Composition - Multi-Horizontal lines

As you might surmise, with the use of the single horizontal line it's difficult to make it a most predominant feature of an image. But with the use of many horizontal lines then we are able to use its effect and by breaking the image into parts create more varied areas of interest.

The banding can create tension between layers especially when compositional form is different either through colour or texture. There is almost the perception of a wall between the layers keeping elements at bay. 

The image of the sunset over a frozen lake demonstrates this banding and contrast effect between layers.

The number 3 is a strong design element and with other odd numbers. I guess its easier to find the  middle  with odds.

There is first the 3 layers of Sky, Earth and Water.

The brightness of  the sun and the darkness of treed landscape and the mid-tones of reflected light.

With texture there is the smoothness of distant shoreline, the speckled nature of the ice and the in-   between texture of the sky (smoothness and edges). Each major band is of a different size and colour and each has its own mini bands in between. The ducks on the ice, while not quite on the thirds, add the uniqueness to the image.

Contrast in its many forms is one of our primordial attention gathering tools.

Multi Horizontal Lines

While many of the attributes are the same as with single lines, there are some changes in our perception because now, with many scenes, there's tension created between bands and this gives the scene some potential energy.

less stable

strength

harmony

more on-hold than timelessness

evocative

Just after a thunderstorm was passing over in downtown Toronto and with a low horizon sun, the reflections changed dramatically on the glass walls on the office towers. One building's normal tint caused its reflected light to turn a vibrant green.  Below the windows were white tile panels and with the green windows created vibrant visual image. There was a section where white diagonal tiles traversed the building and this created a strong focal point. Its abstract, not to every one’s taste but with the varied texture in each of the green bands there is nice detail found by gazing around.

 The edges of the white tiles help to compliment the lines of the larger bands.

More often we tend to see multi-horizontal lines in shorter lengths, especially around buildings.

The bottom image, which I have hanging in my own home, was an interesting study in different textures found on a concrete structure. The horizontal lines of the grooved lines, block work and the flat of steps all form a cohesive pattern of permanence. This stable pattern is contrasted with the diagonal  movement of the hand rail which is re-enforced for the diagonal tips of all the blocks and stairs.

In looking for images to use, I found that this was not a feature that I had used often.

It tended to show up in wider angle landscape images. Like the sunset photo there are distinct horizontal lines and bands in the photo below. There is some stability created by the bands but some tension is created with the singular lone boat out in the vast expanse set against the dark storm clouds and augmented with the wave like hill lines in the distance.

Contrast and conflict create interest within photos, and compositional elements are only aids to set apart or unify various parts of image. When developing images,   these aids help to identify areas that re-enforce the photographer’s vision.

Niels Henriksen

Photography and Composition

Compositional elements, sometimes used as rules or guidelines to aid with creation and understanding of good photographs, is really more about human life. It is our collective memory about all that we have seen and felt, which conveys to us at an instinctual level, how we will interpret symbols. That can be found within a mass of  different shapes, sizes and colours.

Some symbols are obvious, such as the boat.  But how about directional arrows formed by triangles in the sky or on land and the directional action of waves guiding the eyes - even placement within a grid of thirds.

The boat was originally white but I liked the turquoise as it adds a little more interest, and red would have been too strong for a more tranquil scene. There was no dogging or burning of any areas to enhance triangles. But if needed, I would use these techniques to increase the effectiveness.



Horizontal Line

The most simplistic of all elements is the straight horizontal line.

I am sure that most of us are familiar with looking out over a vast expanse such as prairie fields or the open ocean, and seeing far in the distance, the earth's horizon. The eyes filling evenly above and below. That horizontal thin line seems to balance the forces between the two.
At this distance, any change in nature can take hours to manifest and therefore at normal viewing moments, seems as stable as the rocks of the earth.
Most dynamic things are upright such as animals, trees, buildings, and when at their end of life, they all lay flat on the ground. 

This gives the horizontal line emotional impressions, such as
stable
sturdy
strength
balance
timelessness
meditative 
slow 

In this picture, a rule is broken (never having an even split between sky and earth) but here the centre is the focal point and the joining line (horizon) ties all the posts and buoys together. If you look closely you will see birds on almost every post and this is the final focal interest. Works well in large print.

It is rare that any single compositional element will define the entirety of the image but there are some abstracts. More often, they are used as tools to set mood, guide direction and fix attention.  Many elements may work in harmony to create a pastoral scene or in conflict to help focus the viewers thought on differences.

In the above image the very obvious horizontal line created by the white-stone brick work, anchored by the window and sign, sets up a contest for attention with the shadows of the tree which delays  easy recognition and thereby longer gaze at photo.  Next the '59' number, which are strong attention symbols, takes us to the corner of the image but our interest is drawn back inwards along the tree branch shadows then to the window, a focal point. Here we stop to look inside as human nature dictates.

These are all compositional design pieces that hopefully help to keep viewers attention on photograph.

While there are core principles for each element, I also think that these can be influenced by our lifestyles and where we live.

I would love to hear your perceptions on how you see its effects.

Niels Henriksen

The Old Port Harbour of Dragør in Copenhagen, Denmark

With the winter weather now settling well within Canada and now I hear also across most of Europe with a blanket of white, I thought I would post a few sunnier and warmer images from a day excursion to Dragør. An Old sea-side district of Copenhagen.

This is the one of the main streets along the bus route as you first arrive in Dragør.  To the right is were the harbour and the older historic buildings are located and on the left is the more traditional style of houses. We shall go right and venture back in time.

For many centuries Dragør was a small fishing village dating back to the 12th century about 15km from centre of Copenhagen. But over time Copenhagen has grown to include this area. The fishing port is still active today, but from the boats in the harbour most I would guess are not for commercial fishing.

The first part of the name, Drag-, refers to drawing (dragging) boats ashore. The ending -ør is common in Scandinavian place names and means a beach covered in sand or gravel.

As we leave the main route and venture down the side streets, the roads are all cobblestone and narrow. Never designed for cars and only locals are allowed to drive here, if you can call it that.  As far as I could tell there were no parked cars in these areas or even garages for cars. So the residents must park elsewhere.

Immediately you have a feeling of slowing down to a more leisurely pace. Maybe not as slow as the gentleman in this image but slower.  With street photography, you take what you get. I wished he had been a little more to the left by a few feet.

While most of the building are the traditional danish yellow there is interesting texture in the walls and stonework. There is also interesting discoveries behind high fenced yards.

Many of the buildings have quaint and secluded yards interwoven with trees, shrubs and flowers. Without the sound of cars and other street noise, this just has to be a perfect place for reflection. Still lots of thatched roofs to be found here and easy to imagine that you are 200 years in the past. This has become a very trendy area for the wealthy from Copenhagen as they are very expensive to purchase

From the letters on the building wall you can see the date of 1742 and therefore it must be one of the more modern buildings in town.

On the harbour front side the building attend to the more commercial needs of tourist and sailors.

You can see how the building has had additions added and I guess at that time not many building codes in effect.

To all  a very Merry Christmas and the best seasons greetings to those of other faiths and a great New Year filled with exciting photography opportunities.

Niels Henriksen

Free Book Winner

The winner of the free book 'Fast Track Photographer' is B. Vagner-Andersen.

The book will be mailed out tomorrow and I hope you will enjoy it.

Thanks to all those who entered and good luck next time.

It should be noted that this blog also shows up on my own Facebook page and the 'My Camera World Facebook page and people do also leave comments on these pages. The first is only for those that I speak to on a regular basis and the 'My Camera World' Facebook is for others to join. 

I guess my blog should have at least one photograph and I am including this image of a winter scene  where some firends and I hike in with snow shoes and then enjoy a warm fire.

Note on Future Articles

I am working on a series of articles where I will identify compositional elements such as diagonal lines, S-curve Triangles, and many more with the intent to show how to use these to maximize the viewer interest in your images.

Each article will deal with one unique element and will highlight the human perceptions around each of these. I am hoping that I have enough of my own images for each element, but I may have to find other photographers images and seek their permission to use when it clearly demonstrates the point.

Niels Henriksen

Giant Flying Saucer Cloud

The sky and especially cloud, stormy being the best, have always held a special interest for me.

There is something about their majesty and untold patterns that can form and re-form as the wind passes before you.

Sometimes they are downright scary and deadly and at others more cerebral and safe which works well for a photographer.

On a late summer evening with several rain squall line moving through, there came with the last a giant thundercloud. It wasn't until it was passing and with evening side-lighting that the grandeur of the cloud became apparent.

2 images combined. Each image at 18mm (27mm @ 35mm equ)

From the backyard and out over the fields, it looked like a giant flying saucer with the pillars at the edges of the spacecraft.

The cloud was about 10km (6mi) across, which I also confirmed later from the radar.

It was hard to get a full unrestricted view, as smaller clouds would drift underneath. The cloud's scale was only revealed as different parts became visible over time.

I also took many overlapping images of this cloud at 65mm (100 @ 35mm equ) so that one day I might print a large version of this. Somewhere about 17 ft at 240 dpi, at least in theory.

The above image is made from 2 of the zoomed sections and show the pillar-like cloud texture from the top right of the saucer cloud.

Below is another closeup of an area that is just right of the middle tree top (1st image) and below. This cloud had so many areas with different types of textures and patterns that it would be lost in a web image. It would need to be printed very large for a viewer to appreciate all facets.

I warmed (yellow) the lighter portions and cooled (blue) darker sections of the cloud to increase the visual contrast.

And just to the right of the above image, there was another area that appeared to be like streamers raising from the ground.

I enjoy clouds and I have quite a collection of clouds in all shapes, sizes and intensity.  When I look and subsequently photograph clouds, I enjoy the freedom of not being bound by preconceived items and therefore, I can explore their forms more.

Niels Henriksen

Book Review: Fast Track Photographer

Book Review: Fast Track Photographer

Leverage your unique strengths for a more successful photography business

by Dane Sanders

One Free copy of book available. See end for details.

This book is a little different than most photography type books in that it doesn't focus on either how to take or process photographs, or even about being creative in your artistic approach. What it does is focus on you. How your personality and style could or might fit within the photography industry.

The book also does not focus on the transitional brick and motor type of business in setting up a studio or acquiring all the correct equipment for your specific genre of photography. 

The book is about you as a photographer and understanding your basic, for the most part, social skills and then deciding whether to pursue the 'brand name' approach, like Chase Jarvis and Joe McNally and many others, or a more transitional mode, including location based studio or contracting out to larger businesses.

One of the keys to success is understanding that a photographer must be adaptable and be able to fit the market and clients.

The strength of the book may be in the online questionnaire and analysis report that you can take for free (once). There is a code at the back of the book to enter to take self-help analysis and it will give you a report in many categories that are related to photography such as experience, self-starter, creativity, artistic identity, need for collaboration, self-promotion and more. These pDNA, as the author calls them, help to define where your strengths are and other areas which should be your primary focus of growth.

Strengths true but my own view is you must have a solid minimum core of quality in other areas.

You can always improve but it is very hard to change completely how you are and anyway why bother, play to your strengths.

Some Book Advice Tips.

'Focus on the parts of the business that has more of your creative processes involved and outsource the generic or other parts that are not your best strengths. It is about business, and you as the photographer must know where your strengths lie.'

'As a photographer you need to know consumers (people) will consume your product.'

My own advice is, this is the social networking era, social skills are paramount no matter what you are doing.

'No one steals work, they take work away because they service the client better and sometimes it is about cost.

'Do not fix everything but only those limiting factors. Find the sweet spot around “you”.'

Know what to outsource.

You only need to find 1,000 true fans.

That's amazingly true to almost work you do.

There is a difference between a professional and DIY photographer. 

it's not about the money

The author does not ascribe his method as the only way to find yourself but encourages you to seek other sources. Self analysis is not everything. You need to trust yourself that you will see ideas emerge.

As with all self-help books, it is important to do the exercises and work and the book does offer advice on how to overcome times when you feel stuck and not sure how to proceed.

While many self-help type books deal with broad applications to guiding principles, many wonder how this guidance can apply to my case. In this book's case, it does deal with how this applies to you.

Who is this book for?

First off, if you are not comfortable with analyzing yourself as with many of the self-help then this book is not for you.

The biggest problem with self-help books is that the readers tend to trust the source as being an expert on whats ailing them. When in fact, most of us barely know ourselves and this is compounded by the fact that our views will change and develop as we age.

This is why I find that with any analysis, it is good to get more source of input. Seek sound people and ask for their opinion of you.

The book by itself does provide good guidance with working in more traditional commercial fields but does not venture far into other areas such as photojournalism, fine-art, stock, book and travel etc.

While I did not take the online analysis test, I left this for the winning reader, I do believe that with this report the price around $12.00 (list $16.99) makes it a very reasonable investment for a photographer who wants to pursue or improve in the wedding, studio and action genres.

Amazon Link

Fast Track Photographer, Revised and Expanded Edition: Leverage Your Unique Strengths for a More Successful Photography Business

ISBN 978-0-8174-0001-9

To get a Free copy of Fast Track Photographer book (gently read once) mailed to you

Please leave a comment that has the word “Free' included somewhere and a method to contact you.

I will use a random number generator to select the person.

Offer end Wednesday, 1 December 2010, midnight EST.

Thank you,

Niels Henriksen

The Spotlight Effect

I just came across an interesting painting video that talked about the spotlight effect that is sometimes used. I liked the ring effect in the Monet painting in video.

I thought it would be fun to play around with this in some of my photographs as, in the video, that author does make an attempt with one of his images but not very subtle. I suppose it was to demonstrate the effect clearly.

 Can you spot the effect in the above image. I have made it just a little stronger so that it might show better, There is a light ring around the runner and it is just a little lighter in centre.

The first part was to make a layer that I could use in a lightened type of blending mode. I knew the lightened modes tended to work above 128 so I set the background to 130 grey. I used the elliptical marquee tool to create a circle and then stroked it with a grey setting of 230 with a 100 pixel width. With the magic wand, I selected the grey in the centre of the circle, and with paint bucket set to a grey of 165, filled it in to add a little more brightness than the background. A Gaussian blur of 28 to soften edges was used.

I can use the transform function to change size and shape.

I can always use the curve tool to move the 3 tones up and down to suit effect as in image above here. The 2 big spikes are the background and middle tone in the centre. The outer ring is the smaller spike on the right. The above image shows the curves before and after, that moves the centre tone lighter and corresponding spike to the right. This way I can control 3 parts separately.

When you can see both original and altered, the effect seems to show up more. But when you turn the final effect off and on then it becomes less noticeable and even the original now appears a little dark at focal point.

Here, the effect is more noticeable but when not viewing the original, it looks better.

This was just an hour playing around and I do like the effect for some images.

There lighting effects in Photoshop but this is an easy way to add a little focal interest to the image. While I used more of a ring  a circular spotlight would also work.  The Overlay added a little more drama as it could also darken background (move left spike more left with a curve)

Here the link to the painting video I mentioned.

Niels Henriksen

The Eye, the Brain and the Camera

The eye and the brain and the magical interconnections between them creates wonderful light recording system, or its the one we have become accustomed to. The eye only sees detail at about the size of the thumbnail on a fully extended arm. The rest of the field of vision is ever decreasing resolution (less cones) as it moves out from the centre of vision whereas the camera for the most part has perfect resolution across field of view. 

Where the eye really has it though, is when unmeasurably small refocusing speeds our eyes over the full field of view which makes it appear as one image. It's the brain that processes the eye's information, in a manner that appears to us, as infinite DOF and resolution through field of view. The brain is very complex in its processing of visual information. We really don't see all the detail that we think we do.

There is a great book 'Vision of Seeing' the biology of seeing.

Amazon Link:

Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing

It's no wonder, at times, that the image captured by a camera does not quite fit in with what we remember we saw, which is different from what we actually saw. This is the great part about enhancing photos. It allows us to bring to life those parts that captured our imagination.

The soft blue/purple of the stones compliment well with the yellows/oranges in the highlights.

On one Friday evening I was heading out to the Byward Market in Ottawa to hopefully get some interesting B&W shots of dark alleys with lots of mood and mystery. At least that was my goal.

I arrived at 7:30pm in order to find a parking spot and even then it took a while, as by 9:00pm the market, which by then are the bars and bistros, start to hum with people.

At sunset, about 8:30, I started to scout out suitable alleys or courtyards for my image theme when I came across this man sleeping on a bench in a courtyard under a canopy of trees.

It wasn’t completely twilight dark at this time but even with a fast 2.8 VR lens set at ISO 640 @ f4.0, at 100mm I would still needed a tripod, as the shutter speed was 1/9 s.

The above photo is a camera RAW image and as you can see, it is a bit brighter due to large amount of dark areas going to mid-grey value with exposure readings. This turns out to be a benefit as when the image is darkened, those areas will have its noise reduced proportionally.

In my mind I had a different picture; darker surrounding areas with a light streaming on the gentleman. Darker foreground and removal of the cigarette butts.

The problem was, it was not quite dark enough when the photo was taken. When I returned in about 20 minutes later, the man was getting up so there was no opportunity to retake this shot and you have to go with what you captured.

Below is the Layers I used to achieve the effect.

I tend to use a separate layer for each effect or localized area that needs to be adjusted. This is why it is easier to fine-tune the image as a whole.

As I am examining image possibilities with design ideas I save a version (cntrl-alt-sft-E) I like. See top of stack.

This is a B&W version blended with a more contrasty colour I also enjoy.

 

Niels Henriksen

ZD Soft Video Recorder for screen capture

The reason I want to mention this piece of software is because of the great support I received from the firm. It's too often that service doesn’t measure up when we are dealing with a supplier and when they do, we should let others know.

I had a 2.x version of this software on my XP computer and it was not migratable to the 64-bit Windows 7 PC. When I originally bought it in the beginning of 2007, the website stated that the cost was only $29 and upgrades were free but a new license was required for each machine. I downloaded version 4.1 and thought the old key might work. Nope.

I wasn't sure that since this was a new computer, I would qualify for the upgrade, but I forwarded the old confirmation email with Key to them and explained my situation. Within a day I received a reply with the key for 4.1. Now how great is that!

There are times, when viewing materiel on the web, I find it easier to capture and watch again at a later date than re-visiting the site and sometimes finding the material gone.  The software is used for capturing any video on a screen and outputting to various video and audio different formats. It has worked perfectly on the old XP and now is doing the same on this machine.

The software is now $39.


ZDSoft

Feature List (from their website)
Useful capture wizard.
Adaptive screen sharing component. (to other pc)
Easy to start/stop recording with a single mouse-click/hotkey-hit.
Easy to view recordings in the built-in media player.
Easy to manage recordings in the built-in file explorer.
Wide range support of PC games based on DirectX and OpenGL.
High performance screen capture driver for legacy PC.
Fast real-time audio/video compression.  (22 video codecs)
Good audio/video synchronization.
Customizable audio/video quality.
Option to output uncompressed audio/video.
Options to capture selected view, entire desktop or game screen.
Option to capture from external device such as webcam.
Options to capture from speakers, microphone or external lines.
Option to mute capture.
AVI/WMV recording files. (15 codecs)
BMP/PNG/JPG screenshot files.
Customizable hotkeys.
Sticky view selection box.
Tracking mouse cursor view.
Option to capture mouse cursor or not.
Option to keep original mouse cursor size or not.
Option to add mouse click effect or not.
Option to show recording indicator or frame rate in game.



Disclaimer:
I have not received nor will so in the future any funds, discounts, gifts or special favours from this company. I post here only to highlight the good performance of a company.

Niels Henriksen

Artist or Photographer?

 I was thinking, obviously too much, about how we see or label ourselves and how this might influence our choices or approaches to subjects, compositions, etc. Am I a photographer, artist or just some crazy guy behind the camera. The last probably being more to the truth.

One thing I know I'm not is a 'commercial' or 'professional' photographer. Even these labels have many interpretations. By these terms I mean a person who can consistently deliver quality materiel under stressful and changing environments. Its not too hard to achieve success under great conditions. The good photographers deliver no matter what happens, every time  and I know I would run into trouble pretty quickly.

For me photography is first and foremost about pure enjoyment. Like exploring with a microscope or telescope but with less magnification. Being able to capture a fleeting moment in time which was 3D and render into 2D flat image.  By use of selective focus, DOF, time and digital enhancements I can try to reveal a unique charm, even though they are not always pleasant, or character to that moment in space. I am creating an interpretation of a real event, like  portrait painting of a person.

I therefore tend to think of myself as an artist who uses the camera-tool, as opposed to the brush-tool, to create images maybe even art work. I tend to shun the label photographer because for many people this has certain connotations, like above, which could lead to think that I have more abilities than I really have. Like delivering a wedding shoot or family portrait.

I tend to photograph subjects I like and the way I want, but then again I'm not making a living from that approach. But there are people who do enjoy my art work.

I'm in the process of printing 3 images in sets of 5 for future prints. I will test a bunch of fine-art or rag papers to see which one works best. Since these images are shown here, in this blog, are somewhat the same it will make it easier to fine-tune the ink adjustments for them all.






Note to Regular Readers:

As I mentioned in the previous article, this summer has provided me with a great opportunity with time to explore and to just look and think and to not spend so much time at the computer. Unfortunately this has also led to a dearth of articles recently and I want to thank all for still dropping by to check up.

In my articles I many times discuss how to stimulate and increase your creativity and now I find myself  with some self-doubt about where I am going with my photographic art. But this is common for most of us from time to time, but I still don't like it.

I have been thinking that I need to change my approach to selecting scenes and subjects. Up until now, I have been photographing any image when it made a good composition but when I look over my portfolio, I now realize that there is not much tying the images together. Maybe the odd few but most are stand-alone photographs and most are not focused on people. If there are some they are more ancillary to the image.

I therefore need to find some new and story-telling types of images where they could form a theme base portfolio.

I will keep you informed about my progress to stimulate myself with some new ideas.





Photo Tip

If it's bright sunny day and scene to be photographed is sunlit then automatically shift to bracketing.
Even with today's modern cameras and post editing tools the dynamic range captured has never been greater but I have on times been lazy and only realized later the information was either missing in the highlights or too dark to really bring out the tones.

Learn how to change to this mode in a few seconds. Once it becomes instinct in programming your DSLR you will turn it on when needed. If you have to think about how then it just doesn't happen.

Niels Henriksen