Busy traffic

This project presented a relatively unusual challenge as I have rarely tried to present a place as being busy. I had read that the town we would be staying at during our journey through South West France, Sarlat, hosts a large street market on Saturday morning. We arrived Friday afternoon, and this gave me the chance to briefly familiarize myself with the area of the old town where the market is held. The weather forecast was for bright conditions with some hazy sunshine.

Image 1

                Tourist group

Panasonic Lumix G3 at 14mm (28mm equivalent): Iso 400 f8 for 1/160th seconds

I started in the central square of the town as I expected that some parts of this would receive the morning light. I chose this group of Spanish tourists as my first subject. I debated whether to use a telephoto lens to shorten the perspective, but I decided that a wide angle view would give a more context. I did not want a photograph of a crowd of people and nothing else.

I climbed on a low wall so that I could look down on the group and moved close to make the foreground figures a reasonable size. After a couple of initial glances to see what I was doing, they shifted their attention back to what the guide was telling them.

I tried a horizontal framing as an alternative thinking that this would show more of the square. The horizontal frame was less succesful, however, as this included a relatively large area of white awnings of the stalls which was unattractive.

Image 2

                              In the centre of the square

Panasonic Lumix G3 at 14mm (28mm equivalent): Iso 160 f22 for 1/8th second
Looking to capture a picture with some movement blur, I moved down to the centre of the square at a cross-roads in the market place. I set the camera to minimum ISO and minimum aperture giving an exposure time of 1/8th second. I supported the camera on a walking pole that I had brought with me, as I knew I would be using some slow shutter speeds. I soon discovered that few of the people walking past were moving fast enough to create a blur at this shutter speed. Most people were standing looking at the stalls or moving at a very slow pace. There were also several who avoiding walking in front of me as they did not want to "spoil" my photograph! This was one of the few shots where I caught some movement blur. This single blurred figure in the foreground seems to be enough to create a feeling of movement against a background of other figures that are virtually motionless.

Image 3

                                       Fruit seller
 Panasonic Lumix G3 at 42mm (84mm equivalent): Iso 200 f8for 1/125th seconds
I walked away from the central square towards the direction of the sun looking for stalls with less flat lighting conditions. I found this stall on the outskirts to the market which was doing a fantastic trade selling grapes and melons. This photo was taken from some steps which gave me a little height to look down on the stall. I also took some close-up shots with the lens set to wide angle. In this case, I felt the telephoto gave a better composition. In the foreground there is a sizeable group of people, some stretching for the grapes and others queuing behind. The background is rather cluttered, but I chose this shot, as I see that there is a man with his back to us walking away with his bag of purchases. I felt that his presence added something to the narrative of the composition. The man in the yellow shirt on the right hand side of the frame is more prominent than I would have liked, but the eye is quickly drawn to the activity of the people in the centre of the frame. Some more post processing work on this photograph would be beneficial: this may be a candidate for project 22 - Adjusting balance between a person and the space.

Image 4

                                      Main street shoppers
Panasonic Lumix G3 at 14mm (28mm equivalent): Iso 160 f18 for 1/4 seconds
The main shopping street was lined with stalls, but this was also a thoroughfare for people heading to and from the market. I placed myself on one side of the street facing a stall on the opposite side with my camera set to a slow shutter speed. As groups of people passed by, I took a number of shots. Of these, this was the one I preferred as there were a large number of passers by, but the stall and awnings behind are still visible. This seemed to portray the crowd better than other shots where there were fewer people,but more of the background stalls were visible.

Conclusions

I have considered which of the above photographs I would choose as the best way to portray the "busyness" of the Sarlat market. I think the choice is between image 3 and 4 above, on the basis that images 1 and 2 are less visually interesting and more static.
Images 3 and 4 convey different aspects of the Sarlat market. Image 4 conveys the constant traffic of passers-by in the street, but the character of the market scene is less apparent.
I, therefore, would choose image 3 as the best way to portray the busy market:

• This shows people busy at a market stall and the character of the place is clearly apparent. 
• The composition is more interesting as there is there is a diagonal element to the composition from the man in the right foreground to stallholders in the left midground. In image 3 in contrast, the blurred figures give rise to a composition of verticals and horizontal lines which seems less dynamic visually. 
• I feel that there is a narrative element in image 4 which is lacking in image 3. This may not be an essential element for this project, it think it provides a stronger interest for a viewer.

A single figure small

By coincidence, the two photographs of Guildford Cathedral that I| took for Assignment 3 included small figures. In the following picture the individual is more prominent and provides a focal point for the image.
Nave at Evensong (from Assignment 3)
                    




















In the other photograph, the figures are less distinct:
Nave of Guildford Cathedral (from Assignment 3)In this case, the figures would only be noticed on a close examination of the photograph, maybe providing an element of surprise.
For this project, I have tried using this technique in a variety of locations during our trip from North Spain to Normandy, France.  
A quiet square in St Jean de Luz

          


Panasonic Lumix G3 at 21mm (equivalent to 42mm): Iso 160 f8 for 1/640th second
This small square is on a busy shopping street in St Jean de Luz, but the various benches and seats provide a place to sit and chat, or to rest. Viewed from a balcony, I was attracted to the pattern of shadows and sunlit areas in the late afternoon sun.
There are bright areas in the right foreground and centre of the frame but as these are empty of people, there is little for a viewer to focus on. The lady in the left background, as a consequence, becomes a point of visual interest. She is brightly lit against a dark shadow standing out relatively prominently and drawing the viewers eye into the scene. I watched her walk into the square from the right and waited until she reached the brightly lit area before clicking the shutter. I did not take a photo whilst she walked through the bright area in the centre of the frame, but I feel that this would probably have been less interesting compositionally. She would be quite central in the frame.
The few people sitting in the shadow underneath one of the trees add little to the composition of the picture even though they are larger.
Underground wine cellar, near Bordeaux






















Panasonic Lumix G3 at 14mm (equivalent to 28mm): Iso 3200 f4.5 for 1/15th second
We visited this cellar on a wine tasting tour with a group of other foreign visitors to Bordeaux. The overall light level was very low and I therefore needed to push the camera settings to the limit to get a reasonable snap shot of the place. Whilst the quality of the photo would be unsuitable for A4 printing, I thought it was worthwhile using this as an example of using small figures in a composition.
I feel that the sillhouetted figures in the background enhance the composition. A view of the barrels without the figures would be relatively uninteresting. Whilst the far wall is bright compared to the foreground, it would not draw the viewers eye as strongly as the sillhouettes of the figures. In addition the figures add a sense of scale.
If the figures were in the centre or foreground, the figures would, I expect, start to dominate the scene. The barrels would lose their prominence in the scene.
Collonade of the Grande Theatre, Bordeaux

Panasonic Lumix G3 at 14mm (equivalent to 28mm): Iso 200 f87.1 for 1/60th second
In this image, the figure of the seated women is the focal point of the image. She is framed in between two columns and her dark clothes stand out strongly against the skylight reflected from the surface of the street behind her. Whilst she is relatively small in size, the photograph is as much a photograph of her as the collonade. She appears to be isolated from the busy street in the distance, waiting for someone or something.
This impression created by this composition differs from the actual situation. There were in fact many people seated on the steps in front of the Grand Theatre, but I noted that she was alone, and that I could isolate her by choosing an appropriate viewpoint. The street in front of the Grand Theatre was generally busy with passing shoppers, frequent trams, tourists and so on. I waited until there was a momentary gap to show her sitting apparently alone. Whilst I had already taken a couple of photographs for this project, the idea was still in my mind and this prompted me to take this photograph rather than the view of the Grand Theatre as a building. The square in front to the Theatre seemed to be a popular meeting place and a place to gather with friends. The photograph concentrates on this, rather than the building as a venue for classical music and opera.
Conclusions
Like the examples shown in the course notes, a small figure can be used photographically as the main focal point of a picture, like the girl in sillhouette on the river side. In other situations, like the figure sillhouetted aginst the doors of a building, the small figure is just a visual element which may not be immediately noticed on first glance.
It has been interesting to find situations where a small figure features to a greater or lesser extent in a scene, but in one way or another contributes to the composition.
It is clear that the lighting of the figure is key. They must stand out as a bright spot or as a sillhouette against a contrasting background.
This can be useful to add vitality or depth to a scene or an area which otherwise lacks a point of visual focus.