Project 5: Rhythm and Pattern - Exercises and Notes

Brief:  Produce at least two photographs, one should convey rhythm, the other pattern

RHYTHM

St Pauls Cathedral Birmingham

1/200 sec f5.6 16mm ISO 200

The repetition rate on the stained glass focuses the eye directly to follow the line up and across.  There is no differentiation or interference in the rhythm as it flows through the frame up to the opening window at the top where the rhythm is interrupted.

PATTERN

The Viaduct

1/13 second at 18mm ISO 200

The pattern in the arches draws the eye through each section of the viaduct and helps it carry onto infinity.  As the viaduct is a repeatable structure I felt it worked really well for this exercise.


Conclusions

Rhythm helps to make the viewer feel comfortable with a busy and full framed composition by ensuring consistency and instant recognition of the subject.  It invokes peace and helps to attract instant attention by its sense of order.  I would imagine this would be the format that advertisers would follow to market their product.

Pattern to add interest and depth with a little touch of realism by creating visual activity beyond the flat composition.

Project 4: Shapes - Exercises and Notes

Exercise: Real & Implied Triangles

Brief: Produce two sets of triangular compositions in photographs, one using ‘real’ triangles, the other making ‘implied’ triangles.

‘Real’

1. Find a subject which is in itself triangular

The Deserted Factory

1/125 sec at f5 15mm ISO 200

Taken at Worcester on 12/2/2011 to complete this exercise.  The actual exercise was not that difficult to complete, but I wanted to find a subject that deserved the title, also wanted to add an bit if vibrancy and punch to the photograph.  The image was given extra vibrancy, increase of depth, contrast and blacks in Lightroom 3.3.  I think it deserves its title.


2. Make a triangle by perspective

The Bridge

1/100 at f5.6 18mm ISO 200

This is the new bridge at Worcester that shows two triangles by perspective, merging to the top of the frame.  Taken with my wide angle lens on tripod.  I positioned myself so the photograph was symmetrical and powerful to show not only the details but also the strength.  Taken on my SLT which I have found is extremely good with these wide angle close up shots, giving a little more depth and detail than my A100.

3. Make an inverted triangle, also by perspective.



Rollright stones

There are some issues with this photograph, my focal length was not correct nor my position, but taken at the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire it was -1 and I was freezing.  However, it has the effect that I was looking for, so with that I am satisfied.

Taken in out local church today, thought it made a really good example even though I already had one.


‘Implied’

1. Make a still life arrangement of five or six objects to produce a triangle with the apex at the top

2. As above, but with triangle inverted, with the apex at the bottom

Sunday Lunch

3. Arrange three people in a group picture in such a way that either their faces or the lines of their bodies makes a triangle.

The R&C Boys

Conclusion

Consider the underlying reason for shape in design.  Why bother at all?

Shapes bring an extra dimension to the photograph with the setting of mood, power and structure.  They can add contrast and are the initial eye response to identification, movement and control of the photograph.  I look at subjects now with shape in mind and it has transformed my ideas considerably.

Project 3: Using Lines in Compositions - Exercises, Notes and Conclusions

Exercise Implied Lines


Brief:

• Find the implied lines in the inserted photographs

The Bullfighter  This photograph shows the direction that both the matador and the bull are going in.  The viewer can see the movement in both elements of the photograph and is aware that control and attention is required by the matador and rage with movement is shown by the bull.

Controlling The Horses  The horses are controlling the frame and pointing toward the direction in which they are travelling.  They show speed and control while a line is shown by the handler as he moves towards them.

• Find any three photographs of your own, and perform the same analysis

Taken in December 2007 the photograph draws the eye towards the flow of the stream.  Assisted by the reflection of the branches, the eye moves as it is drawn to the detail that is diminishing with depth.

Taken in September 2010. The lead walker is looking back and bringing your attention to his friends who are deep in conversation behind him. Creating an eye line from him backwards as he looks a little impatient at their slowness.

A photograph that I took back in the summer of 2010 at our village fete.  This is a brother and sister who are seemingly inseparable.  The sister draws your attention to her brother as she looks at him with love and affection

• Take two photographs that use the following kinds of implied lines to lead the eye

AN EYE LINE

The Mighty Oak

1/125 sec at f 11 12mm ISO 100

Taken with my wide angle lens and with a blue gel over it, I virtually lay on the floor take the image. The after processing consisted of an increase in blacks and vibrancy in Lightroom and also an appliance of a HDR process in Phototools 2.5 through CS5.


The trunk of the tree leads the eye towards the branches and up to the sky. Both the diagonals and the vertical and lines help with the delivery and impact of the photograph along with the HDR and colour gel properties. With all the branches rising the viewer is led upwards to the colour and escape through the darkness of the trees to the sky.

THE EXTENSION OF A LINES OR LINES THAT POINT

The Railway Line

3/5 sec at F5.6 18mm ISO 200

Taken again with my wide angle lens, the railway track points the way for the train, extends beyond the view and into infinity after the depth of vision in the photograph. You know that the train is going to run along the track and in which direction it will be travelling. From this view point you would surmise that you would either see the rear of the train southbound or the front, northbound.


Conclusions

Lines are important in the story telling of a photograph and it is something that interest me greatly.  I like my photographs to have a story and a point to them. Therefore like the other sections within this part of the course, I have not found it easy, but have learnt a great deal from it. 


I believe that most photographers abide by the rule of lines without giving too much thought to it, but with completion of this section I can see the reasons why much more thought should be given to the attention of this detail.  


I understand more with each day why the OCA advise that this is the first module you should do when you start the course.


Project 2: Lines - Exercises, Notes and Conclusions

HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL LINES

Stability, subordinate.  Graphic quality and expressive association.  Make divisions, locate things, sense of direction and length.

Horizontal - Static Stable

Vertical - Movement, viewer confrontation.

Definitions of vertical on the Web:

• at right angles to the plane of the horizon or a base line; "a vertical camera angle"; "the monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab"; "measure the perpendicular height"
• something that is oriented vertically
• erect: upright in position or posture; "an erect stature"; "erect flower stalks"; "for a dog, an erect tail indicates aggression"; "a column still vertical amid the ruins"; "he sat bolt upright"
• upright: a vertical structural member as a post or stake; "the ball sailed between the uprights"

The Exercise

I started this exercise on 3 December 2010 and it has ran right through to 27 December. 

Brief: Go out and look for horizontal and vertical lines.  These are the example that I have.  I need to find a way to show the details below on the slide show, but can not waste any more time looking for answers to doing things a better way on the blog.  Need to catch up!

 

1. Balcony lines 1/160 at f11 22.8mm ISO 200 A photograph of a row of balconies in Birmingham that flow and project movement, though are stable in structure.  A design I believe of the 20's era.
2. Wall line 1/250 sec at f7.1 50mm ISO 200 A wall to show a vertical upright, smacks in the face and stops the viewer making them look up
3. The Bar Line 1/8 sec at f7.1 50mm ISO 800 A row of bar bottles, a static view for the customers choice
4. The Wellie Line 1/40 sec at f18 35mm ISO 100 A line of progression and choice
5. The web of lines 1/30 sec at f4 50mm ISO 100  A depiction of both horizontal and vertical lines.  The power of cobweb is the complexity of its construction.  The lines both vertical and horizontal show the extreme intelligence of the construction of the web and have you moving in every direction
6. Branch Lines 1/320 sec at f4 50mm ISO 100  The branches of a shrub in my back garden.  The vertical lines are prominent and clear and the point in the photograph continues in the composition throughout its depth.  I really like this photograph, it feels mystical and absorbing.
7. Table lines 1/6 sec t f4.5 30mm ISO 400 Depicting the lines in the wood grain
8. Brick & Shadow Line 1/6 f4.5 30mm ISO 400 A formulation of horizontal and verticals lines of brick and shadow
9. Electrical Cable lines 1/6 sec at f4.5 200mm ISO 400 Horizontal cables running across a beautiful evening photograph
10. Allotment canes 1/500 sec at f4.5 28mm ISO 200 A runner bean horizontal line

As I have gone through the course over the last few months I have began to understand things more and more.  Some of the images that I have used above I would change setting for and in honesty can not understand why I used some settings, except for I did not understand.  I also have acquired a Sony SLT A55 which is a little different from my A100 SLR. I used it for a while until my A100 was fixed, now it is back I will carry on with that to avoid my confusion and understanding.


Diagonals

Using my Sony 12-14mm wide angle lens.  I stood under that large oak on our village green to acquire this shot.  We had been out walking collecting other photographs for the first part of this project and as I walked towards the tree I saw shapes and patterns I had never seen before, even though I had looked at it for the last 8 years, everyday! 

1/160 sec at f11 50mm ISO 200

The photograph has not been cropped or recomposed in anyway.  I did however process the image in Exposure 3 using the Holga option.  This resulted in the sky being given more definition, which in turn gave more impact and drama to the oak tree and showing the diagonals even more.

1/10 sec at f45 11mm ISO 200

Taken with my wide angle again at a low angle.  A beautiful illustration of diagonals.  I am still on the look out for more to understand the concept further.  I don't seem to automatically see the diagonals in photographs but as I continue through the course I am sure I will understand more.


Curves

The New Worcester Bridge

1/13 sec at f29 18mm ISO 200

A beautifully designed bridge that was built for foot passengers to cross the River Severn further to new home development .  There are curves and lines around the whole area it is truly beautiful.  I have used it several times in this part of the course as it depicts exercise requirements so well.

The Conifer Curve

1/13 sec at f5 15mm ISO 100

A row of conifers trees that contrasted so beautifully with the snow.  The positioning of the trees had been thought out superbly well as they just flowed along.  I am sure they are looked after well to maintain the lovely shape.

The Lenches Curve

1/160 sec at F5 230mm ISO 100

Around me in Worcestershire there are lots of tree orchards in a area called the Lenches.  The bare orchards were brilliantly lined up in the winter snow and the natural curve of the land struck me immediately.  Something I guess you would not see so easily when the trees were laden with fruit and the sun shining.  The snow and the baroness helped to show the opportunity very well.

The Snow Covered Old Dead Tree

Taken with my compact with gel filter held over 1/250 sec at f5.6

I have been experimenting with filters and used a blue filter here thinking I could get more depth and detail, to avoid the glare of the snow.  Snow is a real challenge along with photographing anything that is pure white and something I want to master.  I am hoping with knowledge I will be able to get more from filters  The curve of the tree is strong and I thought of cropping so the curve was even closer.  But for the purpose of the exercise I cropped a little but left mostly as took.

Conclusions

I have enjoyed this section of Part 2.  The learning process is improving my understanding and decision making greatly. When I take a photograph now I am thinking all the time.  The lines I have found are strong and usually express power and strength, whereas the curves are more playful and fun to this point. 

Project 1: Points - Exercises Notes and Conclusions

Introduction

In preparation here are a few example situations that I feel could make a clear point

· A glow of a street bulb (Hoping to make it to Malvern to have a look at the gas lamps that they still have working there)

· A glow in the sky preferably the moon on a lovely frosty morning, when it has a slight glow around it. I have seen it once in the last month!

· A lone tree or barn in a field

· A piece of farming equipment, with some colour on would be nice?

· A named bag, Fred Perry, Adidas with the bag taking up the whole frame and the point being the zip

· A small flower in a large grass land

· A flow of light through a stained glass frame-Church/Cathedral

From the brief I have decided to tackle this part of the course using a lot of black and white.  I love this anyway and find it far more expressive than colour, though I must stop going quite so dark!  

However, I am hoping to place some elements of colour within the exercises to understand how graphic elements can be created solely by colour as saturation and as cross processing is also a real love of mine, so I may have a dabble or two!

Reading through the section and what I have noted in my reading diary are the following thoughts and understanding to bear in mind

• Structure and movement
• Technique and process
• Requirement, function and necessity
• Small in frame and contrasting
• Strong presence if dominant

Looking through my old photographs


Firstly I have moved all my photographs from 2010 in Lightbox as most of my files are RAW. I decided not to use Lightroom for this as it gets too messy trying to find everything after I have edited them.   I will see how this goes I may change my mind!

I have made a few notes and drawing in my manual log which I will now be keeping as well as the online blog and a little field book as I have a memory like a sieve!

I am not really sure how many photographs I take that have a point so this will be an interesting exercise…..


Exercise 1 Positioning a point

I have toyed a lot with this exercise feeling uninspired by a single subject in a large area and firing the camera, it very simple to fall into the trap of doing the exercises and moving on, but I know I want more from the course than that!  so I am taking things slow and trying to produce good photographs based on each brief.  Also one of the remarks from Andrea was to endure I have my metadata with each image.

From November until January I have kept a written log, taken and stored photographs  so I could take the entire time to keep going back and forward through through the Elements of Design as each exercise are so interlinked.  I am not sure if this is what I should do but for this section I have found this works for me.

These are the images I have put together in that time bearing in mind the following points

Size – making your focal point large is not the only way to make it prominent

Color – using contrasting colors is a way of setting your point of interest apart from it’s surroundings

Shape – similarly contrasting shapes and textures can make a subject stand out – especially patterns that are repeated around a subject

Position – Place it in a prominent position


Brief:    Take three photographs in which there is a single point, placed in a different part of the frame in each example.

The Storm Tree

1/60 Sec at f/22 focal Length 14mm ISO 200

This was taken in the middle of January with my Sony 11-18mm.  I set up my tripod on the way to work and initially took three shots ready to perform a HDR. However when I got home I did not like the result of the HDR and much preferred the single image.  

Point dominates image

I added some vignetting, played with the temperature and the blacks to create the finished image.  Though the large tree is centre weighted the colour and line of the sky gives it enough contrast to draw the eye and add the drama to an otherwise boring object. The vignetting complements the photograph and adds a little extra weight to the point.  The tree dominates the photograph making the whole image the point.

The Winter Rake

A Long Exposure of 30 sec f18 focal Length 180 ISO 200 

A long exposure was necessary to capture this image.  It was very dark and I have just really started to understand the importance of shutter and aperture priority settings on the camera.  I did not want to use the flash, it would not throw enough light anyway. 

Top Left Hand Corner

I have placed the rake at the L/H corner and top of the frame and included the tracks to show it's movement as it sits alone not quite at the top of the slope.  I have been using Photo tools in CS5 and playing around with HDR and this is the result.  

Fred Perry Bag

1/8 sec at f5.6 focal length 18mm ISO 400


Again taken using my wide angle lens and following a thought that has been with me since I first read the brief.

Off Centre

The placement is off centre with bias slightly to the right.  The focal point being the zip clasp which follows the pattern of the zip.  The image was taken in black and white and enhanced slightly by increasing increasing the black and the contrast and very heavy vignetting to enhance the zip by losing it start point.  The image illustrates that it is a bag but is expecting you to finish unzipping It to see inside

My perfect point

I went and did a lot of photographs of this wind pump but found this one to contain my  perfect point.  I find I am slightly bias towards the centre with just a little bit off.  I would like to have taken the pump further to the right but was unable to move the camera without bringing a lot of hedging into the the frame.  This was a sunset photograph that I bracketed and put through the HDR for my 365 project http://365project.org/mb/365 for the purpose of the project I have converted one of the original images to B&W.



0.4 sec at f22 focal length 70mm ISO 1250

Taken using my Minolta telephoto lens.  I was restricted to space and available light time.  I set my camera to Aperture priority and used the setting of f22.  I am very pleased with the result as I have captured a lot of detail.  

Exercise 2 The relationship between points

The brief tells me that if there are two points in a frame the simplicity of the situation is lost.  I have found this to be true. 

It certainly is difficult to find two points that are natural and so I have used situations that have been put together by me or people I know that would have had a subconscious reasoning behind them in their layout.

The Scooter Do

1.10 sec at f5.6 focal length 35mm ISO 400

Taken at a Christmas do that I attended.  Both the sign and the Lambretta had been placed on the stage in a display of equal importance.  I was stood to the side of the stage having being asked to do some photographs from the evening my positioning gave me a different outlook immediately. 

I thought it relevant to capture the name of the club as they had not held a meeting for several years and I wanted the image to be the first in the sequence of photographs.   

I focused on the sign leaving the Lambretta wheel slightly out of focus but not so blurred I you could not read the tyre logo.  The sign is the stronger image with the tyre secondary, however the tyre gives credence to the sign and helps in the persuasion of what the photograph depicts.

Christmas Baubles

1/125 sec at f5.6 focal length 70mm ISO 400

  The relationship between two points is quite a complex one illustrated in this  image with light, focus and pattern.  The two baubles are equal in dominance and the eye looks directly at both of them as they intermingle with each other in form and colour.  The shadows on the wall that reflect the images are the secondary point

Exercise 3 Multiple points

1. Make-up......face cream, lipstick, mirror, eyeshadow, perfume, blusher brush, powder, liner
2. Jewelery.......ring, bracelet, watch, necklace, earring, gloves (long) neck scarf
3. Bacon & Egg sarnie.....plate, bread, butter, knife, egg, bacon, tom sauce dropping onto sandwich.  Wide aperture with frying pan in background?

I decided to opt for my jewelery option and to place the point as my locket which contains the photographs of the two most precious men in my life, my Dad and my partner in the dominent position. Using a Biba bag as the back ground and the foundation on the sequence I bgean to build my photograph.

1. The lone ring positioned to the corner of the frame, waiting for additional items to tell the story.

2. The tail of the necklace is attached to the ring and leads the eye from the ring to the necklace giving the actual connection to each other.  The shape is round to emulate the ring and also to start to create the circular flow

3.  The ring and the two necklaces start to form the circle and the directional lines into the central piece.

4.  The additional necklace again in a circular placement draws the eye further around the display with the eye starting at the ring and through the necklaces in succession.

5.  The last ring finishes the circle and allows for consistency for the eye with its placement, forming balance and drawing the eye inward.  The soft curve suggests a comfortable and relaxed feel and conveys comfort and love.

6.  The final placement of the locket closes the composition.  It shows the importance of the locket over the other pieces and directs the eye with its dominant position.  The gaps in the pieces allows and horizontal and therefore directional lines to be formed.

I placed my SLT on the tripod and the lit the area with a standard lamp that I have.  I shot with my Minolta 50mm Prime lens f4.4 and a shutter speed of 1/13 with a ISO of 800.  I sharpened the shots and added additional contrast in Lightroom as well as a bit of vibrancy to bring out the golds against the silver.

Conclusion

This exercise has illustrated the thought process behind object and my placement, how movement and and distance have a real bearing in telling the story of the photograph and what you want the audience to see.  It has also taught me a lot about focus, where and what I am actually supposed to be focusing on and ensuring I capture my thoughts when taking the photograph, rather than being disappointed when I view the image at home.  During the exercise

I tried tethered shooting and loved the instant recognition of correcting the placement of each piece.  I will certainly do this again for any still life in the future as it cuts down time.