Got meself a free weekend (darn flakes), so decided to take a shot at this. Since a live model was indisposed (see above:-) I stuck to a non-live one
Neither model, nor camera moved their anchor points. Camera was on a stand, and model... well, you can see for yourself:
ROF!!
Nikolai, you are a hoot! And you've actually done a pretty interesting job with the assignment. However...now go find a human being to photograph.
This looks like loads of fun and learning. May I play to?
I can probably do it this weekend but my shortest lens is 60mm unless I use a wide angle.
Peace, gail
Is there any other reading I need to do before I attempt this? in any other forum or thread?
Of course you can play - and everything you need to know should be in this thread, but to reiterate:
Fixed focal length - 60 for you.;-) Maximum of 12 feet from your subject - MAX. Once the subject positions her/himself he or she may not move his or her feet - unless the subject is sitting, in which case butt stays put, but feet and legs may move. You pick a spot from which to shoot, and once it's chosen you may not move your feet. Then shoot about 70 images making every conceivable use of the frame you can come up with. Post the best five.
Of course you can play - and everything you need to know should be in this thread, but to reiterate:
Fixed focal length - 60 for you.;-) Maximum of 12 feet from your subject - MAX. Once the subject positions her/himself he or she may not move his or her feet - unless the subject is sitting, in which case butt stays put, but feet and legs may move. You pick a spot from which to shoot, and once it's chosen you may not move your feet. Then shoot about 70 images making every conceivable use of the frame you can come up with. Post the best five.
Have fun!
Oh thank you. Just want to make sure I understand...When you refer to framing you are saying to set up the shot the way you would want so you wouldn't have to crop and following the other rules?
So here we go with take two. I must say, with no offense intended, that it really doesn't matter a whole lot what gets said in regards to these pictures I'm about to post. The truth is that I saw more, while taking these shots this evening, than I have ever seen before. That, my friends, is success. Excellent assignment B.D.
So enough of the gloating. Some of these, I'm sure, will be neither here nor there for many of you but I am extremely pleased with these, and many others, from tonight's attempt. I do hope you find pleasure in them, though.
All shots taken at 28mm (45mm for you full frame/film folks).
No. Don't worry. I think a lot of us are working on our second or third tries!! Meanwhile, I'm sure that B.D. will drop by soon to comment on what you posted.
I think that there will be a lot of interesting discussion about this exercise before this thread dies.
fwiw, I think you did a marvelous job! But since I'm still struggling with fully understanding the exercise, my opinion isn't worth much!!
Really glad you learned from your efforts. I have found it quite a learning experience myself. A lot of it is mental, too. Making me think about my attitude toward photography. There is just too much in my head at this point for me to articulate my thoughtscoherently.
So hang in there.
This thread is not dead.
Va
_______________________________________________ "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
This is my first photography exercise. I hope I followed the rules.
I had a whole lot of fun and got a little dirty when flat on my back on the floor of the playground (feet planted in same spot though ).
A word of thanks to my little sister, Andy, for being such a "anything goes" kind of model and who woke up way earlier than usual for a weekend.
No post op processing at all--used a couple of the built in camera "art filters" instead.
messed up
Darn it!!!
I just realized as I described the exercise to someone that I messed up.
My model's rear is planted and she doesn't move from her spot, but she rotated everywhich way in the same spot--which means that she wasn't really planted in the same spot----AAARGH:bash
Darn it!!!
I just realized as I described the exercise to someone that I messed up.
My model's rear is planted and she doesn't move from her spot, but she rotated everywhich way in the same spot--which means that she wasn't really planted in the same spot----AAARGH:bash
That is OKAY. As long as the butt stays planted, she can swivel!
This is my first photography exercise. I hope I followed the rules.
I had a whole lot of fun and got a little dirty when flat on my back on the floor of the playground (feet planted in same spot though ).
A word of thanks to my little sister, Andy, for being such a "anything goes" kind of model and who woke up way earlier than usual for a weekend.
No post op processing at all--used a couple of the built in camera "art filters" instead.
CC needed--I have a thick hide--no worries.
NOTE TO EVERY ONE:
Do me a favor and "insert" these into your post, rather than linking - When I finally tackle all the submissions I'd like to be able to see them on one page.
second attempt to post pics properly
I posted earlier with links (didn't know how to post actual pics)--did a little research and victory is mine. Second attempt.
My attempt
My wife, Victoria, was a willing subject. We were photographing at the UW Arboretum, and decided to take some time and try this exercise.
17-55 lens, kept at 55. No PP done, just uploaded from camera to LR, then uploaded to Smuggy. Not an easy exercise, probably need to start thinking about my 2nd try...
Ok, take 2. Still not sure I've quite nailed this (and the in-house model has been busy and/or increasinggly less interested in helping me out so it's been tricky to try it out again), but we managed another go-round this afternoon.
This time I put her on the deck and me on the ground just to see what would happen with my vantage point starting out below her. The dog wandered onto the deck at one point and I was dying to include him for background interest (since, BD, it seems one of your hints was that even though photog and subject couldn't move **things around them could**) but, alas, we could'nt get him to join us without moving our feet!!!
Lens was my Tamron 17-50 set at 35 to mimic ~35mm=equiv 50mm focal length
Pretty much SOOC except to convert
In any case:
1 Here's how we started out
2 sitting
3 Her leaning way out to her left, and me twisting hard to my right to get a different BG
4 Three variations on the steps
5 Probably my favorite - she'd started enjoying herself by then, the catchlights are nice, and I like both the comp and the tilt
6 Both of us leaning waaayyy in (there was a better-*framed* one of these - much better - but I missed the focus point and it's unsalvageably OOF)
Edited to add: yes, her feet DID stay put for those last three shots - didn't move 'em!
In the Alley
Nick, another out-of-towner, was my good natured willing subject for two tries at the exercise this weekend.
The first, done on July 4th, turned out not to qualify when the zoom lens I had gaffer taped at 28mm on my 40D turned out to be taking at 55mm (88mm on a full frame). Well darn. (You'd think I might have noticed.)
Last evening, we gave it one more try. I was more careful taping my 24-55 zoom lens at 28 mm where it did stay. (Interestingly, the EXIF shows that some are taken at 28mm and others at 31.5mm - fortunately still within the criteria.)
I put Nick on some stairs behind what used to be the Exeter Street Theater (before that a Spiritualist Temple). I placed myself with one foot on each of the bottom two stairs within less than 12 feet of my subject.
I discovered that I could be sure to have Nick's head in the frame when taking with the camera over my head if I asked him to tell me when he could see himself in the lens. As a result, only one pic of the series has part of the head unintentionally chopped off.
I won't bore with how tired and uninspired I was last evening or with how difficult this exercise continues to be for me, even though this is actually my 4th try.
1.
2. Shooting with one hand let me use the other to swing closer to Nick while holding on to a railing.
3.
4.
5.
Thank you Nick!! You were a trooper.
Virginia
_______________________________________________ "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
Nick, another out-of-towner, was my good natured willing subject for two tries at the exercise this weekend.
The first, done on July 4th, turned out not to qualify when the zoom lens I had gaffer taped at 28mm on my 40D turned out to be taking at 55mm (88mm on a full frame). Well darn. (You'd think I might have noticed.)
Last evening, we gave it one more try. I was more careful taping my 24-55 zoom lens at 28 mm where it did stay. (Interestingly, the EXIF shows that some are taken at 28mm and others at 31.5mm - fortunately still within the criteria.)
I put Nick on some stairs behind what used to be the Exeter Street Theater (before that a Spiritualist Temple). I placed myself with one foot on each of the bottom two stairs within less than 12 feet of my subject.
I discovered that I could be sure to have Nick's head in the frame when taking with the camera over my head if I asked him to tell me when he could see himself in the lens. As a result, only one pic of the series has part of the head unintentionally chopped off.
I won't bore with how tired and uninspired I was last evening or with how difficult this exercise continues to be for me, even though this is actually my 4th try.
Virginia
Much, much, much better than the first attempt - but you knew that, right?:D You really seemed to be thinking about what you were doing here, and it particularly paid off with the last two. The fourth one is quite a nice informal portrait, though I think you choose a slightly odd place to cut off his arms. And I like what you did with the last one, in terms of the angle you shot from...
Now...what you should have done is taken Nick to the Public Garden, shot him in the way you did, but you then would have had all the passersby and background motion to work with in the frame.
At thing point, before moving on to comment on other people's shoots, I'll tell all of you about the two best jobs I've ever seen done with this assignment:
In the first, the student took his wife down into the Kendal Square/MIT T stop, positioned her on the platform, and shot her as trains came and went, and passengers walked by and on and off the trains;
The other was shot by a woman who took her teenager out into the yard, put him on a tire swing, and shot him swinging - his butt never moved.
Really static, Rutt. This is more an informal portrait session than a framing exercise. That said, three and four are interesting images, three particularly. But what I find somewhat puzzling is that you don't seem to have tried to get around your subject to shoot from either side, or really from above or below. But again, I like that one in which she's looking out the window...
Now...what you should have done is taken Nick to the Public Garden, shot him in the way you did, but you then would have had all the passersby and background motion to work with in the frame.
At thing point, before moving on to comment on other people's shoots, I'll tell all of you about the two best jobs I've ever seen done with this assignment:
In the first, the student took his wife down into the Kendal Square/MIT T stop, positioned her on the platform, and shot her as trains came and went, and passengers walked by and on and off the trains;
The other was shot by a woman who took her teenager out into the yard, put him on a tire swing, and shot him swinging - his butt never moved.
Okay - on to the next one....
AHA! So I DID pick up on your hint correctly! (go me ) I thought that's what you meant when you first said that Virginia had done something particularly clever in her first batch (passersby and boats in background), and then when you posted your own two examples I was almost sure of it.
I sooo wanted the dog to wander in and out of ours, but alas he wasn't having any. He's old, poor-sighted and somewhat deaf, so we couldn't figure out how to get him to wander through the shoot without moving ourselves!
I have to apologize for not having any work to submit for this exercise. (unless it runs a while longer)
I can't seem to find anyone willing to pose for me but might have on Friday.
In the meantime I am certainly enjoying everyone else's homework.
I have to apologize for not having any work to submit for this exercise. (unless it runs a while longer)
I can't seem to find anyone willing to pose for me but might have on Friday.
In the meantime I am certainly enjoying everyone else's homework.
gail
By all means do it Friday. This is about the work, not the deadlines - that's what's great about this 'school' - it's about learning principles, not being chastised by principals!
By all means do it Friday. This is about the work, not the deadlines - that's what's great about this 'school' - it's about learning principles, not being chastised by principals!
My wife, Victoria, was a willing subject. We were photographing at the UW Arboretum, and decided to take some time and try this exercise.
17-55 lens, kept at 55. No PP done, just uploaded from camera to LR, then uploaded to Smuggy. Not an easy exercise, probably need to start thinking about my 2nd try...
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
It looks like the two of you had fun, Ken...I like the idea of the subject shooting you. What it seems to me is missing here, and I'm seeing this with most of the offerings - not just yours - is the fact that the shooters have taken so little advantage of their own arms. People don't seem to me moving the cameras around to left or right, raising them up overhead. Instead, people are simply shooting verticals and horizontals, and shifting the angle to left and right. Interesting.
I posted earlier with links (didn't know how to post actual pics)--did a little research and victory is mine. Second attempt.
I like the fact that you shot close, but given the fact that you were obviously close, why you didn't work to position the camera even closer on some of the shots. The third shot is an interesting view and pose, but unfortunately there's a tree growing out of the young lady's head. 'Wait!' someone will say - 'isn't this a framing exercise?! If we were really shooting, we wouldn't have trees growing out of heads.'
Yes, it is a framing exercise - and the tree is in the frame - growing out of the subject's head.
Remember - the point of this exercise is to get you to think about the frame every time you shoot. One of the drawbacks of the DSLR - and the film SLR before it - is that it forces you to look through a tunnel at your subject. And that in turn often causes us to focus so intently on the subject that we cease seeing everything else in the frame. But what makes a photograph more than a snap shot is the integration of the subject and background, the use of everything within the frame.
Here's an idea...Get yourselves a small piece of clear plastic - say 4x5, or 3x5. Take a grease pencil or marker and draw a frame, roughly 3x2 - wide/high - on the sheet. Then for a few days, walk around with it in your pocket and use it to "take pictures." When you see something worth photographing, hold the sheet up to your eye, and frame the photo. And also make yourself think about what's outside the frame lines, and whether you want to move those lines to include it.
I guarantee that if you do that, and maybe do it on an occasionally 'regular' basis, it will improve your photography. :ivar
Comments
Nikolai, you are a hoot! And you've actually done a pretty interesting job with the assignment. However...now go find a human being to photograph.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
I can probably do it this weekend but my shortest lens is 60mm unless I use a wide angle.
Peace, gail
Is there any other reading I need to do before I attempt this? in any other forum or thread?
Of course you can play - and everything you need to know should be in this thread, but to reiterate:
Fixed focal length - 60 for you.;-) Maximum of 12 feet from your subject - MAX. Once the subject positions her/himself he or she may not move his or her feet - unless the subject is sitting, in which case butt stays put, but feet and legs may move. You pick a spot from which to shoot, and once it's chosen you may not move your feet. Then shoot about 70 images making every conceivable use of the frame you can come up with. Post the best five.
Have fun!
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Oh thank you. Just want to make sure I understand...When you refer to framing you are saying to set up the shot the way you would want so you wouldn't have to crop and following the other rules?
gail
So enough of the gloating. Some of these, I'm sure, will be neither here nor there for many of you but I am extremely pleased with these, and many others, from tonight's attempt. I do hope you find pleasure in them, though.
All shots taken at 28mm (45mm for you full frame/film folks).
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
Is this thread dead then?
I think that there will be a lot of interesting discussion about this exercise before this thread dies.
fwiw, I think you did a marvelous job! But since I'm still struggling with fully understanding the exercise, my opinion isn't worth much!!
Really glad you learned from your efforts. I have found it quite a learning experience myself. A lot of it is mental, too. Making me think about my attitude toward photography. There is just too much in my head at this point for me to articulate my thoughtscoherently.
So hang in there.
This thread is not dead.
Va
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
Email
It wasn't overlooked at all - I'm just waiting for more posts and then I'll wade in.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Fair enough!
I had a whole lot of fun and got a little dirty when flat on my back on the floor of the playground (feet planted in same spot though
A word of thanks to my little sister, Andy, for being such a "anything goes" kind of model and who woke up way earlier than usual for a weekend.
No post op processing at all--used a couple of the built in camera "art filters" instead.
CC needed--I have a thick hide--no worries.
[IMG][/img]http://lizzardnyc.smugmug.com/photos/581695165_YgAjC-X2.jpg
[IMG][/img]http://lizzardnyc.smugmug.com/photos/581695762_heuXU-X2.jpg
[IMG][/img]http://lizzardnyc.smugmug.com/photos/581693717_pSKbc-X2.jpg
[IMG][/img]http://lizzardnyc.smugmug.com/photos/581690702_cV7RJ-X2.jpg
[IMG][/img]http://lizzardnyc.smugmug.com/photos/581685873_qZG6R-X2.jpg
_________
Darn it!!!
I just realized as I described the exercise to someone that I messed up.
My model's rear is planted and she doesn't move from her spot, but she rotated everywhich way in the same spot--which means that she wasn't really planted in the same spot----AAARGH:bash
_________
That is OKAY. As long as the butt stays planted, she can swivel!
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
NOTE TO EVERY ONE:
Do me a favor and "insert" these into your post, rather than linking - When I finally tackle all the submissions I'd like to be able to see them on one page.
Thanks!
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
I posted earlier with links (didn't know how to post actual pics)--did a little research and victory is mine. Second attempt.
_________
_________
Perfect! Thanks!
AND GET POSTING, FOLKS!!
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
My wife, Victoria, was a willing subject. We were photographing at the UW Arboretum, and decided to take some time and try this exercise.
17-55 lens, kept at 55. No PP done, just uploaded from camera to LR, then uploaded to Smuggy. Not an easy exercise, probably need to start thinking about my 2nd try...
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Portrait, Wedding & Event Photography
This time I put her on the deck and me on the ground just to see what would happen with my vantage point starting out below her. The dog wandered onto the deck at one point and I was dying to include him for background interest (since, BD, it seems one of your hints was that even though photog and subject couldn't move **things around them could**) but, alas, we could'nt get him to join us without moving our feet!!!
Lens was my Tamron 17-50 set at 35 to mimic ~35mm=equiv 50mm focal length
Pretty much SOOC except to convert
In any case:
1 Here's how we started out
2 sitting
3 Her leaning way out to her left, and me twisting hard to my right to get a different BG
4 Three variations on the steps
5 Probably my favorite - she'd started enjoying herself by then, the catchlights are nice, and I like both the comp and the tilt
6 Both of us leaning waaayyy in (there was a better-*framed* one of these - much better - but I missed the focus point and it's unsalvageably OOF)
Edited to add: yes, her feet DID stay put for those last three shots - didn't move 'em!
Any closer?
Nick, another out-of-towner, was my good natured willing subject for two tries at the exercise this weekend.
The first, done on July 4th, turned out not to qualify when the zoom lens I had gaffer taped at 28mm on my 40D turned out to be taking at 55mm (88mm on a full frame). Well darn. (You'd think I might have noticed.)
Last evening, we gave it one more try. I was more careful taping my 24-55 zoom lens at 28 mm where it did stay. (Interestingly, the EXIF shows that some are taken at 28mm and others at 31.5mm - fortunately still within the criteria.)
I put Nick on some stairs behind what used to be the Exeter Street Theater (before that a Spiritualist Temple). I placed myself with one foot on each of the bottom two stairs within less than 12 feet of my subject.
I discovered that I could be sure to have Nick's head in the frame when taking with the camera over my head if I asked him to tell me when he could see himself in the lens. As a result, only one pic of the series has part of the head unintentionally chopped off.
I won't bore with how tired and uninspired I was last evening or with how difficult this exercise continues to be for me, even though this is actually my 4th try.
1.
2. Shooting with one hand let me use the other to swing closer to Nick while holding on to a railing.
3.
4.
5.
Thank you Nick!! You were a trooper.
Virginia
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
Email
Much, much, much better than the first attempt - but you knew that, right?:D You really seemed to be thinking about what you were doing here, and it particularly paid off with the last two. The fourth one is quite a nice informal portrait, though I think you choose a slightly odd place to cut off his arms. And I like what you did with the last one, in terms of the angle you shot from...
Now...what you should have done is taken Nick to the Public Garden, shot him in the way you did, but you then would have had all the passersby and background motion to work with in the frame.
At thing point, before moving on to comment on other people's shoots, I'll tell all of you about the two best jobs I've ever seen done with this assignment:
In the first, the student took his wife down into the Kendal Square/MIT T stop, positioned her on the platform, and shot her as trains came and went, and passengers walked by and on and off the trains;
The other was shot by a woman who took her teenager out into the yard, put him on a tire swing, and shot him swinging - his butt never moved.
Okay - on to the next one....
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Really static, Rutt. This is more an informal portrait session than a framing exercise. That said, three and four are interesting images, three particularly. But what I find somewhat puzzling is that you don't seem to have tried to get around your subject to shoot from either side, or really from above or below. But again, I like that one in which she's looking out the window...
I think you need some more of this...:D
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Yeah, I know. I squeezed this one in.
AHA! So I DID pick up on your hint correctly! (go me
I sooo wanted the dog to wander in and out of ours, but alas he wasn't having any. He's old, poor-sighted and somewhat deaf, so we couldn't figure out how to get him to wander through the shoot without moving ourselves!
I can't seem to find anyone willing to pose for me but might have on Friday.
In the meantime I am certainly enjoying everyone else's homework.
gail
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Whew!!!, thank you so much.
It looks like the two of you had fun, Ken...I like the idea of the subject shooting you. What it seems to me is missing here, and I'm seeing this with most of the offerings - not just yours - is the fact that the shooters have taken so little advantage of their own arms. People don't seem to me moving the cameras around to left or right, raising them up overhead. Instead, people are simply shooting verticals and horizontals, and shifting the angle to left and right. Interesting.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
I like the fact that you shot close
Yes, it is a framing exercise - and the tree is in the frame - growing out of the subject's head.
Remember - the point of this exercise is to get you to think about the frame every time you shoot. One of the drawbacks of the DSLR - and the film SLR before it - is that it forces you to look through a tunnel at your subject. And that in turn often causes us to focus so intently on the subject that we cease seeing everything else in the frame. But what makes a photograph more than a snap shot is the integration of the subject and background, the use of everything within the frame.
Here's an idea...Get yourselves a small piece of clear plastic - say 4x5, or 3x5. Take a grease pencil or marker and draw a frame, roughly 3x2 - wide/high - on the sheet. Then for a few days, walk around with it in your pocket and use it to "take pictures." When you see something worth photographing, hold the sheet up to your eye, and frame the photo. And also make yourself think about what's outside the frame lines, and whether you want to move those lines to include it.
I guarantee that if you do that, and maybe do it on an occasionally 'regular' basis, it will improve your photography. :ivar
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed