Art of Photography

Exercise: Multiple points

I've used this exercise to get a picture for the assigment 2. I've collected some dry leaves in the park and made a several points composition at home using a black card as background. I've set the white balance to the tungsten bulb option and I've used my kitchen lighting.

I've mounted my camera on the tripod and choosen the macro lens. Then I've started with a single point in the frame and continued adding more until filling the frame. Here are the results:

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Tamron 90 mm Macro f/2,8

Exposure: 10 sec. f/22

ISO 200. No flash. Tripod used.

I think it was one of the most difficult exercises. I don't feel comfortable building the photography by myself. I think I'm used to shooting Nature, city scenes or actions and this challenge has been very interesting because I think it's creation, it's art.

Exercise: The relationship between points

There are many elements to stablish the relationship between points (the distance between them, the size, the lighting, the contrast, the position in the frame, the shape and many other.

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Nikkon 18-55 mm f/3,5-5,6

Focal length: 26 mm

Exposure: 1/250 f/11

ISO 200. No flash, no tripod.

In the photography above the main feature to difference the boats is their size. The distance from them to the camera is almost the same and the colours are also similar; but the large boat gets more interest in the picture because it's larger (the difference is huge) than the other one. Due to its size its reflection is also noticeable, while the small boat's reflection can't be seen and this is another reason to lead the attention to the largest one.

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Tamron 90 mm Macro f/2,8

Exposure: 1/250 f/5,6

ISO 200. No flash, no tripod.

These flowerpots' size is different like in the boats' picture, but here the main attention is lead to the smaller one because their size is not the main relationship between them. The difference between their size is also smaller than the picture with the boats.

Here their relationship is stablished by their colours or their contrast. The saturation in the flower on the left is higher than the flower on the right. So the contrast between the red flowers and the green leaves makes to pay more attention on this flowerpot. The palid rose flowers and the lighter green leaves of the other one makes it less contrasty.

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Tamron 90 mm Macro f/2,8

Exposure: 1/125 f/5,6

ISO 200. No flash, tripod used.

Here the size, the colours and the contrast of the two flowers are similar. So their relationship is set by their position. In this shot the attention is lead to the right flower because it's facing the camera while we have the side view of the left flower and this makes its shape less impressive than the other. I have to say also that the right flower is focused so the small water drops can be noticed on it, making it more interesting.

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.

Exercise: Object in different positions at the frame

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Nikkor 70.0-300.0 mm f4,0-5,6

Shutter speed:1/800"

Aperture: f/5,6

ISO 1250

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Nikkor 70.0-300.0 mm f4,0-5,6

Shutter speed:1/800"

Aperture: f/5,6

ISO 1250

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Nikkor 70.0-300.0 mm f4,0-5,6

Shutter speed:1/1000"

Aperture: f/5,6

ISO 1250

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Nikkor 70.0-300.0 mm f4,0-5,6

Shutter speed:1/640"

Aperture: f/5,6

ISO 1250

Camera body: Nikon d90

Lens: Nikkor 70.0-300.0 mm f4,0-5,6

Shutter speed:1/1000"

Aperture: f/5,6

ISO 1250

For this exercise, I’ve chosen a sheep as the subject. Its white color makes a difference with the green grass, which takes the most part of the image.

I’ve chosen different compositions, starting with centering the sheep. In my opinion this one doesn’t work very well because it makes it static. The second composition is which I like most, because part of the background can be seen so it helps to place the sheep and balance the composition. In the third picture I followed the rule of thirds, but I prefer the previous one, because this picture is a little boring in my opinion, too much grass.

In the next one, the sheep is on the bottom of the picture, centered. I don’t really disklike it but I don’t feel really comfortable with it neither. And in the last one, the subject is placed in the top left corner of the image, leaving too much space empty.