Exercise: Diagonals

Diagonal lines are easier to create in a photograph, as they depend mainly on viewpoint.
My first diagonal is one of the effect of perspective.  Here the building diminishes into the distance, giving a prominent angle.

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The photo above, the stairs are probably the most common of the diagonals. This is the side view of a double flight of stairs.  To Change the view I could have got very close with the camera and shot up the stairs, along the banister, for a different view.

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More Stairs these more elaborate, combing diagonals and curve, painted bright yellow.. quite stunning against the grey background.

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These diagonal poles are not particularly strong diagonal but the effect is better as there is a row of them. I maybe could have cropped the picture more to make the poles make a diagonal across the frame of the picture.

Exercise: Horizontal & Vertical

Horizontal and Vertical lines are the simplest of lines, they tend to induce feelings of stability in an image.  They are all around us, sometimes very obvious, other times, not so.  Firstly, here is my selection of

Horizontal

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This beautiful building, the houses of parliament, make my first horizontal picture.  It fits the frame with the boat just breaking the water of the Thames, and set against an very rain filled sky.

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This was taken on the pedestrian bridge at Embankment, These are the horizontal barriers, with the London view beyond.

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The numerous bridges in London are all beautiful and i have used this for horizontal, but I could have used it for curves or even pattern.

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At Borough Market amongst the stalls, above was a strong iron Horizontal structure, here painted yellow.

Vertical 

The weather was closing in, but I liked how this photograph turned out, showing the vertical lines in the shadows.  A little on the dark side, but dramatic, with London just beginning to turn its lights on in the distance.

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The very strong design here could be either horizontal or vertical, I have chosen it to be vertical as I feel this is the stronger element.  They are good colours too.

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Here is a line of beautiful, vertical, lamp posts, disappearing into the distance.  This would have looked nice against a blue sky, but hey this is January !!! I did get soaked shortly after this shot.

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I went to the Tate Britain to see the Eadweard Muybridge exhibition, and the building here has these wonderful pillars, what an impressive entrance.

and just one more, I like this photo as you don't always see four phone boxes together, four verticals.

Exercise: Multiple Points

With several points the relationship is not so predictable.  A group of objects implies a network of lines and can also create a shape, by implication.

I started off with marbles on a patterned carpet, rolling the small marbles into the large marble, letting them form their own pattern.  I liked the pattern formed but found the carpet to be distracting.

In contrast my second set of pictures was on plain carpet, although I liked the pattern that was forming, I felt this was too plain... it just felt like I was staring down at the marbles.

Well finally decided on our Christmas game, Mancala, which has the perfect glistening counters to use.  I placed the counters alongside the board.  The table gave an interesting background without being too heavily patterned and therefore distracting.

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This picture above shows the marbles are linked and I have shown on the last picture below with arrows.

This last picture has no set pattern...

Here the black counter takes your eye and then the other counters lead out from this, which I have marked with arrows.  They need to be fairly close to each other to stay connected.

Exercise: Relationship between points.

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Here the large boat dominates the frame, being the stronger point, but then your eye leads to the smaller boat in the distance.  The second point would be clearer if the view was less cluttered.

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Here with this picture, the nearer tree takes your eye first, then your vision leads slightly right on to the second tree.  In this case the first tree is more dominant as it is fuller, and therefore the stronger point, and the second tree looks a little frail, with no leaves.

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Here are the lovely Donkeys, who aren't always as lovely as they look ... watch your fingers...
The two of them walking towards me, the first one to take your eye is the dark one.  His colour helps but he is the first one you see, this is the stronger point.  Your eye then follows onto the grey donkey.

EYES


Two points where your vision isn't taken to the next point is when you look at someones eyes.  Here I have taken a picture, a close up of the eyes, equal distance from the centre.  You find that you look straight at the eyes and then back and forth... left to right.. neither point is stronger.

Elements of Design - Exercise : Positioning a point

The objective is to be able to identify the graphic elements in any photograph, to assess how important a role they play, and to be able to use them for structure and movement in composition.

There are three classes of position, the middle, a little off centre and close to the edge... Here to follow are my examples.

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Centre
I feel here with the boat central, it does look more static,  and would be better if the boat were anchored or still.

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Slightly Off Centre
This is my preferred picture, the boat looks like it is moving towards the space, the detail in the background gives a better overall picture, giving you a sense of where it is and it seems to be more in proportion.

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To The Side 
Although this is offering space for the boat to move into, I feel that maybe its a little too much space and not enough of any other interest.  I would probably crop this picture so that there was only boat and water.

This exercise is similar to a previous one, when we positioned a figure in a field.  I feel that positioning would very much depend on the picture that you were taking and the effect that you wanted to create, as to where you positioned the subject.  Some pictures would definitely benefit from the subject being centrally positioned.

Alterations to Assignment 1

I have read through, and taken on board, the points raised in my Tutor Report, and made the following alterations, and hopefully improvements, to Assignment 1.

Straight / Curved 


I completely agreed with my original shot, was only slightly curved, and to show I understand the concept I have added a picture which had been taken previously, which shows a definite curve, this was taken by me on a photography course in Dorset.

Diagonal / Rounded

I have two new images for my diagonal / rounded.  The rounded is something we all see at this time of year, the bauble.  I love the colours, and the round bauble is set off by the tinsel, giving a real Christmassy feel.

After some investigation and research on diagonals, I hope I have improved on my Diagonal picture.
This picture taken in a London park, shows the diagonal across the picture. The pillars with birds sitting on them on this winters morning.

Large / Small 

Looking back over my pictures that I have taken, I can see that the smaller wellies, look smaller, with more room around them, but it takes someone to tell you before it registers.

So I have re taken the photo with more room surrounding, giving a better final shot.

Two Contrasts in one Picture.


YOUNG / OLD


Something completely different from the last shot.  I have again on flickr looked for inspiration.
Having been blessed with a new family member at Christmas (a Great Nephew), I had the perfect model.
However with Great nanny trying to cook Sunday Lunch, and a baby who insisted on wriggling, it wasn't as easy as I had anticipated.  I did produce a shot I was pleased with, and hopefully shows my two contrasts in one picture and I shall not tell Great nanny she was the 'old' part - she wont be happy.