Exercise - Balance.

This exercise requires us to find 6 photos from our collection and show how the balance works for each one.
 

 Photo A - Girl with Dog

  Photo B - Marina

  Photo C - Butterfly

Photo D - 2 Boats

  Photo E - Seagulls

  Photo F - Old Buildings

I found this exercise most enlightening as I had never thought about balance in the picture before. It was fun going through all my pictures trying to find ones where I had accidentally achieved balance!
The simple photographs are by far easier to identify the balance.

Exercise - Focal lengths and different viewpoints.

In this exercise we are asked to take 2 photos of the same object, 1 from distance using full telephoto and 1 close up using wide angle. In both cases the object must fill the viewfinder when taking the shot. The subject I chose was a couple of coloured bins that had a certain amount of depth to them when viewed at an angle. Equipment used was Fujifilm S100fs (handheld) and it was sunny with partial cloud (mid-day).

Shot A - Full telephoto (400mm)

Shot B - Wide angle (35mm)

Shot A was taken at distance using full zoom (400mm). The result of this is a very flat image with very little perspective. There isn't as much detail in this photo as you would get from standing closer but there is a great deal more background and foreground. This shot also appears to have a great deal more depth of field than Shot B.

Shot B was taken very close to the subject using my widest focal length (35mm). The subject now has an almost exaggerated perspective with much more detail and clarity than in Shot A. All that was visible behind the subject in Shot A is now hidden from view. 

I can see from this that if I am taking a shot where perspective is important then I should be close to the subject and use a lens with a short focal length, like a wide angle lens.

Exercise - Focal lengths.

With this exercise I am to take a series of photographs of the same scene but using different focal lengths. The scene I chose for this was a boat docked on a lake. Camera was fujifilm S100fs, handheld, and it was sunny with some cloud (mid-day).

28mm

35mm

50mm

100mm

200mm

300mm

400mm

The focal lengths given are as they appear on my camera.

This series of photos went from being a landscape shot, where the boat was a part of the whole and didn't stand out in any way, to being a shot where the boat is progressively becoming the main subject. Standing far from the boat and zooming in has allowed a great deal more background to be included in the photo than if I were to stand closer to the boat, but the cost is quality and detail.

Exercise - A sequence of composition.

For this exercise I am asked to photograph a sequence of around 20-30 pictures following a scene with people in it. Of all the exercises so far I found this one to be the most difficult because of lack of confidence when shooting people. I had a few tries before settling for the sequence that will follow.

This series of photos was captured while I was standing on the lifeboat stations jetty and was a chance situation. The subject is that of a pair of fisherman returning to land with their catch of the day (which looked like whelks).  Photos where all taken freehand on a fujifilm S100fs in full sunshine (am).

First series of pictures is the fisherman mooring and transferring the catch over to the boat to shore.

Here we see the fishermen loading up their smaller boat which was unfortunately on the blind side of the fishing vessel. I zoomed out to get both fishing vessels in.

Full zoom of the fisherman loading up.

Captured fishing vessel through netting for effect.

Quite like the effect of the out of focus net on this one. I like the irony of catching the fisherman through a net!

Small boat all loaded up and heading for shore. This and following photos taken  using different zooms. Had to slightly lighten subjects as there was too much shadow which spoilt the shot.

Changed viewpoint so I could capture the moment they got to shore.

Changed view so that I was directly over them as they dragged their boat up the beach.

This is my favourite from the series. The boat is at a pleasing angle in the water with both fisherman seeming to satisfy the rule of thirds position. One of the fishermen has spotted me and the look on his face really adds to the feel of the picture as does the nonchalance of the other fisherman. The boat contrasts really well against the water.

I believe I have learnt a lot about subject positioning when taking a photo during this exercise. I can also see the merits of taking too many photos when trying to capture a scene. If I had only taken a couple of pics, as I normally do, then I would've missed what I think was the best picture of the series.