Exercise: Positioning a point

I've done this exercise in two ways. First, I've chosen a bear statue as my point and I've taken three pictures positioning my point in three different positions: the middle of the frame, a little bit separated from the centre and close to the edge.

      Camera body: D90

      Lens: Nikkor 18.0-55.0 mm f/3,5-5,6

      Focal length: 55 mm

      Exposure: 1/200  f/11

      No flash, no tripod.

In the first shot I've positioned the bear in an intersection following the rule of thirds. I've decided to put it in the lower right part because I wanted to include in the frame the trees as well as the flowers in the park. The other reason is the direction the bear is looking at. I realized the man in the picture was crossing towards the frame when I was compositing the scene so I`ve waited until he walked between the bear and the tree in the middle to give some dynamic appearance to the picture. 

      Camera body: D90

      Lens: Nikkor 18.0-55.0 mm f/3,5-5,6

      Focal length: 55 mm

      Exposure: 1/200  f/11

      No flash, no tripod.

In this case, I've positioned the bear in the middle of the frame. Now the bear is the main character in the picture but it gives a static sensation to the shot.

 

      Camera body: D90

      Lens: Nikkor 18.0-55.0 mm f/3,5-5,6

      Focal length: 55 mm

      Exposure: 1/200  f/11

      No flash, no tripod.

Here, the bear is next to the right bottom corner. It's close to the edge so the attention is directed to a small part of the frame. I think this position doesn't work very well because our attention is directed to the edge which is a small part of the frame and then there is a huge part of the image in which there is a lack of interest.

In this exercise I've come to a conclusion that positioning a point close to the edge rarely works; positioning a point in the middle of the frame gives a static sensation to the picture but it can work if this is what you are looking for. Finally, I've found very useful positioning a point a little off-centre because it gives a sense of depth to the image.

I also have tried the same exercise but using different subjects as a point in each one. I wanted to try which situations or subjects are good for each position and here are the results:

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Tamron 90 mm Macro f/2,8

Exposure: 1/1000  f/5,6

ISO 200. No flash, no tripod.

Here the point is in the middle of the frame and it works pretty well to give the picture a radial balance so the attention is directed to the centre of the flower. I've used the diagonals drawn by the petals as well as the contrast created between the colors and the selective focusing. So because I wanted to limit the focus to the centre of the image I've used a f/5,6 aperture.

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Nikkor 18.0-55.0 mm f/3,5-5,6

Focal length: 55 mm

Exposure: 1/640  f/11

ISO 500. No flash, no tripod.

Here I've chosen the tower of the museum as my point. I've decided to put it a little off-centre to give more dinamism and help the balance in the picture, and leading the eye through the top to the bottom of the tower. This way the horizon is in the lower third

and the sky seems more relevant. 

I think it's the most useful position when composing a photography in most cases.

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Nikkor 18.0-55.0 mm f/3,5-5,6

Focal length: 18 mm

Exposure: 1/400  f/16

ISO 640. No flash, no tripod.

Here I've decided to put the open window glass in the left edge but it's obvious that I've failed in my effort to lead the attention towards the glass, because the window cover becomes more interesting than the glass.