Exercise 11. Balance

I am to look at the photographs I have already taken, and consider how if at all the balance works in each.  To achieve this I should look at seeing things in more than one way.
Good balance is a guideline for a better picture composition, the arrangement of shapes, colours or areas of dark and light compliment one another.
Technically if I place the subject of interest on one side of the photograph, there is no balance as there is nothing to look at on the other side of photograph. This creates an unbalanced image.
Larger objects, could be counterbalanced with smaller objects.
Several considerations to think about when looking at a well balanced photograph.


Rule of thirds
Texture - Characteristics of a surface
Colour
Shape - Form or structure
Dark and Light
Space - Expanse
Small and large

Fig 1    1/250sec    f/8.0    ISO 200    

Colour Balance. The small area of blue water is balanced with the larger areas of green

Rule of thirds.  This has been equally divided into three along the horizontal lines.

(South Africa)

Fig 2    1/250 sec    f/4.5    ISO 100

Shape. The large central flat area of vineyard, is balanced by the small irregular shaped foliage in the foreground and also the much smaller triangular field to the right.

The lines created by the rows of vineyards lead the eye through to the centre of the photograph and to the field beyond.

(South Africa)

Fig 3    1/320 sec    f/9.0    ISO 125

Large against small.  The height and breadth of the mosque wall is the larger element in this image and is balanced towards the front by the low shrubbery and foliage, which is positioned to the side

Rule of thirds. Normally the subject that is in the foreground is more prominent, here the rule of thirds has reduced that effect.

(Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque)

Fig 4    1/500 sec    f/4.5    ISO 100 

Dark and Light.  The dark reflection, is balanced by the light triangular area, it has created.

The Minaret being high and narrow, is balanced by the larger building to the front of it.  

(Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat)

Fig 5     1/250 sec    f/8.0  ISO 100

Dark and Light. The dark foreground balances the light on the mountain and Jilali Fort.

Rule of thirds.  Subject has been placed at point and line in this image

(Old Muscat)

Fig 6    1/500 sec     f/4.5     ISO 200 

Colour.  The small area of blue, is balanced by the dark tones of background foliage.

(Thailand)

Fig 7     1/20 sec     f/5.6     ISO 200

Textures. The rough texture in the background, has balanced the larger area with the smooth untextured surface of the pot.

Shape.  The curves of the flowers are complimented with the curves of the pot, curved flower stem, and balanced by the straight lines of the tall stems and lines on the wooden steps.

Colour.  Primary colours, red, yellow and blue, balanced with secondary colours, green and violet.

(Thailand)

Fig 8     1/60 sec     F/5.6     ISO 400 

Large and small. The large element of this photograph is counterbalanced by the two smaller elements.

(Cyprus)

My thoughts on this exercise.

• I found the exercise quite difficult, I chose to look at several of the design elements in well composed balanced photograph. Shape, Light and dark, Texture, Large and small and Colour.
•  Tried to find photographs taken in other parts of the world as they show a different light from the glaring white sunlight here in Oman.  
• This was very time consuming, and  from this exercise, I have been able to identify that I need to look at balance more closely when taking a photograph. 
• Informal balance gives the viewer more to look at and appreciate, good balance makes images more appealing.
• Creating a well balanced photograph will require me to work at seeing things in more than one way.
• Looking at not just the primary subject but also the secondary subject will improve my photographs.

Exercise 12. Positioning the horizon

The remit here is to find a viewpoint that gives a reasonably interesting landscape in which there is an unbroken and clear horizon.  View the scene, considering different positions in which the horizon can be placed in the frame.
Take a photograph of each position ending up with sequence of images with horizon placed from low to high.  Note as to whether this works or not.
Write short note on the effect of the placement, noting which I prefer and reasons why.
I travelled to Muscat, and made my way over to Qurum, where, 50metres below the Crown Plaza hotel which sits on limestone cliffs overlooking the Gulf of Oman is a minute beach, this is separated from the main beach by a small fresh water inlet.  There are wonderful view of the Qurum beach and headland.  I have passed this location on many visits to this area and wanted to spend time there to photograph.  Local fishermen leave their boats here on the beach.


Equipment used
Nikon D7000
18-105 lens
ISO 125
Aperture Priority
Tripod


I positioned myself midway between the boats and the shoreline, on the small inlet where I could see clearly, the headland to the right of me and the inlet of water and sun shades on the beach to the left.  It was possibly the windiest day of the year, and I had to ensure that my tripod was anchored firmly in the sand, as the strong coastal winds were threatening to blow myself and the tripod over.


Horizontal Format

Fig. 1       f/14.0    1/160 sec      32mm

Lowest placement of the horizon.  From this angle, the upright poles on the edge of the shoreline lead the eye to the centre of the photograph.  The cliff edge to the right is balanced with the greenery on the right.  The main beach in the background can just be made out. 

Fig. 2     f/10.0    1/400sec    58mm

Middle placement of the horizon.  No leading lines in this photograph, the posts dominate the picture and the driftwood is more prominent  There is more shape to the flow of the inlet of water and the waves on the Gulf of Arabia can be seen.

Fig.3    f/9.0    1/320sec    85mm 

High placement of the horizon.  The five posts and the positioning of the edge of the inlet lead your eye to the left edge of the photograph. Again the driftwood is dominant as it is centrally placed.

Natural division into thirds.

Vertical Format

Fig. 4    f/10.0    1/400sec    62mm   

Low placement of horizon.

It felt very natural for me to take these vertical images at the same location to compare. In this image  the sky contains no detail, creating a completely empty space. 

Fig. 5    f/10.0    1/320sec    62mm

Middle placement of horizon, here there is more detail in the photograph, the posts lead the eye to the left 

Fig.6   f/9.0    1/320sec    105mm 

Upper placement of horizon, this image is divided naturally into thirds, and the post and drift wood balance each other.  

My thoughts on this exercise

What I see is that the positioning of the horizon in one of three places dramatically affects the perspective of the picture.
A composition of 1/2 ground and 1/2 sky should not be empty, there should be subject matter that is interesting to look at, in one or both halves.
My preference in this exercise are the vertically formatted images, and in particular fig. 6.  There is detail throughout this image, all be it driftwood which in hindsight I should have moved. 
  
Below are images I took in August whilst in South Africa, these show that subject matter is important when placing the horizon.

Moremi game reserve

Sunset in Botswana, detail in sky and reflections in foreground, create a pleasing image.

Great depth of field

Sunset at Ihaha Camp, Chobe national park

Silhouettes of elephant leaving Ihaha to cross Chobe river.  Focal point here is the sun, which lit the sky.

Good depth of field

Exercise 10. Focal lengths and different viewpoints

This will be my second attempt today and completing this exercise, I have spent quite a while thinking of somewhere in Sohar where there is little distraction and my final images will be uncluttered and clean.  I am going to see if the fish souk situated at the far end of the corniche will give me the space I need to use both my 55-300mm lens and 18-105mm. It has a large car park outside to the front and to the side/rear also.  I may be able to use these spaces to alter the perspective of the image when I change my lens.
Just returned and looked closely at my images, 2 of which I have added below.


Equipment Used
Nikon D7000
55 - 300mm lens
18 - 105mm lens
Aperture Priority
ISO 125


On reflection, not a good subject to choose. The souk is a long, low modern building, shaped as the traditional Dhow, and to fit the frame tightly, as required it was necessary to  frame the souk horizontally.  Both images to me seem flat.   

Fig. 1     65mm     55 - 300mm lens

Fig. 2     42mm    18 - 105mm

To take the second image I moved forward quite a distance and positioned myself to the left, to enable the  fitting of the subject to the frame to be similar to the one above.  

The perspective in the second image is very slightly different, the two sets of (4) windows, between the arched doorways are smaller and seem much further away.  The flag poles on the roof are also much much further away and appear shorter.

The wide angle lens here elongates the frame.

My thoughts on this exercise  

I was feeling quietly confident that this exercise would show changes in perspective to a greater extent, but on reflection the differences in the two images are very slight.  

• In Fig 1. where there are a number of men in the scene, there is a sense of life, one Omani returning to his vehicle empty handed, the other two, loading their purchase of the day into the rear of their Toyota truck.  
• Fig 2. could be anywhere in the world, no connection at all with Oman.
• Fig 2. the vehicle and the main entrance are now centrally placed in the frame.
• This type of construction, of which there re many in Oman, lends itself to a wide angle lens and shot. 
•  I wanted an image that was free from unnecessary clutter on the periphery, using the telephoto lens in Fig 1. gave me the desired fit to frame photo I wanted.  If I had moved further back, which I was able to do I would have filled the photo with unwanted clutter in the image. 
• The composition is making good use of the Rule of Thirds, in Fig. 1, there are four strong focal points, where the imaginary lines would intersect. 

Therefore I feel that if I had chosen a more compact subject, I would have achieved much more rewarding results.  

I now see that I have more understanding of perspective and have learnt that: to change both the lens and the position of viewpoint, results in larger changes in perspective.