Exercise: Balance

For this exercise I had to look at some of my already taken photos and decide how balance works within them.

I found that finding shots with symmetrical balance was quite easy so I decided to concentrate on unsymmetrical balance. I think that most of the ones here work, however some are a bit cluttered.

This exercise has opened my eyes to balance and it is something that I am constantly aware of when composing a picture now.

Focal lengths and different viewpoints

This exercise demonstrates how perspective as well as angle of view changes when the viewpoint is altered as the lens is changed.
Two pictures of a scene were taken, the first with the lens set to telephoto with the subject filling the frame, the second with the lens set to wide angle and moved closer to the subject so that again the subject looks the same size as the telephoto shot through the viewfinder.
 In the first series that I have displayed here I used the monument as the subject, I know it did not fill the frame however I thought that the relationship with the building behind would demonstrate perspective.

70mm

18mm

70mm

18mm

This exercise demonstrates how perspective changes with different focal lengths and viewpoints.
The longer focal lengths create a 'compressed', 'flatter' perspective, the background moves towards the subject and the scene loses depth, subjects within the scene appear less separated than they actually are especially if they are already close.
The wider focal lengths creates depth within the scene, the subject appears deeper and more defined, relationship with other objects within the scene are more defined and separated, the back ground moves away and linear perspective is enhanced (even distorted).
Of the two extremes of perspective within this task I prefer the wide angle shots, however I can appreciate the merits of both and will certainly be considerate of wide angle v telephoto in the future.

Focal Lengths: The angle of view

For the first part of this project we are looking at how changing lenses affects the angle of view.
This exercise requires a view that is open with some details in the distance, then a series of photographs taken from a fixed point, with each shot increasing in focal length from wide to telephoto.

18mm

50mm

70mm

These photos show that as focal length is increased, angle of view decreases or 'closes in' and the subject or scene appear's to move closer. This is different to actually moving closer to the subject as that would affect perspective. The relationship between the subject and objects within the scene stay the same although they appear larger/smaller