Focal Lengths and Different Viewpoints

My subject for the focal lengths and different viewpoints exercise was a gateway leading to a public footpath. I used this subject as I knew that I would be able to use the edges of the gateway as the limits of the photo in order to compare the content.

Using the lens at the longest zoom of 55mm, I composed the photo using the gateway edges as a guide. The resulting shot showed the river leading away from the gate leading to the power station in the background.

I then set the lens to its widest setting of 18mm, moved closer to the gateway  and repeated. Although the edges of the gateway were still set to the edges of the photo, in this shot the power station looked considerably further away. The gate itself, being closer to the camera also seems wider in this shot.

I think that the reason for this is in the angle of view. When standing back with the zoom at its longest, the angle of what is shown is much narrower, leading to less width at an extreme distance. As a result of this, less of the power station fits in the shot so it seems larger and therefore closer. By the same token, at the wider angle, more of the landscape in the distance fits in the shot, making the power station look smaller and further away.

I have noticed this point in the past but was quite surprised at how extreme the difference was in this particular situation. It is definitely an aspect which I will pay more attention to in future projects.

Focal Lengths

On a walk on holiday, I noticed our cottage in the distance. With the wheat fields flowing and a bit of foreground interest, I thought it an ideal opportunity to complete my Focal Lengths exercise. In the first photo taken at 18mm, the cottage is only just noticeable in the distance.



 

 

Zooming in to the maximum zoom of 55mm, the cottage now seems much closer. Although the distance between myself and the scene have changed, distances between different elements of the scene appear pretty much the same.

 

 

It is clear to see from this crop of the first photo that to zoom in from the same viewpoint has the same effect on proportions as cropping. It is important to remember however, that cropping and zooming have very different effects on other elements of the photo, such as depth of field and exposure.

 

 



 

 

 

A Sequence of Composition

On a trip to town with my son, I noticed that the street was full of Army stalls. As I had my camera, I thought this might be a good opportunity to try the Sequence of Composition exercise.

My first shot was the first thing I noticed, the Army recruitment stall (1), probably showing the reason for the entire set up. I kept the ‘Caffe Nero’ sign in shot as I liked the contrast of it as a backdrop to the reality of harsh Army life.

My next two shots (2 and 3) are of a newspaper photographer taking shots of people. I noticed her confidence in asking people to pose for her and thought a candid, un-posed shot of a posed situation might work.  I quite like the shot but although the background is simple, I still find it very distracting.

As I moved along the street, I noticed that the tank was attracting a lot of attention. It must have been my lucky day as there seemed to be lots of red clothing around to contrast with the Army green (4 and 5). I noticed a boy in the tank, so got a quick photo (6) and moved around to see what else was going on.

Coming round the side of the tank, I caught a soldier’s reflection in the mirror (7).  This photo worked much better in my head than in reality. I thought that I might be able to make something of the three faces; reflection, poster and person but the scene is broken up by the fact that the real soldier is interacting with the couple and facing out of the scene.

To my left, the soldier from the reflection was leaning on the tank so I snapped him. I quite like this photo (8) as for me it’s one of contrasts; the contrasting colours of red and green and the child’s balloon against the Army equipment. The sharp focus on the tank shows the harshness of the machine’s role while the soft focus puts the soldier more at ease, reflecting his relaxed mood on what must be an easy day for him. I also think that the soldier and balloon both being soft brings them together and separates them both from the hard tank. For me it says, ‘tomorrow I may go to war but for today, I’m a children’s entertainer’.

Shots 9, 10 and 11 were taken as I caught the other soldier in a fairly good pose and started to notice equipment on and around the tank. A bit of depth of field play was used for shot 11 as I focused on the end of the gun and kept the tank soft.

My attention was diverted as the young boy started to move around the tank again (12). The soldier put a helmet on the boys head but with the windscreen in the way, what could have been a good shot kind of flopped (13). I tried to move around the front of the tank to get a better angle but there were people in the way also taking photos. As I knew the angle wasn’t quite right and I only had a moment to get the shot, I quickly made the decision to recreate the depth of field idea from shot 11. At this moment, the photographer appeared and asked the soldiers to sit on the front of the tank with the boy. As posed photos were not what I was looking for, I left the scene.

On leaving, I thought that shot 14 would be my final ‘this is what I was working up to’ shot but on reflection, I now prefer shot 8. Shot 14 had potential but the wrong angle led to a confused image. As we can’t see that it is a young boy in the photo, it is unclear what the scene is all about. There are similarities in the two photos. Both show sharply focused war equipment against a softly focused soldier. Both would have also shown a childlike element, also softly focused to connect with the soldier. Shot 8 achieved where shot 14 just missed the mark so I will have to put shot 8 as my most successful photo from the session.