Looking through the viewfinder - A sequence of composition

This exercise is applying all the previously learned rules about composition. I decided to document a cricket game. 

As I approached the playground I used the rule of thirds. I framed the players in the top so there was as less as possible of distraction from trees and houses in the background.

I have chosen fast shutter speed to freeze movement.

I framed the main character little off centre and made sure there are other people placed in different distance to see the depth of the playground.

I have tried to freeze fast action.

I used the panning technique to keep the moving object sharp and motion blur those static ones.

Looking through the viewfinder - Object in different position in the frame

On this exercise we shoot couple of pictures where the object is placed on clean background. Just by the different position of the object in the frame all composition and feeling changes.

The first picture was taken just point and shoot. The object ended in the middle and this composition is not very pleasing. The object is lost in the background and is not  very appealing to the eye.

In others pictures the composition was changed and they are ordered so that the last picture is most pleasing to the eye.   

Looking through the viewfinder - Fitting the frame to the subject

For this exercise I have chosen a bench in my garden. Dimensions of this subject are horizontal, so I have chosen a horizontal framing. The first picture is a conventional view point.

In the second picture the subject is shot to fit and fully fill the frame.

In the third picture I chose an interesting detail which is in focus and the rest of the bench is beyond the frame.

In the last picture the subject is gently arranged into surrounding environment so that it is pleasing for eyes.

I did few crops of the last picture to see how differently it looks with different crops.

Photographing movement - Panning with different shutter speed

This exercise beautifully shows what everything can be achieved by a proper use of different shutter speeds. By using panning technique I could freeze dynamic moment with preserving both sharpness and dynamic at the same moment.

I used different shutter speeds to show all varieties of looks that can be achieved.

I wanted to preserve the same aperture over all images so the only changing values were shutter speed and iso to compensate proper exposure.  In longer shutter speeds I had to use polarised filter (which added +1.3 stops) to achieve slower shutter speed. 

I started on 1/1000th of second and finished on 1/15th of second. The difference between them was significant. As the shutter speed slowed down the background started to get more and more blurry with a beautiful MOTION blur effect caused by camera movement. But the object itself was sharp.

I love this creative technique because it enhances background movement while the sharpness of object is preserved. It helps the object to pop out of picture to make it look more significant.

1/1000

1/800

1/500

1/320

1/200

1/125

1/80

1/50

1/20

1/10

Some more pictures of the same exercise but different object

1/1000

1/800

1/500

1/320

1/160

1/80

1/50

1/40

1/15

Photographing movement - Shutter speed

This exercise is focused on understanding of shutter speed. Camera was mounted on tripod and the only thing which was changing was shutter speed (and ISO to compensate exposure). 

I have chosen a small village road with loads of speed bumps so all cars had to have constant speed. I started with the fastest shutter speed of 1/1000th of second and than continued stepping the speed down to 1/800th, 1/400th, 1/200th, 1/100th and finally 1/50th of second. 

As I stepped the speed down, I could see how images started to get blurry. Pictures taken at 1/1000th and 1/800th of second were sharp but the rest of them have had all motion blur.

Of coarse the sharpness of a moving object depends on two factors, the speed of the object and the shutter speed.

When I compared all pictures I could observe continues sharpness graduation. If I had to choose those I like, it would be the one taken on 1/50th of second where the car is completely in motion blur. It reflects the action and dynamic of movement which is in a beautiful contrast to that pin sharp background. 

1/1000 s

1/800 s

1/400 s

1/200 s

1/100 s

1/50 s

Focus - focus with different apertures

At this exercise I was suppose to focus on a object with its background and by changing f-stops (aperture values) achieve different look.

I have chosen to photograph two standing lenses on a table. I have focused on the one in the foreground. By changing my aperture value I could accomplish every time different look. 

When I used wide aperture, f-number (f-1.4), the lens I focused on was perfectly sharp, but the other one in the background was way out of focus. By stepping down to f-4 my picture changed. I didn't change my focus point, but my background lens was more in focus. And as I stepped down to f-8 and than to f-16 the lens in the back became more and more in focus.

By blurring the background we can make sharp objects to stand up against the background and draw attention to them.

This demonstrates how the simple change of aperture value can change the look of the picture and by blurring the background we can draw attention to the desired object in foreground.

 f 1.4

f 4 

 f 8

f 16

Focus - focus with set aperture

At this exercise I had to photograph scene with depth and use the lowest f-number (wide aperture). Than I focused on different parts of chosen object to see how by using different point of focus, attention of viewers would change.

On my exercise I chose a swing bar after rain. I have chosen aperture f 2.8 for it's great shallow depth of field. On first picture I focused at the point closest to me, on second somewhere in the middle and the last picture was focused at the end of the bar.

After processing I found out that thanks to different focus point my attention could be led to certain point and make the picture more or less interesting. 

While in the first picture (focused on the closest point to me) my attention was drawn straight away to the focused point, by the other pictures, I had to follow that "focus" line to reach that part of object which was in focus. 

For me the most interesting images were those focused in the middle and on the end of the swing bar. 

This exercise clearly shows us how observers attention can be led through the whole image to the certain point, photographer intended to draw his attention to. 

I have added some more pictures of different object with the same aperture of f 2.8.