Elements of design - horizontal and vertical lines

I had noticed a number of potential locations in Guildford town centre:

- the steel structure of the construction of the new Civic Hall

- backlit figures in the morning light in the narrow alleyways off the High Street

- the lock gates on the River Wey.

However, the weather was bright but not sunny on my photography expeditions for this exercise. I found a number of other subjects which I used instead of the last two above. I also took some photographs on a walk around Windsor Great Park and one of these fitted in with the requirements of this exercise.

I tried to look for subjects which were less obvious as having horizontal or vertical lines. Nevertheless, all of the images are of manmade structures except for the fallen tree trunks in image 6.

After selection and processing, I ended up with six images: three of horizontal lines and three vertical lines. The processing was done in Lightroom and Photoshop Elements including some cropping and conversion to black and white.

Image 1: Steel frame for civic hall

Nikon 18-70 mm lens at 50mm. Iso 250 f8 at 1/500th

The structure is a mass of verticals and horizontal lines. I selected an area where the dominant element is two horizontal floor platforms, the edges of which were catching the sunlight. I cropped out two figures who were on the scaffolding higher up. I used the "newspaper" preset to convert the photograph to black and white.

Image 2: Folded cardboard

Nikon 18-70mm lens at 60mm: Iso 250 f8 at 1/20th

I spotted these cardboard boxes outside a shop waiting collection. The texture and shadows between the layers caught my eye. I took a number of vertical and horizontal and chose this image as the two dark horizontal shadows made it stand out. The cardboard is not perfectly horizontal but I decided that it was OK to include this as an image for this exercise.

Image 3: Scaffolding covered in textile

Nikon 18-70 mm lens at 24mm: Iso 400 f8 at 1/800th

I was attracted to this building by the oblique shadows of the scaffold pole ends. The sunlight was falling diagonally onto the textile accentuating the texture and creases in the fabric. I took photographs from various viewpoints and selected two of them. In this one, the horizontal sheets of fabric stand out separated by dark strips of shadow in between. I left in the uncovered lowest level in the frame as the picture had more impact with this interest.

Image 4: Railings

Nikon 18 - 70mm lens at 18mm: Iso 250 f8 at 1/200th

I took a number of photographs of these steps and railings placing the camera on the ground at its widest angle. I liked this viewpoint as the railings at the back form an arrow head shape in the centre of the frame. The old fashioned street lamp and car together add interest to the plain vertical lines of the railings in the foreground. I corrected the distortion of using the lens on wide angle in PS Elements so that the railings are almost vertical.

Image 5: Scaffolding pole ends

Nikon 18-70mm lens at 48mm: Iso 400 at f8 at 1/1250th

This is the second picture I selected of the scaffolding covered in textile. In this one, I photographed the ends of the scaffolding poles from below. I chose this particular photograph as I liked the pattern that the poles made against the sky. The photograph has been straightened and cropped to accentuate the vertical lines.

Image 6: Tree trunks

Nikon 18-70 mm lens at 18mm: Iso 100 f8 at 1/60th

This is a photograph of a tree that had fallen in the water. I tried to find a viewpoint where the three main trunks were vertical in the frame as well as including the shadow of the left hand trunk. The water was reflecting the bright cloudy sky which helps to create a silhouette of the tree trunks. In the conversion to black and white in PS Elements, I chose the preset which accentuated the texture of the bark. I cropped a strip from the bottom of the frame which showed the top of the junction of the trunks. This detracted from the parallel lines of the tree trunks.

Of these images, the three with vertical lines seem to me to be the strongest images:-

- The vertical lines of the railings (image 4) and scaffold ends (image 5) have a strong visual impact. The unconventional viewpoint distances the viewer from the actual subject.

- In the photograph of the fallen tree (image 6), the texture of the bark and the reflections of the water compete for attention. However, I think that the parallel trunks of the trees have a stronger visual impact than if the trunks had been spreading out at angles.

The images of the two structures (images 1 and 3) have far less impact. Maybe the perception of horizontal lines set in a horizontal frame is just unexciting. Also, there are significant vertical lines in these images so that the overall effect is of a "chess board".

The photograph of the folded cardboard is the least interesting visually for me. Possibly the cardboard is rather uniform without a particular focus of interest.