Exercise 12. Positioning the Horizon. Second attempt

Whilst looking over my work to date, two words repeatedly enters my head; 'CLUTTER and BUSY' I am becoming more aware of what I see in my photographs that should not be there.  


Today whilst walking around Silver Jubilee Park, near Sallan roundabout and to the left of Sohar Beach Hotel,  I came across the view seen below, no clutter in sight and composed myself to take the three images, placing the horizon in lower, mid and upper positions, there were very small fine clouds in the sky too but these cannot be seen, it is winter here and 25 degrees at the hottest time of day.  
I chose to take these photographs with the same equipment as above, but did not have my tripod with me, so used a pillar on the bridge which spans the lake to support myself and steady my camera.

My camera was set to manual, and I selected an aperture of f/16.0 to give me a greater depth of field, with the whole image being in focus from front to back.
ISO was 100
Speed 1/100sec to let in more light 

I have elected to use the tree tops and the top of the dome to be the visual horizon.


Lowest third, gives the viewer a vast amount of blue sky to look at, the Gazebo is dominant in the fore to mid ground.

Fig. 1    f/16.0    1/100sec    105mm

 Middle, this is a more pleasing composition, the Gazebo is still dominant, although the water in the foreground gives another aspect to look at.

Fig. 2    f/16.0    1/100sec    105mm

 Upper third, this is more balanced photograph, with depth from foreground to background.  The reflection in the water gives the viewer another dimension to focus on and the water and sky balance one another.

Fig. 3    f/16.0    1/100sec    105mm 

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.

Exercise 9. Focal lengths for camera with variable focal lengths.

The brief for this exercise was to locate subject or view, that has some detail in the distance and in the middle of the view.  
Take a sequence of photographs, all aimed in same direction, using different settings on the lens selected.
Change orientation of camera if images benefit from this.


I chose to travel a short distance along the highway from Sohar towards Khaburrah, to Sawairah roundabout,  which is distinguished by 8 artificial palm trees arranged in the centre...all of uniform height and adorned with dates.  Whatever the season or weather these palm trees brighten up the highway before reaching Sohar and its coastline to the right off the roundabout.
Positioning myself on waste land, alongside the busy slip road allowed me to take my shots when the roundabout at this point was free from traffic.  Placing myself midway between  junctions gave me enough time to take photographs when there were no vehicles in view.


Equipment used.


Nikon D7000
Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 lens
Tripod
Aperture Priority
ISO 100 
White Balance Auto
Manual Focus

Fig 1.     55mm    f/10.0    1/80s

Wide angle view.

In this photograph there is a large amount of vegetation dominating the scene, the roundabout is clearly seen centrally and in the background two housing blocks can be seen.

Fig 2.   70mm    f/10.0    1/125s

An increase in focal length, highlights a narrower angle of view.  

Vegetation again, the roundabout is less easily distinguished in this photograph

Fig. 3    80mm    f/4.5    1/500s

To create a slightly better composition I chose a vertical orientation  here.

Foreground and background are in focus, and the field of view is significantly narrowed.

Fig 4.    125mm    f/10.0    1/100s

Spatial relationship of the trees has changed, compared to Fig 2.

Fig 5.    135mm   f/10.0    1/125s

There is less distraction in this image, the tree to the left is slightly out of focus due to the focal point being the centre palm tree

Fig 6.    300mm    f/10.0    1/125s

An informal frame within a frame. The two palm trees frame the decorative stonework, surrounding an arched window

If I were able to take this again I would position myself to the right slightly to enable me to centre the two smaller windows.

Foreground has gone.

Fig 7.    300mm    f/10.0    1/125s

Foreground and background have gone, tops of palm trees are centre stage.

My thoughts on this exercise

I quite enjoyed this exercise, but looking critically at my photographs, I would have tried to photograph somewhere less busy!  The vegetation in these photographs is dominant and at the time of setting up the camera I thought they would frame the photograph but to me it did not work.  The blocks of housing in the background  are fighting for attention. 

And oh how I wish we could have clouds in the sky, here in Oman we seldom see them.  

What I have learnt....

• As lens is zoomed in so the magnification factor increases and the field of view narrows.
• A wide angle of view, produces a large depth of field, good for landscapes
• With my lens, the angle of view narrows, the depth of field decreases and subjects far away appear closer and larger.
• Had to use the tripod to eliminate camera shake