Exercise 11 – Balance

I chose a selection of photographs for this exercise that were taken during my recent visit to Las Vegas.

 

I found it easier to see the balance in those with distinct main elements like the one of the two statues.  It was much harder with others like the night time street view where the photograph was much busier.  Also the one of the chandelier, the sections all come out from a centre point but the angle of the photograph means you only see one section of it, so it’s more implied.

Taking a few days out

Taken a break from thinking about the course for a couple of days to get the last set of wedding photographs ready for the Bride and Grooms return from honeymoon.  Emma and Tom are a lovely couple and it was a very relaxed happy day, here a small selection of the photographs from their special day.

 Northamptons Guild Hall is in the centre of Northampton so you often get shoppers mingled in with the bridal parties when they arrive

I used a relatively small apperture to keep the bride sharp but the rest of the image soft.

There isn't much room for group shots and they had quite a lot of guest so used the step on the way out for the confetti shot - apparently someone accidentally throw a lipstick along with the confetti which hit the bride, hense her expression.

The chauffer was prepared with champagne for the journey to the reception venue

The chauffer had recommended stopping off at Delpre Abbey en route to reception which turned out to be a great location - I did a couple of the earlier exercises here.

Bride and Groom fooling around while I was setting up my camera in Delpre Park adjacent to the Abbey

Bride and Grooms first dance

Brides mum and son joined them on the dance floor

Traditional throwing of the bridal bouquet

Exercise 10 – Focal Lengths and Difference Viewpoints

I chose to use the Octo (Figure of eight) sculpture for this exercise.  It is a well know piece of art in Milton Keynes and due to it’s location allows room to photograph from a distance, with a telephoto lens, but also to get up close with a wide angle lens.

When I got there first thing I noticed was the awful smell, it was the water around Octo, it’s always been there, though not noticed the smell before but had forgotten about.  I was concerned that it would affect my wide angle photograph as was planning to get up close underneath.

F5, ISO200, 1/160s, 180mm

 F9, SIO200, 1/80s, 20mm

Although I have tried to fill the frame the same with both focal lengths when I look at the one taken with the smallest focal length I definitely feel that I am closer to it, which I was.  The effect on the Octo’s relation to the surround area is hugely different.  With the small focal length it appear to be even taller  than the building it is outside and it appears to be quite a distance in front of the trees behind.  With the larger focal length Octo only appears to be the height of the shops below the office is it outside and the trees in the background look to be almost touching it.   

On a more general comparison note between the two the images, the one taken with the shorter focal length has a more artistic feel to it, just a shame it was such a bland sky the day I done this exercise.

Exercise 9 – Focal Lengths

This exercise is about the view you capture with different focal lengths, from one static point.  I went to Furzdon Lake in Milton Keynes to do this exercise as it has an island with art work on it, however when I got there it was quite overgrown and the art work hardly visible.  However there was a bridge over a part in the distance so used that to focus on.

F10, ISO200, 1/200s, 10mm

F11, ISO200, 1/125s, 20mm

 F9, ISO200, 1/160s, 35mm

f8, ISO200, 1/200s, 80mm

F5, ISO200, 1/250s, 205mm

 F5.6, ISO200, 1/125s, 300mm

If I zoom in on the bridge from the first image with the smallest focal length it is the same in size in comparison to the surrounding area as in the image taken with the largest focal length.

Exercise 8 – A sequence of composition

This exercise is about the process that goes into producing an image.  

There was a free summer fayre event in Milton Keynes at Campbell Park this last weekend.  I wouldn’t normally go as not my type of music, however it attracts a large turn out and ideal for this exercise.

I didn’t feel particularly comfortable photographing the people sitting around listening to the music so decided to do the sequence based on the vendors at the event.

My first attempt was to take images of the ice cream seller, it was a very hot weekend and was one of the more popular vendors (after the bar!).  I was not unhappy with the sequence I shot as I moved around to get better angles but didn’t think they were the best I could do so moved on.  The photo’s of this sequence can be viewed on my Flickr account here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=57757332%40N00&q=%22Ice+Cream%22&m=tags

I then spotted a balloon vendor, these also seemed popular with the children at the event .  I was amazed at the amount of balloons she was carrying and wondered how all the strings didn’t get tangled up.

F7.1, ISO200, 1/320s, 75mm

F8, ISO200, 1/500s, 180mm

I started with a couple of images from a distance when I first spotted the balloon vendor.

F7.1, ISO200, 1/400s, 155mm

I got a bit closer and zoomed in a little to get the strings in detail.  Although the photographs shows the tangle of strings I thought it would be a stronger photograph if the vendor wasn’t facing away.

F11, ISO400, 1/800s, 135mm

I moved round slightly and waiting until the vendor was looking my direction, although was squinting into the sun slightly.  I prefer this to the previous image but decided to try and close in a bit more on the details.

F6.3, ISO200, 1/320s, 300mm

Just then there was a small breeze, very welcome it was too, but it blew the balloons down onto the vendor  and I managed to quickly grab this one shot.

F7.1, ISO200, 1/400s, 300mm

For the next in the sequence I decided to try a close up on just the balloons, there was so many it wasn’t too difficult to get them to almost completely fill the frame. 

F6.3, ISO200, 1/320s, 300mm

I was pleased with some of the images I had got so far but it was the amount of strings that made me start the sequence so for the final image in the sequence I went for a close up of all the multi coloured strings the vendor was holding and got an angle where the balloons themselves made the background to the image and is my favourite of the sequence.

It was a really good exercise and will encourage me to maybe take a few more photographs when in this type of situation rather than waiting until I have my interpretation at the time as the ‘perfect’ framing before pressing the shutter.