Saturday 19 December 2009

Art of Photography: Project 18

Project 18 still focused on points as 16 & 17 had, but where as they focused on single points this is about having two points in the image.

When a single point is in the image with nothing else the composition is created by the relationship between the point and the frame, so placement of the point in the frame is all important.

However when there are two points in the frame the composition is created by the relationship between those two points. I learnt that the mind usually has a stronger focus on one of the points, maybe because it is larger or nearer the centre of the frame. The positioning of the points and their size can either balance or unbalance the composition.

On the day I took the images it was very cold and there wasn't much opportunity to capture two points in an image, so the pictures are not great but I still learnt the idea's behind the project.


Here I believe the composition is fairly hard to resolve as both points are in a similar position in the frame and the eye moves between the two, however as the dog is slightly nearer the centre and motion is implied, attention is drawn there a little more.


This is a good example of how the relationship between points can balance the composition. One duck is nearer to the centre of the frame, larger in the frame, and more in focus, so although the viewer sees both ducks attention is drawn to the male.

We were also asked to take an image of a pair of eyes at equal distance from the centre of the frame, and equal size, to see how this can make an uncomfortable position as the viewer cannot resolve the composition.

The mind cannot decide between the two eyes and is not drawn to either. Here I believe the bridge of the nose is also 'dividing' the image.

I also captured a similar image of ducks, where they were both the same size and distance from the centre of the frame. I decided to include it as another example as I believe it shows the same idea as the eye picture.

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Art of Photography: Project 17

For project 17 I had to capture three images with a 'Point', having a reason for it's placement in the frame.



Here I chose to place the point small and bottom left in the frame to show the expansiveness of the sky and movement of the plane into it.



Placement here is not so good with hindsight, but it is placed near to the golden section, and I still like the image for a slight feeling of serenity it gives.



This is placed on the golden section as well. After taking this image I realised something that made me laugh. That this is the kind of area I usually place bows when I wrap presents, and that the lines showing the divide would be the same position as ribbon. This made me think of how the golden section is meant to be appealing visually, even sub-consciously, that I did this before I even started photography, and that many other people place it like this too.

Art of Photography: Project 16

Project 16 & 17 focus on 'Points', how they are positioned in the frame and how they divide the frame.

I have learnt that a 'point' is a focal point in the frame which drawers the viewers attention. The smaller an object or subject is in the frame, the more it can be considered a point. Points can also divide the frame so their placement and focus can have a big impact on composition.

For project 16 I had to choose 6 pictures I have already taken with 'points' and look at their placement and how they divide the frame. Also, a point can have a sense of movement depending on its position and relation to the edge of the frame.



The positioning of the gull here gives a very slight sense of movement into the frame, which I think aids the view that the gull is 'gliding'.



Similar to the gull, their is a larger divide on the right of the image which helps to show the heron heading into the picture and movement to the right. The higher and further right placement makes the heron appear higher in the sky and perhaps moving faster.



I like this picture simply because I remember how fast the ducking was shooting across the water to reach his mum. It was almost like he was gliding on top of the water. Here the duckling in centered horizontally in the frame which I felt helped show the direct route 'through' the water to his goal.



Being an early picture (before I started the course) this one didn't have too much thought for composition and the subject could have been placed better.



This earlier image of a Poppy shows how when a subject gets larger it is less of a point. Also the point is very near to the centre of the frame and doesn't add much to the composition of the photograph.



The placement of the point to the right and higher in the frame, together with the trails, show the subject heading off out of the frame and downstream. The large and uninteresting divide to the left, however, I feel is probably too big and ruins the photograph.

Friday 4 December 2009

Art of Photography: Assignment 1 - Final Categories for Submission

The final categories I have chosen for submission are as follows:-

Heavy/Light
Large/Small
Black/White
Hard/soft
Diagonal/Rounded
Liquid/Solid
Many/Few
Still/Moving
Strong/Weak

Art of Photography: Assignment 1 - Diagonal/Rounded

I quite enjoyed this category. I decided to base it on football, focusing on the goal for the diagonal image and the ball for the rounded image.

For the 'Diagonal' image my idea was to show the diagonal of the goal structure prominent in the frame, with blurred action in the background. I wanted the blurred action to show it was a football match but with the main focus on the frame of the goal. This I felt I achieved quite well, using a wide aperture to blur the players and capturing a suitable 'action' shot. However I was unsure how well the goal frame shows the 'diagonal' theme.

For the 'Rounded' image I simply wanted to capture an interesting action shot with the football featuring very prominently in the frame. Ideally I hoped this would be very dynamic with the football heading towards or close to the camera, so it was very large in the frame, and players again in the background. This proved quite difficult as the very limited lighting limited me to slower shutter speeds. Even with the aperture at its widest and ISO at its highest I could only get 1/60 or 1/80th of a second. This meant any time I tried to get the image I wanted the photograph was too blurred as the ball was invariably moving very fast. The high ISO also meant the images had a fair amount of noise. In the end the images which I felt I could select from were not quite as dynamic and still a little blurred.

However I did really enjoy photographing a sport which I love and would like to try this again on another day, perhaps with better lighting so I could capture much sharper images.

Diagonal

Image taken at f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO-1600 and 100mm.

Rounded

Image taken at f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO-1600 and 100mm.

Thursday 3 December 2009

Art of Photography: Assignment 1 - Still/Moving

This category didn't really turn out as I'd hoped. Based around a set of swings, the idea was to show the swings in use and capturing motion, and then when not in use. I wanted to have sunshine or bright colours in the Moving image and subdued colours in the Still image, hoping this would add a feeling of fun and happiness when the swing was played on, and a contrasting dullness or loneliness when it wasn't.

My only task for the still image was to try and find an angle and composition to make the Still image interesting. I tried many different angles and am fairly happy with the result, but feel without a good 'Moving' image the idea is not presented as well as I imagined.

For the Moving image I found it really hard to capture much detail in the movement during the day or brighter light. Obviously it is not too hard to capture a small amount of motion blur, but I had envisioned capturing the whole arc of the swing and this is what I was trying to achieve. I had a few attempts on different days but could not find settings to capture the image as I hoped. To have long shutter speeds during the day requires slower or narrower apertures, and I also used ND filters to reduce the light reaching the sensor. Whilst there wasn't a problem obtaining the shutter speeds I wanted, it was only capturing little if any of the swing motion. I tried many times with many different settings. I also tried having my flash set to second curtain sync, thinking it would be brilliant if I could capture a blurred swing with the person using the swing sharper at the front of their arc, but unfortunately this didn't work either. I believe this was due to my on camera flash not being powerful enough, and that with a dedicated external flash I could achieve what I wanted.

This is another example of not being able to do what I hoped because of my equipment. Whilst I have been very happy with it in general, there have been a couple of occasions where I would like to possess more. I have already purchased a flashgun kit and nice lens and will continue to upgrade when I can.

So overall I guess the images are okay, but unfortunately not what I had pictured or wanted to achieve.

Still

Image taken at f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO-1600 and 100mm.

Moving

Image taken at f/11, 0.6 sec, ISO-200 and 20mm.