FOCAL LENGTH AND DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS

So far I have been able to reflect on the exercises done so far. I have learnt quite a bit even though am just starting. Its interesting to see how perspectives do indeed affect an image.
In this exercise on focal lengths and different perspectives, i was struck to see that distance and focal lenghts do play a significant role in the final image impression. I took two pictures of the car. The first shot using my 18-105mm lens was at 105mm all zoomed in at maximum focal length as shown below.


  Observe the image very well and compare it to the 2nd image shot at very wide angle 18mm. I moved closer and closer until I filled the frame taking note of the edges in the first image. The 2nd image is shown below.



What was not captured in the first image is shown in the 2nd image;the surroundings.The angle of view has also increased making the roof more visible now.

The Photographers Eye (Michael Freeman, 2007)  discusses perspective as the appearance of objects in space, and their relationship to each other and the viewer. A heigthened sense of depth through strong perspective tends to improve the viewers sense of being there in front of a real scene. It makes more of the representational qualities of the subject, and less of the graphic structure.

Looking at the two images, I tend to prefer the second image because i think its stronger. it is more representative of the environment.

LESSON LEARNT: Perspectives and viewpoints strongly affect the message of the image.



VARIABLE FOCAL LENGTHS

This exercise was to show the effect of changing focal lengths . I used my 18-105mm lens to focus on a two story buiilding some 600 or 700 feet away. I have earlier read Michael freemans The photographers eyes on his discussion on the topic and filling the frame of the viewfinder. A  wide angle lens enhances linear perspective if used close to the nearest parts of the scene and can show a large foreground-to-distance ratio. A telephoto lens compresses these planes reducing linear perspectiv, if used from a distance.This weakens perspective (Michael freeman, 2007).



Fig 1: Shutter speed 1/3000s, Aperture F/9.5, Focal length 18mm

The Fig 1 above was shot with the lens set at 18mm widest angle. The two story building in the background appears distant with a large part of the area shown to the left and right of the frame.

Fig 2: Shutter speed 1/6000s, Aperture F/5.6, Focal length 32mm

At focal length of 32mm, the two -storey building begins to come more into focus. But the angle of view begins to increase. Notice that the wall in Fig 1 is no longer visible.

Fig 3: Shutter speed 1/6000s, Aperture F/5.6, Focal length 42mm



Fig 4: Shutter speed 1/6000s. Aperture F/5.6, Focal length 48mm

Fig 4 was shot at a focal ength of 48mm. . Notice the increasing angle of view with overhead tanks no longer in view.

Fig 5: Shutter speed 1/6000s, Aperture F/5.6, Focal length 62mm

 I am using an APC sensor camera with a focal length magnification of 1.5. This implies that the actual focal lengths should be x1.5. In the image above actual focal length is 62x1.5=93mm.



Fig 6: Shutter speed 1/6000s, Aperture F/5.6, Focal Length 80mm



Fig 7: Shutter speed 1/6000s, Aperture F5.6, Focal Length 92mm



Fig 8:Shutter speed 1/6000s, Aperture F/5.6, Focal Length 105mm

 The image 8 above was the maximum focal length achieved with my lens. But the difference in perspectives between the first and last images can be seen. In this last image , the storey building is clearly conspicious .

SEQUENCE OF COMPOSITION



Fig 1: Starting Point

The exercise on sequence of composition proved a bit challenging in the sense that i wanted to get a scenery or event that would best portray sequences. I ended up in the recreational park in benin city. Its a sunday morning and few people were at the park as compared to the previous day when Nigeria celebrated its 51st independence anniversary and the place was crowded with people, Though i took pictures on that day, i did not think they would best describe a sequence. One thing I have learnt about Photography is that you need to be prepared for any event you want to cover. If you go for an event with a telephoto lens instead of a wide -angle lens that would best serve the purpose, then you mess up the whole project. Thats what happened to me. I went for the celebration with my 70-300mm telephoto lense instead of using my taking along my 18-105mm wide angle lens. Then i discovered at that point that I could not get shots with subjects very close by and cover the area very well.

All said Fig 1 was the day after with my wide angle lens. This was my approach towards the refreshment area with my son in tow.

Fig 2: Moving towards the white chairs under the tree



Fig 3: More to the right



Fig 4:Walking towards the chairs

 





Fig 5: And closer



Fig 6: My son heading towards the sitting area

 In Fig 6, my son heads towards the sitting area oblivious that the path is muddy. He steps in and stains his white trousers, itching to have a drink. I used a  faster shutter speed of 1/3000s which explains why the shadow is prominent. I need to do a better job of my apertures and shutter speed settings

Fig 7: He turned back due to the mud.



Fig 8



Fig 9: The Attendant is tidying up with his back to us.




Fig 10: Oblivious of our presence as we approach



Fig 11: This is an outdoors bar.



Fig 12: At this point he sees us as I take his photograph



Fig 13: We ordered drinks and he opens the refrigerator to give us our orders.



Fig 14: The fayrouz banner is clearly visible now. The assistant to the attendant is also busy cleaning up





Fig 15: Cleaning up



Fig 16: And more cleaning





 


Fig 17: We settle down on chairs provided and i take a close up shot of the fayrouz advert.



Fig 18: My son settles down to seep his drink.

In Fig 18, he is finally having a drink after wading through mud to get to the sitting area.
 

Fig 19: Drinking water before we make to leave.

OBJECT IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS IN THE FRAME

This next exercise was to position the object at different positions in the frame. it is quite obvious that where the object sits in a frame affects how the human eye views it.



Fig 1:  Centered

I took a picture of my son against a row of stadium seats with him centered in the frame

Fig 2: Left of the frame.

This shot above was taken with the young man in the left of the frame. I figured the rule of thirds will work here to show the background having a central mass with the eyes moving across to the row of empty green seats. This shot portrays some sense of vacancy in the empty row of seats. Some offcenteredness becomes desirable in order to set up a relationship between the subject and its background. (Freeman 2007)

Fig 3: Right Centered

The image in Fig 3 is right centered. As soon as you allow free space around the subject, its position becomes an issue. It has to be placed consciously, somewhere within the frame. Logically, it might seem that the natural position is right in the middle with equal space around . And indeed there are many occasions when this holds true.(Freeman 2007).

But i find that positioning the subject to the side of the frame tends to relay information about adjoining areas and what could generally be happening. For example, this is an empty stadium. On a day when it is fully in house, those empty seats there would be full of people. This picture at least suggests that there is no one seated around the vicinity. I used a telephoto lens (70-300mm) and this has impacted on my inability to capture the whole area. A wide angle lens would have been more appropriate.



Fig 4:Lower Centered

 The image above Fig 4 was taken with the subject centered in the lower part of the frame. This as can be seen has added another subject to the image which is the sky and the pole. This has made the picture busier to the eye.


LESSONS LEARNT: The way the subject is framed in a picture affects the appeal of the picture to the eye.

FRAME

By cropping the picture vertically, horizontally and square format, i an attempting to see which one best captures the essence of the picture. The vertical crop emphasizes the the wall while the horizontal crop depicts that setting of the picture. The square crop takes into account only the dimensions of the frame.  Most subjects tend to be ill  suited to square arrangements.



Square crop



Horizontal Crop



Vertical crop



Fig 4: Shutter speed 1/4s,Aperture F11, Focal length 110mm, Auto.

 This fianl image was at 110mm. The wall is shown clearly without the curtains and the archway. Its obvious the the picture is resting on a wall.


Fig 3:  Shutter speed 1/4s, Aperture F11, Focal length 195mm, Auto mode

  For this shot I zoomed in to 195mm using the same shutter speed and aperture and closed in on the subject. There isnt any sign of the immdeiate surroundings in this picture. To a person seeing it for the first time, he/she will know that its a painting but does not know the environment surrounding it.  The eye is fixed on the big tree and thereafter its sorrounding, not moving randomly across the picture. For this painting , emphasis is placed on the tree and how it relates to the adjoining areas.

Did some more reading 25/09/2011 going through frame shapes in Micheal Freemans The photographers eye. Getting to undertsand the 3:2 frame . Horizontal frames tend to be natural . It influences the composition of an image but not in an insistent outstanding way.
For naturally vertical subjects , the elongation of a 2:3 frame is an advantage. (P12)

To the painter, placing the tree in the center was more appropriate rather than using the rule of thirds. Sometimes it works out well if you need to accentuate the view with nearby features;example in this case the road path and the stream.

Fig 2: Shutter speed 1/4s Aperture F11, Focal length 122mm, auto mode

For the Fig 2, i zoomed in a little bit to 122mm and took the picture bwith other settings being the same. Though the sides of the painting is n ot properly aligned with the frame, it still gives a more pristine look than Fig 1. Having gone through the first few pages of Michael freemans book "The Photographers eye, composition and design for better pictures, i can say a better job can be done with the framing in Fig 2.  He talks about the horizontal frame format 3:2 being the most used in photography.

Fig 1: Shutter speed 1/4s Aperture F11, Focal length 70mm, auto mode


For this picture, i used auto mode with flash due to the poor light in my living room. I seldom shoot in auto mode because i don,t think it  will help my creativity. But i had to in this case. The 5 day training i attended at the London school of photography in april 2011 emphasised the need to always shoot in manual mode if you want to improve your photography. I have stuck to that advice. Anyway, as can be seen, part of my curtain and archway are captured in the frame which tends to draw part of the attention away from the painting on the wall.

PANNING



PANNING , Shutter speed 1/60s



PANNING , Shutter speed 1/10s

PANNING , Shutter speed 1/30s

SHUTTER SPEED



Fig 1: Shutter speed 1/6000, Aperture f4.8, focal length 70mm, ISO 1600

For this image in Fig1 i used shutter priority mode and set the shutter speed to 1/6000 which has frozen action.




Fig 2: Shutter speed 1/1000, Aperture f 16, focal length 70mm, ISO 1600

I stood from the balcony of my 2nd floor apartment to take these pictures of commercial motorcycle riders passing by. Though their speeds were not uniform, i tried to conjure in my mind what i think may be average speeds as they sped by. The image 2 above appears to be the slowest shutter speed at which movement is sharply frozen. At 1/500 seconds and slower, movement starts  to get blurry.

Fig 3: Shutter speed 1/500s, Aperture f16, 70mm,ISO 1600

At 1/500s i start to see a litte blurring of the picture.

Fig 4: Shutter speed 1/250, Aperture F27, 70mm, ISO 1600



Fig 5: Shutter speed 1/125s, Aperture F32,70mm , ISO 1600



Fig 6: Shutter speed 1/45, Aperture F32, 70mm, ISO 1600

Fast shutter speeds ( 1/250, 1/500,1/1000)s are the creative force behind exposures that freeze action while slower shutter speeds (1/60,1/30,1/15)s are the creative force behind panning. Superslow speeds (1/4, 1/2)s are the creative force behind exposures that imply motion.