Vertical and horizontal frames - part 1

I took the photographs for this exercise whilst we were on a winter sports holiday in the Tyrol region of Austria. Snow and mountains therefore figure frequently in the images. I took just over twenty examples, but only fifteen of these were interesting enough to assess. The images were all taken with Nikon D 200 using a 18-70mm zoom lens.

Subject 1: Hotel Krystall

The initial vertical image was not very succesful. The hotel is too small in the foreground. The morning light striking the mountain behind is distracting attention from the main subject. Also the foreground is reasonably messy with posts, railings etc.

The horizontal frame is far more successful, as more of the hotel is in the frame. The hotel is better balanced with the sunlit mountain behind. The foreground is less obtrusive.

Subject 2: Sunset at Weidach village

The colored sky dominates the picture, but this is reasonably balanced by the roofs and street lights in the bottom portion of the frame. There is a line of black trees across the frame, but this does not seem to act as a barrier to the eye moving across it. The large expanse of sky permits the eye to see the diagonal rays of shadow and colored shapes in the clouds.

The sky is brighter, but the diagonal rays of shadow and shapes of the clouds are partially out of the frame. The foreground snow and houses are rather more prominent, especially the yellow van. Inclusion in the frame of the area at either side adds nothing to the interest of the image.

Dividing the frame - exercise position of horizon

I took a sequence of photographs on Pewley Down, Surrey, near to where I live. It was rather cloudy morning, with the sun hidden behind clouds.

The pictures were taken with my Nikon 200 using the 18-70 mm lens set at 18mm. The settings were similar with aperture f/14, shutter speed 1/180th and Iso 250. Some adjustments were made in Photoshop and Lightroom to enliven the fields and hills whilst retaining the interest in the sky.

Image 1: Low horizon

The sky dominates the frame, but it is reasonably interesting. The clouds seem to be slightly threatening as if rain is expected. The hills and fields feel slightly vulnerable.

Image 2: Horizon one third up the frame

Sky is far less threatening. The land in the foreground seems to have become the dominant visual element. The land has no particular point of focus so the eye wanders across the scene. A peaceful scene of the countryside.

Image 3: Horizon at the centre of the frame

The land is the predominant visual element in the frame. The eye scans the fields and into the distance, but seems to only fleetingly look at the sky. The picture seems rather heavy and lethargic.

Image 4: Horizon two thirds of the way up the frame

The texture of the grass and plants in the field in the foreground have become more of a focus of attention. The hedges of the field lead the eye towards the far hilltop on the horizon just to the right of centre. The sky has become merely a backdrop.

Image 5: Horizon three quarters up the frame

The field in the foreground has become the major element in the frame. The hill on the horizon is in a central position, and it now seems to have little significance in the image. The sky is narrower and almost closed off. The sky again seems to present a rather brooding or threatening atmosphere to the picture.

Image 6: Horizon close to the top of the frame

Not surprisingly, the visual impact is similar to the previous image 5. The sky is rather brighter however and it seems slightly less threatening.

On balance, I would choose image 2 as the type of picture I would present as characteristic of Pewley Down on a fine winters day. The possibility of using the horizon position and sky to convey a different mood is something that may be useful for future reference.

Dividing the frame - balance: Image 6

The final image I used for this exercise is quite different to the others as it is a close up of a plant.

Image 6: Frost encrusted leaves

The visual elements in this image are quite complex:-

- The brightest area are the leaves in the upper right, sloping down to lower left, rimmed with white frost.

- This picture was taken against the light and hence the larger leaves facing towards the lens are in shade.

- There are bright edges on the leaves facing away from the lens which seem to attract the eye.

- The plant stem emerges from between leaves in lower left side of the frame.

The image has a strong diagonal through the middle. It therefore seemed reasonable to evaluate the balance of the image relative to this diagonal line, rather than separately looking at horizontal and vertical planes. I also thought it was interesting to consider balance front to back.

Relative to the diagonal, I felt that the image is reasonably in balance. The bright leaves in profile above the diagonal are counterbalanced by the larger leaves below the diagonal. The interesting frost shapes on the foreground leaves also attacts some attention to these leaves.

In a front to back direction, the darker close leaves are not overwhelmed by the bright edges of the distant leaves. Even though the image is "back to front" with a lighter distant objects than close objects, I think this works in this particular case.

Framing the image - balance: Image 5

I also performed the weighing scale exercise on the two photographs that I submitted for the Guildford Photosoc Mounted Print competition No 4 (see earlier post). These two images contained more complex visual elements.
Image 5: Footbridge, Paris

In this image, there are converging lines leading to the two distant figures about to descend the stairs. The structure of the footbridge forms an angular block on the right hand side and a Z-shape structure stretching from bottom left to the centre and back to the upper left hand side.
What attracted me to framing the image from this point was the mirror image of the shape of the blue sky and the similar shape of the descending staircase. This provides a relatively high degree of symmetry in a vertical plane of the two most prominent visual elements of the image.
Looking at the horizontal "weighing scale", there is, I feel, a reasonable balance around the point of convergence at the top of the stairs between:-
- the structure on the right hand side of the picture and the two figures which are just to the right side of the point of convergence.
- the Z-shaped structure to the left of the point of convergence.
This image was awarded a score of 8 out of 10 by the judge, in an open competition for images of all sorts. I feel that the score reflected the fact that the subject of the image was lacking in interest, even though I felt the representation of the subject was reasonably OK.

Framing the image - balance: Image 4

The second digital image I submitted in the set subject competition on "Reflection" was a straightforward reflection of a building in a pond.
Image 4: Mill Pond

This image is split vertically into two halves by the water line in the pool. In a vertical direction, there is therefore a reasonable balance between the elements. There are small distracting elements in the upper half of the picture that do not appear in the reflection, such as the white painted building in the background on the left hand side, but I think this is too small to affect the vertical balance.
Doing the weighing scale exercise in a horizontal plane, I felt that the image is not well balanced:-
- The mill and its reflection, which are the initial focus of attention, are just to the left of centre.
- The trees and ground on the right hand side of the image are of much less visual interest.
- In addition, the white painted wall in the left background and the dark red car behind the tree on the right hand side are visual distractions in the scene.
I think that the image could be improved if I had turned slightly more to the right to exclude the white painted wall in the background from the frame. This would have placed the mill building and reflection on the left of the image. The pool and the bushes on the bank would have filled more of the space in the frame which might have been a better balance.
The judge awarded a score of 8 out of 10 for this image. He drew attention to the difference in light between the reflection and the mill building, which was not apparent from some of the other images of reflection in water. He felt that the red car and white building in the background were detrimental to the image and he would have preferred to remove or downplay these if it was his image.

Dividing the frame - balance: image 3

This image was one of two entered as a digital image in the set subject competition on "Reflection".
Image 3: Shiny helmets

To apply the weighing scale exercise to this image, I assessed the elements in the picture as follows:-
- The helmets are the brightest part of the image which makes them the initial focus for the viewer.
- Only the central person's profile is clear. The other faces are partly or largely obscured. The faces are also in partial shade.
Horizontally, the image elements are relatively symmetrical:-
- The line of shiny helmets stretches across the image, with the two closest on the left hand side and four smaller ones extending into the distance to the right.
- In the lower half, the strongest element is the persons profile which is quite central.
Vertically, the shaded faces do not overpower the shiny helmets, which I intended to be the main subject.
The judge awarded this image 10 out of 10, which was a surprise to me at the time. Having studied the photograph more deeply, I believe that the balance of the various elements noted above serve to highlight the reflections in the helmets. Furthermore, I was fortunate that the subject was rather different to the many other images in the competition.

Dividing the frame - balance: Image 2

This next image was entered as a mounted print in the same set subject competition on "Reflection".

Image 2: Grand Mosque - place of reflection

Carrying out the weighting scale exercise on this image, I decided that the image was rather unbalanced in both a horizontal and vertical plane.

Horizontally, the archway in the upper left is the strongest focus of attention as this is bright and the converging lines draw the eye to the window at the far end. On the right hand side, the three columns on the right are a weaker element in the image. It would have been better to include more of the columns on the right hand side, and to make the archway a smaller element in the image.

Vertically, the archway and columns in the upper half of the image are far stronger visually than the reflection in the marble floor. Again, it would have been better to include more of the floor reflection and to make the archway a smaller element in the image.

The judge awared a score of 8 out of 10 to this image. He liked the contrast between the darker areas in the ceiling and columns and the reflection in the marble floor. However, he also considered that the eye was drawn strongly to the archway and corridor. He further suggested that the print would benefit by mounting on a dark or darker coloured mount. The print was mounted on a creamy white board which matched the light colour in the window at the end of the corridor.

Dividing the frame - balance: Image 1

For this exercise, I used five print images and one digital image that I had entered into Guildford Photosoc internal competitions. I had chosen these images as my better ones and hence, they ought to be suitably balanced.

Image 1: Rest and Reflection

Horizontally, the image is relatively symmetrical. The standing boy on the right hand side is a strong element, but this is balanced by the strong verticals of the piles and reflections under the jetty on the left hand side.

I also considered the vertical equilibrium. The sillouettes of the figures on the jetty strongly attract the eye. However, the larger area of the piles and reflections below the platform mean that the image is reasonably balanced above and below the line of the platform.

To my mind, there is a suitable balance in this picture both vertically and horizontally.

The image was one of two submitted into a print competition on the set subject "Reflection". The judge awarded a score of 10 out of 10 for this image, which was fantastic. He specifically mentioned the contrast between the pastel background and the dark sillouettes of the boys on the jetty. He liked the fact that some detail in the boys clothing was retained, but without detail in their faces. He also felt that the boy standing up in the upper right prevented the eye from wandering out of the picture.

Guildford Photography Society Print Competition No 4

I submitted two entries into this internal competition.

Footbridge, Paris:

Canon Powershot at 6mm: 1/60th at f/8

We had a few days in Paris in June 2009, and we crossed this bridge to get across to the Louvre and Tuileries. I decided to submit this image as I felt it had some interesting graphical elements, in particular that the shape of the sky seems to be a mirror image of the shape of the stairs. The light on the steps and the struts on the side also contributed to the image. This particular image was the only one where I was fortunate to catch some people just at the head of the stairs just at where the eye is drawn by the stairs. Unfortunately they are looking at their feet, but nothing could be done about that. The picture also includes the backs of people who are sitting on benches on the upper level. My only hesitation was that this is not a subject that I normally would find interesting.

The judge liked the composition and presentation and made no specific suggestions or criticism. However, the score given of 7 and a half out of ten which is relatively poor suggests that the picture lacked a vital spark. Someone suggested to me that maybe it was slightly overexposed.

Frost encrused leaves:

Nikon 70-210 mm lens with Nikon Close Up lens. f/13 at 1/125th ISO 320 (tripod)

There was freezing fog just after New Year and I went out into the garden for an hour photographing the frosted leaves. This photograph was my favourite of the images I took. I liked the repeated shapes of the leaves, the backlighting of the leaves and frost and the red stem which enlivens the image. The judge appreciated the repeated leaf shapes and frost. He noted the light area of the background in the upper left, which he praised rather than criticised saying that he disliked images where the background was totally uniform in tone. This time he gave a score of 8 out of 10. I also felt that this image was far more striking and attractive than my other entry of the Footbridge. I also noted that 8 was the highest score he gave except for two images scoring 10 out of 10, and only a handful of images scored 8. This was accordingly quite a pleasing result.

Focal length and different viewpoints

Image 1: Nikon 70-210 mm at 112mm: f/13 at 1/100th

I tried this exercise in Guildford High Street earlier this week. Using the Nikon D200 with 70-210 mm zoom, I took a picture from outside the church at the top of the High Street zoomed out to just include the Guildhall and its clock and the buildings opposite.

I then fitted the 18-70mm set at wide angle and walked down the street until the Guildhall and buildings opposite were again at either side of the frame.

Image 2: 18-70mm lens at 18mm: f/13 at 1/125th

Comparing the two images, in the first photograph, the church across the River Wey at the end of the street and the snow covered South Downs appear quite prominently in the picture. Also, the street looks quite crowded with pedestrians. The street surface and sky are not included in the frame. The buildings in the foreground are virtually in profile and difficult to distinguish. The slope of the High Street down to the river is very noticeable.

In the wide angle image, by contrast, the street appears quite empty, apart from the busker standing in the foreground in a patch of sunshine. The surface of the street and the sky are significant elements in the frame. The South Downs and church at the end of the street, however are distant and barely feature as elements of the image. The slope of the street disappears and it looks virtually flat. The frontage of the buildings in the foreground are visible so that each is clearly identifiable.

I enjoy both images, but these are two very different views of the street.

FocaL lengths exercise 1

Visiting Trafalgar Square, London on 23rd December, the hazy sunlight was catching the water in one of the fountains. From the same position in front of the National Gallery I took a wide angle shot of the square using my Canon Power Shot 1 camera, and then a number of photos zooming in on the fountain.

Canon Power Shot 7mm 1/60th at f/8

Zooming in, I took a photo including half the fountain with the lion and flag behind it.

Canon Powershot 40mm 1/60th at f/8

I also took a photo at maximum zoom of 70mm which included only part of the fountain in front of the lion.

Canon Powershot at 67mm: 1/60th at f/8

I have subsequently cropped copies of the original wide angle image in Lightroom to mimic the composition of the zoomed photos:-

Whilst the image quality is poor, the relationship between the items in the images are essentially the same as in the zoomed pictures above.

A sequence of composition - Second attempt

My plan was to visit the weekly street market in the town in Normandy close to where we were staying for this exercise. Market day was Thursday, New Years Eve and the weather was grim, with dark clouds and light snow flurries. Unfortunately, all sections of the market were very sparse with only one fruit and veg stall and the undercover meat and fish market was almost empty. I decided nevertheless to try the exercise in the covered market where there was a fishmonger doing a thriving business selling delicacies for New Years celebration.
The images were taken on New Year Eve, 31 December 2009 using Nikon 18-70 mm lens at an ISO of 1000 (no flash was used) and auto white balance.

Image 1: f/3.5 at 1/30th zoom at 18mm
The first image was taken from behing the customers in front of the fish stall. I liked the lady with the two little boys looking at the fish, but from this position, it was not possible to see the faces nor the fish clearly.

Images 2 to 5: 1/4oth at f/5.6 zoom at 60mm.
I moved alongside the fishstall to get a better view of the fish and the faces of the servers and customers. The rapid movement of the servers made it difficult to catch them at a good moment.

Image 6: 1/50th at f/5.6 Zoom at 40mm
I changed the camera to vertical frame shape and zoomed out to a wider angle. This extended the frame to include the receding perspective of the ceiling of the fish stall. This seemed to add structure and depth to the image.


Image 7: 1/40th at f/5.6 zoom at 31mm
Liking the vertical format, I tried this format at a wider zoom angle. However, the expanse of ceiling becomes too much.
I prefer image 6 of the sequence because of the receding structure of the frame of the stall and the fact that the eyes are just visible on the face of the server.

A sequence of composition - first attempt

In the part of rural France where we spent New Year, the principal event was a Xmas lights competition between village churches. I went out one evening (3oth December 2009) after a wet day to take some photographs of the lights around the church in the village where we were staying. These photographs are grainy as I was using long exposures (up to 10 seconds) on a tripod at ISO 250.

I nevertheless thought that I would include the sequence in my blog as I was pleased with the progress from a bland first image to a more interesting sixth image.

1. Image framed tightly around lights in landscape format. An uninteresting image

2. Changed to portrait format to bring in the form of the church tower. Looking a the image, I liked the reflection of the lights in the wet road. However, the upper half of the image is just dark and uninteresting.

3. A similar image with increased exposure, but no improvement

4. Zoomed out to a wide angle and further increased the exposure. The church tower emerged in front of clouds lit with faint moonlight.


5. Reduced the exposure with the same framing. The light in the clouds is more central, making the church building standout more dramatically.

6. Changed back to landscape format. Church now stands out against the clouds on the left side of the image. The skyline of houses on the right hand size emphasises the size and significance of the church building. I prefer this final image because of the contrast between the light area by the church and the darkness of the houses under an ominous sky. Perhaps it conveys a feeling of hope.

Different positions in the frame

The subject for this project was a carving on the tower of a church at Antoigny in Normandy, France. The carving is located quite high above the main door of the church set in the stone wall of the tower. The photographs were taken on an overcast afternoon using the 70-210 mm zoom lens at about 135mm.

1. Central subject in landscape format

2. Upper right subject in landscape format

3 Right off-centre subject in landscape format

4. Upper right subject portrait format

5. Upper left subject portrait format

Image 1 has the benefit that it reveals the large stones on either side of the tower. However background stonework does not add significantly to the image, and it is rather bland.

Images 2 and 3 are less symetrical. However placement off centre right does not seem in sympathy with the form of the carving where the dominant mounted figure and his horse both face to the right.

Images 4 and 5 are in portrait format with the subject in the upper half of the image. This seems preferable to the landscape format as it suggests the height of the carving on a tower.

Image 5 is more succesful, in my view, partly because the magnification of the subject is slightly larger, and partly because the figures in the carving are looking across the image from top left to bottom right.