was challenging.

Moving to my left I attempted to capture more of the stall by changing my viewpoint.

Moving further still I positioned myself to the end of the stall so that i was able to capture the full length of the stall along with the customers and fishmongers too.

Zooming in as much as possible to a focal length of 55mm I decided to focus in on one of the fishmongers at work.

Changing my viewpoint by angling my camera down towards the ground I isolated some of the fish being sold from the rest of the scene. I was attempting to capture the horizontal bars and vertical bars produced by the two kinds of fish. I attempted to balance the picture by reducing the strong dark areas and increasing the area covered by the lighter white fish. I learned of this technique from The Photographers Eye by Michael Freeman.

Angling my camera up again and moving around the counter I captured a fishmonger and one customer.

Continuing to adjust my viewpoint I became interested in the groups of fish on display.

I explored the stall itself which was made up of interesting textures and patterns.

Angling upwards I caught more of the fish and a fishmonger. I was close enough for some of the signs on display to become more significant.

The signs caught my interest and I recomposed to make them more significant.

Moving in closer and using a larger aperture to reduce the depth of field I make the sign even more significant in this composure.

As I adjusted my viewpoint I noticed the interesting patterns formed by the pile of squid which were covered in ice and which were hanging over the side of the stall.

Finding the interaction between customer and fishmonger more interesting I raised my camera to capture the wider scene again. However, in contrast to the earlier picture I captured the scene from the other end of the stall.

The spiked fish hanging from the ceiling had caught my interest in the previous image and so I moved to recompose and capture it.

I moved further to my left and forwards to highlight the spiked fish in my composition.

Moving further still in order to isolate the fish from it's surroundings I capture this image with the fishmongers in the background as well as a sign which tells the viewer more about the scene.

Recomposing to eliminate the distracting light bulb I also increased the aperture to separate the spiked fish from it's background. I was careful to maintain enough depth of field to keep the sign in the background legible so that the viewer has some context to the image being viewed.

Finally I changed the cameras orientation and waited so that I could capture a fishmonger busy at work in the background along with the spiked fish in the foreground.

During this exercise I kept my eye to the viewfinder the whole time. Doing so allowed me to see a range of images that I would not normally have thought of capturing. I observed how small changes in position and angle can result in drastically different images being captured. In addition to this keeping my eye to the viewfinder allowed me to detach myself from the scene in some ways and focus on the process of taking a photograph. I was right inside the scene physically and yet I was still able to concentrate on composition and the content of my image rather than my personal relationship with those around me.

I enjoyed two of these images over and above the others. Initially the penultimate image was my favourite as I feel it i has a good balance and in addition to the composition I like the fact that the sign int he background gives context to the image without overpowering it. However, I also enjoyed capturing the people in the images. In particular I liked the image below which I felt works better having been processed as black and white image.

Master Posing Guide for Portrait Photographers by J.D. Wacker

I picked up this book on the basis that while people are one of my favourite subjects I sometimes struggle with how to pose them. This is a great book for the beginner and does not require any deep level of understanding before reading it. I took away some valuable lessons which I look forward to putting in to practice.