Week 5

Further Composition
This week we advanced further with some of the principles of composition and introduced the concept of balance.  In week 1 we studied the rule of thirds and in week 3 we considered how we
can use lines in our photographs.   This evening we began to look at how we can combine all of  these methods into our photographs.
When we visited  the rule of thirds, and asked  you  to practice using it I really asked you just to concentrate on one subject in your photograph, but photographs rarely consist of just one object.  If other objects are to remain in shot we need to ensure they are relevant to the or point of interest.  It is the way we arrange the elements in the frame in relation to the point of interest that will hopefully make a photo  pleasing to the eye.

Leading lines

We looked at the following  photos that contain lines that lead to to point of interest, note positioning on thirds and the lack of clutter and non-relevant objects.

The rocks lead the eye to the point of interest.
Lighthouse

The lines on the lawn lead to the sculpture, note how this is the case even though they are behind the point of interest.
Lawn Sculpture

The line of the road leads to the vehicle
Happy Car

The shadow lines lead toward the gate.
Brandenburg Gate

Balance

Similarly we looked at compositions that incorporate balance. 


The Sailboat in the foreground, the point of interest is balanced by the boat in the distance.
Boats


This one actually incorporates leading lines and balance.  The patterns of the clouds lead the eye to the rock on  the left, the point of interest.  The small boulder in the foreground leads the eye to it.  The pillar on the left balances the shot.
Balanced Rock 

 The echo of the bird in the distance balances the point of interest, the bird which is in focus.
Birds


The city of Vancouver  in the distance is obviously the poit of interest, but the rock in the foreground balances out the rest of the photo which potentially could be bland if there was just the expanse of water in the lower two thirds.  Notice the rock is on the intersection of thirds.
Vancouver

Editing

Later we had a brief look at Picasa.  which is one a few free tools available to us to edit our photos.  If you look in the external links section of the blog, you'll find some links to this and other free photo-editing software.  I would encourage you to think about how you can use this type of tool to improve your shots. 


I also mentioned my admiration of the work of Klaus Herrmann, one of his photographs (Brandenburg Gate) featured in my ponderings about leading lines. He uses a technique known as HDR which allows the representation of more contrast in a photograph without losing detail in shadows or bright portions.  The thing about the work of Klaus Herrmann is that he manages to achieve the final product without it looking false, the same cannnot be said of many other examples of HDR work. 
Klaus Herrmann's Flickr Page

Task

This weeks Funtography:

I encourage you to think before taking a shot.

• Decide what your point of interest is
• Ensure there's no clutter - move your feet or zoom in to reduce clutter, or move it with your hands
• Get Closer - ensure your point of interest is prominent in the frame
• Lines leading the eye to the subject - try this if possible
• Balance - try this if possible
• Keep the eye in the picture - don't have lines or objects that lead the eye out of the shot
• Ask yourself "Is everything in the frame relevant to the point of interest?"
  
  Don't forget,  the point of interest in a face would be the eyes, rather than the whole face. If you are taking a photo of a flower, find a point of interest within the flower.

Next week and in fact any week, please bring along shots that you took in the past, that you weren't happy about and we can look at them and perhaps look at ways of improvement.


Thanks
Mark