New lens

When shooting the for the 'sequence of composition' exercise in Manchester over the weekend I was frustrated that I couldn't reach for a lens with a greater focal range. Up until now my Sigma 55-200 was the furthest I could get.

Yes, greater focal length would have been ideal for some of the F1 car shots, but this wasn't the source of the frustration. I'd never considered using a lens with a long focal length for candid street shots, and it was this inability to get close enough to subjects that caused me to consider purchasing another lens.

So having read some reviews of the performance of current lenses (at a reasonable price) I opted for an old Minolta 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 lens - 16 years old in fact - for a mere £72.

The FA Cup arrives in Ramsbottom on Friday where Ramsbottom United take on Salford City in a preliminary round of the competition. I'll be taking my new lens and turning my hand to sports photography.

Exercise twelve: Positioning the horizon

I approached this exercise already familiar with the notion that more often than not horizons tend to be positioned - and it's a reasonable rule of thumb. I looked forward to this exercise as an opportunity to challenge this.

So, in summary, the brief was to take approximately six shots of a landscape scene, raying the position of the horizon in the frame.

This series of images were take from a high vantage point during early morning. My intension was to capture some of the early morning mist. To cope with the bright sunshine I was shooting with an ND filter. I've given a brief analysis of the each shot below.

35mm, 1/60 secs at f/29, ISO 400

It's a pleasant image, as are the others, but it doesn't quite work. However, the issue doesn't lie with the horizon, it's the lack of foreground detail that means it lacks impact.

35mm, 1/60 secs at f/29, ISO 400

An improvement on the first shot as the lack of foreground interest is compensated slightly by the extra sky space. Still falls short though.

35mm, 1/60 secs at f/29, ISO 400

This is the first shot that conforms to the notion that sitting the horizon on either the upper third (as in this shot) or the lower third is more visually appealing. It works relatively well as you can clearly see that the scene is lit from the upper right of the image and there is a balance between the two contours of fields and the sky (each occupying a third each).

35mm, 1/60 secs at f/29, ISO 400

This shot still retains the sense of depth achieved by the two stretches of land but also brings the sun into shot; introducing an additional point of interest. So even though the horizon is positioned centrally, there's balance between green and blue, and the varying shades of blue along with the sun means that the scene isn't rendered static.

35mm, 1/60 secs at f/29, ISO 400

This one works well, and yes the horizon has been placed on the lower third of the frame. There's still sufficient foreground interest as it retains the view of both fields and the lower the horizon goes the more the eye is drawn to the mist that sits below it.

35mm, 1/60 secs at f/29, ISO 400

Shooting with the horizon so low can be hugely effective but it doesn't work in this shot, despite thinking that it would at the moment of capture. The sun isn't appealing and the huge expanse of sky without cloud now looks uninteresting. Seeing the tops of the trees at the bottom of the shot also gives the viewer the sense that they're missing something.

I do think that the final shot would work with a different subject (perhaps the wind farm that's also in shot) and in different conditions (dusk, dawn, storm clouds etc.).

Another enjoyable exercise that has questioned by preconceptions. Before the activity I would have taken just two shots: one on the lower third and one on the upper third. Having analysed the results one of the strongest images is the centrally positioned horizon.

Exercise eleven: Balance

This represents the first reflective exercise; requiring me to trawl through previous shots to see whether the images possess balance (or not!) and how this is achieved.

The majority of my previous shots have been family portrait shots but I hope I've been able to identify a sufficiently diverse set of images. The idea being that I may naturally achieve balanced compositions for one genre and not another.

50mm, 1/80 secs at f/2.5, ISO 100

I thought I'd start with a relatively simple one - a shot of my Grandparents at a recent family wedding. This one's a favourite shot and captures the character of both subjects - my Gran being more outspoken and noticeable and my Grandad slipping into the background whenever he can. And although in this shot he takes up more of the frame balance is achieved by the fact that it's my Gran that's in focus and is therefore more prominent.

18mm, 3.2 secs at f/22, ISO 100

Arguably my favourite ever landscape shot (well, that I've taken anyway) and my first long exposure. Two points of interest in the frame being the bring arch/waterfall and the boulder in the bottom right hand corner. There is a strong relationship courtesy of the flowing stream, leading the eye from the first point of interest to the second (which also portrays a contrast between liquid and solid). And although each point is diagonally opposite each other, balance is struck.

11mm, 4 secs at f/18, ISO 200

The first two examples contained two points of interest, so in addition to introducing a range of genres I also wanted to increase the complexity by introducing a third point of interest. This shot was taken on a recent shoot at Manchester's John Rylands Library.

Inititally the eye is drawn to the central light but then sweeps up to the arch at the top of the steps on the left, and then the past the arches down the steps to the right. The image therefore has a natural balance.

50mm, 1/80 secs at f/1.8, ISO 400

It took me a while to get to grips with this image as there are a number of aspects to it. Running from right to left and in decreasing importance/priority is the monkey in a seating position, the monkey lay down and the texture of the net. These aspects do not suggest balance yet intuitively I felt it was.

Realisation came when I stopped looking for physical subjects in the frame. So in this instance, although the texture of the net is a worthwhile inclusion, it's the lack of a subject on the left that gives the image balance - in other words, the space that the primary monkey is gazing in to. Should he have been looking to  his left the shot would not be balanced.

45mm, 1/80 secs at f/5.6, ISO 160

Following on from my observations of the previous shot I chose a shot with similar traits (not subjects!), so here's another with a significant amount of space. Once again, based on the physical elements of the scene the weight of the shot is skewed to the right hand side. However, it's the space the subjects are peering into that gives it balance (and makes the viewer strain his/her neck trying to peer around the left hand side of the frame). What struck me by this point is that I'd not made conscious decisions about the balance that compositions of this nature gives... it has been natural until now.

160mm, 1/640 secs at f/4.5, ISO 100

Again, a difficult one. On the face of it there's one subject positioned heavily towards the right hand side of the frame as the bushes over to the left are of no interest. Rather than the previous two images achieving balance because of the space the subject(s) were looking into, this one is balances by virtue of the direction in which the bird is hurtling towards (between the bushes on the left and the tree). This is also emphasised by the outstretched wing pointing towards this space too.

I found this exercise so valuable and really enjoyed analysing previous shots, not least because I was able to determine whether my images had natural balance because I'd certainly not been conscious of balance before now. I was really pleased to find that far more often than not my images had balance.

Even after reading the exercise I was looking for physical attributes of an image to determine whether it had balance yet what I discovered was that space can provide balance, as can selected focus/clarity.

From here on in I intend to be much more conscious of this aspect of composition.

Exercise ten: Focal lengths and different viewpoints

This exercise is a progression from the previous exercise which demonstrated the difference between focal lengths from the same viewpoint. This exercise aimed to highlight the difference that changing your lens and viewpoint would have on perspective.

The subject I chose was a local monument, the Ramsbottom Urn, which possesses the necessary depth for the exercise to be effective.

80mm, 1/160 secs at f/11, ISO 400

Ideally I would have liked to have shot this from a greater distance, making more of the 55-200mm lens, but it wasn't physically possible. The subject has interesting contours and shooting it from this angle does portray some depth and is likely to be pretty close the standard focal length of the lens.

10mm, 1/220 secs at f/11, ISO 400

Positioned some 25 yards closer to the subject, it felt unnaturally close - more so than the final image suggests - and it certainly portrays depth... too much of it! It has the effect of exaggerating aspects such as the nearest handle, and yet it also reduces elements such as the base. In addition to changing the dimensions of the subject, by being so close the the subject, the most interesting feature of the subject - the opening - has been removed completely.

Ultimately, neither image is particularly visually appealing and I suspect the better shot lies somewhere in between. The wide angle shot starts to give some perspective but the composition lacks anything interesting. Turning the left a composing a shot that contrasts the motionless urn with the speed of life passing it by.

A good exercise that has already influenced some shots that I'll be using for assignment one.

Exercise nine: Focal lengths

The exercise represented an opportunity to find a scene that I could take a wider shot of, and gradually increase the focal length to get a close up of a subject.

This was another opportunistic shot and as such I only had my 55-200mm lens with me.

55mm, 1/200 secs at f/20, ISO 400

60mm, 1/200 secs at f/20, ISO 400

80mm, 1/200 secs at f/20, ISO 400

100mm, 1/200 secs at f/20, ISO 400

130mm, 1/200 secs at f/200, ISO 400

150mm, 1/200 secs at f/200, ISO 400

200mm, 1/200 secs at f/20, ISO 400

In the first shot it's possible to make out that people are surrounding the stone by without understanding a great deal else with any accuracy. By the time we reach the closest shot, 200mm, you can make out the number of people, their positions and the colours of their clothing.

55mm, 1/200 secs at f/20, ISO 400

This is a magnified shot of the first image and, although the people in shot have changes positions slightly, it's pretty much the same shot.

This is something that I didn't expect. I'd assumed that that moving from 55mm to 200mm would have had some affect.

Exercise eight: A sequence of composition

Although this post appears in exercise order, it's one of the last exercises that I've managed to complete before the first assignment.

The brief was to take a sequence of 20-30 shots that are 'almost right'; not worrying too much about composition. I believe my images have benefitted from the fact that I undertook this exercise a little later than planned.

The full sequence can be found on my Flickr photostream but I've included a strong flavour of the sequence here.

The event took place in Manchester's Albert Square where there were various F1 stalls but the main event was an appearance by Jenson Button doing a few laps along the streets in his F1 car.

I'm still suffering from being camera shy so I started with a few shots of the F1 cars.

130mm, 1/160 secs at f/5, ISO 200

The black and yellow were striking and the shape of the tyre lent itself to a square crop.

200mm, 1/200 secs at f/5.6, ISO 200

I liked the contours of the F1 car on display and this close up shot gives it a slight abstract feel.

Little was happening and without queueing for lengthy periods it was proving difficult to get close to the cars so I decided to brave it and start taking shots of people and headed across Albert Square.

55m, 1/1000 secs at f/4, ISO 200
This shot of a boy on his father's shoulders caught my eye because of his F1 outfit - a lot of others were wearing branded clothing but not to this extent!

75mm, 1/400 secs at f/4.5, ISO 200

A couple of days earlier Manchester celebrated its first 'I love Manchester' day. I saw this scene and attempted to focus on the two banners, leaving passing people out of focus. It seemed to work.

60mm, 1/160 secs at f/4, ISO200

I saw a number of people had climbed on to whatever they good to get a better view and in this scene there are three boys on two window ledges. Fortunately I managed to capture the boy on the left pointing.

Realising that racing would soon start I sought out a better vantage point and continued to take shots of people and of the road car Jenson began his laps in.

100mm, 1/200 secs at f/5.6, ISO 400
Typically rain was a feature of the day and through a sea of umbrellas this vibrant yellow one stood out a mile.

55mm, 1/80 secs at f/5.6, ISO 400
The guy outside the 1st floor window isn't a scene you see every day. so I thought it'd be an interesting image. He was later joined by a friend/colleague (see Flickr) but this shot of a solitary figure works better.

200mm, 1/640 secs at f/5.6, ISO 400
I was holding the camera high above my head to see whether I could get a shot of the spot where the cars would be passing and stumbled across this image. The colours are vibrant and it also shows that it wasn't just the crowd anticipating the action.

75mm, 1/250 secs at f/4.5, ISO 400
This is one of my favourite shots of the day as it demonstrates the  difficulties people were facing in order to get a decent view.

200mm, 1/250 secs at f/5.6, ISO 400
Again, here I was looking for alternative shots while waiting for the cars to eventually pass. I like the sense of anticipation that this shot portrays. The depth of field also works very well.

200mm, 1/800 secs at f/5.6, ISO 400
Thanks to the earlier test shot of the lone steward I was able to get a good view of their McLaren MP4. I used the continuous shooting mode and caught a series of shots - this is the pick of them.

I was conscious that if I stayed her my images would largely be similar so a break in proceeding gave me an opportunity to change my location again.

60mm, 1/125 secs at f/4, ISO 400
This shot didn't work as expected. It initially appealed because the group had an elevated vantage point and were naturally framed by the window (see below).

55mm, 1/250 secs at f/4, ISO 400
So I decided to pull back to show more context by including the busy street scene.

200mm, 1/200 secs at f/5.6, ISO 400
I wanted a few more candid shots and this one's a pleasant one that's well composed/exposed.

160mm, 1/200 secs at f/5.6, ISO 400
This guy was interesting as he was stood on a chair and therefore towered above others around him. I couldn't get the shot of him on his chair as it was so crowded. Instead I took this one - the out of focus red and orange are good additions.

135mm, 1/125 secs at f/7.1, ISO 800
I knew that I would be shooting above the crowd and needed to use the live view feature. So while waiting for the F1 car to appear I had my camera at my side and saw this scene. It seems to sum up Manchester well.

200mm, 1/1250 secs at f/8.0, ISO 1600
In order to increase the shutter speed and increase the depth of field slightly (to increase my hopes of the car being sharp and in focus) I had to bump up the ISO considerably. Again, this was one of a series of shots.

If I'm honest I've been putting this exercise off as I'm not terribly comfortable with a dSLR in public (I even tried this exercise yesterday but as there were fewer people around I refrained). However, after a while I really began to spot more opportunities and by the end of the couple of hours the element I was enjoying the most was candid shots of people. 

Exercise seven: Object in different positions in the frame

Here the brief was to choose a subject that was set within a large, even background.

Sounds simple, but I've deliberated over possible subjects far more than I have for other exercises. In fact, I'd taken a series of shots of a different subject but rejected them on the grounds that the background wasn't even. The challenge was about angle of view - in order to be able to capture a subject in all extremes of the frame I needed to be higher than it.

So, it's was purely accidentally that I spotted this rather cheeky subject but one that interested me enough to grab my camera.

It's with pointing out that the lighting changed very quickly and has invariably had an impact on the visual appeal of images. A lesson in itself.

Here are the shots in order of preference along with a brief analysis.

55mm, 1/125 secs at f/8, ISO 100

Each of the shots have an abstract feel, but none more so than this one. In one of the earlier posts I referenced Gutenburg's Diagram (the theory being that in Western cultures the viewer will start in the top left hand corner of this image and work diagonally downwards) so in this shot the 'reveal' doesn't happen immediately. Instead, the viewer sees the pattern of the horizontal lines initially.

55mm, 1/125 secs at f/8, ISO 100

This shot only works as a result of the changing light conditions. The even split of light and shade give the image balance.

55mm, 1/125 secs at f/8, ISO 100

Once again the light is different. This is the only shot here that appears on one of the intersections of the rule of the thirds. There's little to like or dislike.

55mm, 1/125 secs at f/8, ISO 100

The presence of the ball in the top right corner of the shot is very distracting, to the point where the viewer may not focus on the rest of the image. It's become a gimmick and no more.

55mm, 1/125 secs at f/8, ISO 100

Admittedly, the lack of light and shade doesn't help the centrally positioned subject but, that aside, it doesn't stack up against the first couple of images. It's become a 'snap' rather than an image of interest.

Although I never shoot with the image centrally positioned I'm going to consciously look for suitable subjects... this wasn't one of them.