Art of Photography: Project 12

For this project I found it quite difficult to find an unbroken horizon line. Actually it was quite difficult to find a horizon at all as everywhere is built up with houses, street lights, telephone poles, etc.

I really wanted to try and achieve the effect of having the horizon at the top of the picture to provide a real sense of depth. However I found this quite hard to do and realised it would be beneficial to be quite level with the scene or lower to the ground when photographing. I did however learn the idea's behind the technique and the project as a whole and beleive I can try this effect again in the future with more success.

I now know how the horizon can be placed at different points to change the focus and balance of the image, and believe that there is no 'best' way of placing the horizon, it all depends on what you are photographing and what you want from the image.

I also realised I really could do with an ND Grad filter for images like this as the sky is overexposed/washed out in most of them!



With the horizon towards the top of the frame, nearly all attention is on the forground and scenery.



Here the sky has slightly more prominance, whilst the focus is still on the forground.



With the horizon in the centre of the frame it really does cut the picture in half and is not a result that I like, in this instance at least.



As the horizon gets lower more prominance is given to the sky.



Again the sky is more prominant.



With a low horizon the sky is now the most prominant part of the image.

I had quite a few attempts at different horizons and I actually found in nearly all of them that I really like the images with a really low horizon and high viewpoint, as it seems like the sky is huge and imposing! I would like to get an ND Grad filter and try this properly with an interesting sky.

Art of Photography: Project 11

Choosing a selection of my images to look for balance in a photograph was actually quite hard, since until recently many of my photographs have had the subject central in the frame, and because I usually take wildlife photos so it'soften isolated subjects.

I did however understand what I learnt about subjects in the frame and placement to 'balance' the photo, and feel I will be able to use the knowledge in the future.




The first image I chose was quite easy to show balance, with the large subject i.e. the scenery, offset by the small subject towards the edge of the frame.




In the second photo I felt that the background takes up much of the frame and all of the left of the frame, but that the Water Measurer (the insect) on the right side balances the picture.




Here I thought that the left flower is slightly larger in the frame but the right flower almost equals it, being slightly more offset.




Similar to the flowers above, these are almost equally balanced with just a slight offset.




Here the balance is easier to see again, with the butterfly being larger and more prominent in the frame, and the flower placed nearer to the edge.




Finally, I felt the bush/tree took up a lot of room at the bottom of the frame but the Starlings at the top are more central so I felt they were quite evenly balanced.

Art of Photography: Project 10

This project was more interesting than the last one. The idea was to take a photograph of something filling the frame with a long focal length to achieve a telephoto perspective, and then to walk forwards in a straight line and take the same photograph with a short focal length/wide angle and study the results to see the different perspectives this produces.


The first image was taken at 300mm with the telephoto lens using a tripod. This is the sort of image I am used to seeing and was what I expected. f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO-400.

I then walked in a straight line towards the building until the same scene filled the frame at 18mm.


This image was taken of the same scene but at 18mm. I was surprised by how different the perspective was. In the first image the building appears quite 'flat' and 'compacted' where as here it seems to have much more presence, depth and weight. f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO-250.

Before starting this project I was unsure as to what the difference would be. I had read about how different focal lengths and lenses produced differing results and particularly how telephoto lenses 'compacted' perspectives but I didn't have first hand experience of it. Although I had a 18-55mm lens I rarely used it and always stuck to the 70-300 so I was very used to how images looked at these focal lengths and found it hard to imagine how it might look different. For these reasons I enjoyed doing this project and now feel I will have more consideration for using shorter focal lengths/wide angle lenses, and more of an idea as to the results they may help me produce.

Art of Photography: Project 9

An exploration of different focal lengths shot from the same place. I used both my lenses, 18-55mm and 70-300mm.


Image 1 taken at 18mm. f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO-200.


Image 2 taken at 28mm. f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO-200.


Image 3 taken at 45mm. f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO-200.


Image 4 taken at 55mm. f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO-200.


Image 5 taken at 70mm. f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO-200.


Image 6 taken at 100mm. f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO-200.


Image 7 taken at 133mm. f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO-200.


Image 8 taken at 214mm. f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO-200.


Image 9 taken at 300mm. f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO-200.

Art of Photography: Project 8

Whilst taking pictures for project 7 from a bridge over a river I noticed some ducks and rocks below and thought about trying to get some nice pictures from there. This then became the idea for project 8, which is to capture a sequence of images from the first thought about an idea through to the final image.


I spotted the ducks and reeds from the bridge.


Then I spotted the rocks and thought I might be able to find an interesting image.


Another image of the rocks taken from the bridge.


So then I went down to river level for a closer look.


Another at river level.


I liked the way the light reflected off the surface and the different shapes and colours created as it flowed around the rocks so I decided to try and capture it.


A first attempt at capuring the light on the water.


A swan was very interested in what I was doing and came over to say hello.


I tried a couple of the rocks but they weren't very interesting.


Another of the rocks.


I noticed some interesting patterns on the bridge side and tried photographing that.


I put the Circular Polarizing filter on the camera and tried some photos to show beneath the water.


This image of reeds was also taken with the Circular Polarizing filter attached.


I took some more photos of the swan :D

From this sequence I didn't really get one definitive photo which I liked the best and I don't think any of them were great, but it was good as an opportunity to follow the creative process. The ones which I like most of the river are below, where I captured the patterns of light and water as it flowed over the rocks.

Art of Photography: Project 7

To learn about subject placement in an image I chose to use a canoeist on the river. Unfortunately some of the images weren't as sharp as I would like, but to learn about subject placement I was pleased with the results.

Here is the first image with the subject in the centre of the frame.


As suggested having the subject in the middle of the frame does seem to negate the background/rest of image, by cutting a hole in the middle of the image. Consequentially the rest of the image here just appears messy and may as well be cropped from the image. f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO-640, 190mm.

I have put the rest of my photographs in order of preference from worst to best, with my ideas about each below the image.


Having the canoeist in the top-right or top of the frame seems to do nothing for this picture, with the majority of the image just uninteresting. f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO-500, 190mm.


Placing the subject in the left of the image does make the river seem slightly more interesting as I can see where the canoeist has been, but the subject draws the eye to the left and most of the right of the image is lost or not noticed. f/5, 1/800 sec, ISO-800, 190mm.


Here the subject is in the bottom right which seems to make for a better image as the eye follows his course down the river and more of the overall image is taken in. f/5, 1/800 sec, ISO-400, 190mm.


The final image and my favourite. Placing the subject in the centre bottom of the frame really drew attention to the background as well as the subject, and gives an impression of a large and daunting river which the canoeist is facing. You can start to imagine how it might feel to be in the canoe. f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO-400, 300mm.