Vertical and Horizontal Frames

The brief for this exercise was to take 20 photographs as vertical, then to rephotograph the same place in a horizontal format.

To begin with I thought it would be easy if I just did one vertical one horizontal, but actually this didn't work.  My first couple of attempts made me realise I needed to think differently when shooting in this style.  I finally found that by taking an area an just walking around seeing the scene in the format I intended to shoot in gave much better result.  I didn't take the same picture in both formats as in my first attempts but viewed the area (a small park) looking for the pictures that would suit the format. 



For me this was very liberating and I started seeing more shapes and lines once I took this approach.

The first few vertical frames I looked for tall objects, the trees, the statues and buildings.  Then I saw lines and patterns, shapes that benefited from a vertical composition.

When I shot the horizontal images I was more aware of shapes, patterns and balance for this format as a result of concentrating solely on vertical images for the first part of this exercise.

This is a technique I will employ in the future when I'm looking to make my images more interesting.  It is a great way to see more than your initial view.  Different ways to balance an image and taking your time to see everything.

Object in different positions in the frame

Of all the pictures in this exercise the one above is my favourite. The girl framed on the left hand side balances with the rays of the sun.  I also like the image below, placing the main object on the left hand side. The main problem with the image below is the sky has lost drama.  The sun went behind a cloud.

Finding a background with out too many distractions wasn't terribly easy.  The sun and light has changed in this series.  However for the purposes of this exercise the subject remained in the same place, thus enabling me to place her in various parts of the frame. This is another exercise I have done a couple of times, each time taking more time to think about where I want the subject to be and why. 

What I do need to pay more attention to is the edges of my frame. I'm getting messy corners.

The picture above has the girl in in the centre of the frame.  Your eye is drawn to this part of the image leaving dead space on the left hand side.

When I moved to place the girl in the right hand side of the frame it did not resolve the problem of empty space.  Although the bollard (is that what they are called?) just sneaking in on the bottom left hand corner is a distraction that needs to be cloned out.  (I left it in to remind myself to take more care when framing this type of scene. )



The same scene in portrait is not so interesting. My least favourite is the one on the far right. The girl is in the centre of the frame with roughly equal amounts of sky, water and foreground. Although this is the supposed thirds rule it really doesn't do anything for this image.  The first portrait picture I think benefits from tight cropping (2nd from left), although the image is now just a dark blob. (I had chosen to make the person a silhouette and now as it is so dominant it really needs more detail. The third image would have been better if the sky had more interest and drama in it. The sun has become a burnt out corner of the image with little to offer the picture.  This looks better when cropped just above the mast of the boat.

Fitting the Frame to the Subject

I had lots of ideas for this exercise and did it several times. Each time I became increasingly aware of how I look at a subject.  The first shot above was taken without any thought.  Just rock up at the station and take a picture of a statue. Result: a snapshot.

 The second step in this exercise was to fit the subject into the frame as tightly as possible.  Bit tricky not chopping off his feet.

What do I think of this shot? Fine for a manual on statues. you can see what/who it is. But does it spin my wheels?

No.

The next part of the exercise was to get in close and not show any edges.  I took several pictures here.  The obvious ones, Head, feet (I'm always taking pictures of shoes and feet).  Then chose just the hand and part of the satchel. (see below)

I liked this image the most.  It is relevant to both the man and the environment. I like the colours and textures.

Closing in like this can make a very strong image which I think it does in this case.

The requirements of the fourth image was to stress the environment .  Obviously I am in a railway station, but how to stress this.  Stairs, escalators, barriers, restaurants all presented a challenge as to where the best position to take this would be.  I took several pictures from different angles. Lighting was also a bit of a challenge.  I decided on this shot making the statue a silhouette, bringing in the train and a traveller passing by.

I think it works. It is clearly a railway station to the viewer.

Next we are asked to crop this last image in various ways. Each crop below makes the story different. Is the man saying good-bye. Is he looking for his train? Is he just another commuter.  How you decide to frame the same subject can make a big difference to the story you are trying to convey.

I've learnt a lot from this exercise. Stop, look, look again, but most of all think about what you want to say.