Real and implied triangles

Monday 26th September 2011

In August, I visited the "Masters of Vision Exhibition" in Southwell Minster and attended a talk from David Noton entitled Chasing the light. His presentation was inspiring, and full of anecdotes from his photographic trips. He included some technical tips and discussions on processing. Eight local professional photographers had exhibited landscape photographs. I was interested to view each photographer's unique style which showed through their collection.

The roadshow made me realise the importance of light and how the right light can make the difference to a photo. I thought about the lighting in the photo I took of the tractor (implied lines 6th July 2011) and how the early evening low sun made the crop appear more golden and the threat of the impending thunderstorm made the sky look more dramatic. The roadshow has given me a starting point to look at the importance of lighting.

Real and implied triangles

Real Triangle

This building looks triangular even though only two sides are seen.

1/30 F8 ISO100 Focal Length 18mm

I found several examples of triangles by perspective. This shows the detail of the underside of the roof. I liked this example because the triangular brickwork complements the design

1/15 F8 ISO100 Focal length 110mm

It was more difficult in the beginning to find inverted triangles by perspective. I looked at using a wide angled lens to elongate and broaden the triangle - e.g a converging path, looking down a slatted park bench, looking up the trunk of a tree with two main branches, two different roof lines meeting and sculptures. I worked from a crouching position with the camera pointing up to exaggerate the angle.

1/80 F8 ISO400 Focal Length 40mm

Implied Triangles

A still life arrangement of a triangle with an apex at the top. This was a dull day when I composed this, so I experimented with the lighting settings on my camera to get the lighting as close to real life as possible. I had several attempts with the display and the background. I think the display should be closer together to link the items.

0.3secs F16 ISO200 Focal Length 70mm Tungsten light

This is a still life arrangement with the apex at the bottom of the picture. I have found that by linking my camera to the computer, I can view the picture on a larger screen. This helps me with composition, because the lens used can alter perspective. I prefer to be able to read the spice jars labels so I have used a small aperture.

0.3secs F16 ISO200 Focal length 70mm Tungsten light

This photo demonstrates 3 people arranged in a triangle.

1/200 ISO800 F6.3 Focal Length 60mm

Being a predominantly dark image, I feel that the girls face is slightly over exposed compared to thr rest of the photograph and there are areas of very dark shadow.Potentially the use of flash may have given a more even exposure. This only came to light when viewing the photos at full size. On reflection, I should have taken more photos at different angles and used a reflector or off camera flash at source. I have added a gold filter in photoshop to add some warmth to the photo.

As a learning experience, I booked my family into a studio portrait session so that I could be on the other side of the camera and watch how the photographer arranged people. As only 3 of us could make it, the group shape was triangles. I am looking forward to reviewing the photos especially from a composition point of view.

 

I had difficulty in the beginning with relating to finding triangles. With practice and increasing my observation, I now see them everywhere. When I look back on my two still life triangles, I would now position the objects differently.

Using lines in composition

Wednesday 6th July 2011

Implied lines

This photo demonstrates an eye line. The viewers eye is focussed into the subject's eye and led towards what they are looking at. My son came home from school and was interested the pulses I was taking pictures of. This was a quick attempt before he realised that I was taking a photo of him.

1/8 F11 ISO200 Focal Length 28mm

This photo has an implied line. The tractor is moving towards the trailer of hay bales with the next load. The viewer is encouraged to look at the tractor first because it has a strong diagonal and their eyes follow to the trailer.

1/80 F11 ISO200 Focal Length 300mm