Exercise: sequence of compositions 2

Following my attempt at the market for this exrecise I decided to give it another shot.
This weekend there was a triathlon that took place in Lausanne. I thought it would be the perfect event to practice my shooting skills for a sport event.

I decided to use my 18-200 canon lens as this was probably the most flexible and the zoom would be helpful if I'm not close enough to the subject.

I went first to take pictures of the bicycle race.

My first thought was to try the panning technique to the passing bicycles. I first tried at a slow shutter speed of 1/13 second. The effect is clearly visible but it was quite hard to keep the subject sharp as the racers were going downhill and very fast.

At this point I was shooting in Raw but soon realised that it's not ideal when firing with continuous frames, the camera's memory can't keep up and you need to wait a few precious seconds in order to shoot again. I then decided to shoot in Jpeg Large format. Considering I would probably taking a few hundred pictures this day it would also save me considerable time on post processing.

1/13s

I then tried a faster shutter speed of 1/80 second. The panning effect is less visible but it made it easier to make the subject sharp this time.

Now the goal was to keep on panning but getting the face of the subject more visible in the frame. I tried panning at 1/100 second to make it easier.

This one above was getting close to my goal. Now zooming closer and getting several racers in the frame was going to be my next attempt.

As this was midly successful, I decided to get a closer shot.

This one went quite well but now I was being greedy and wanted a closer shot with several racers in it.

This one was more like but seeing them from the back doesn't quite do the trick.

At this point I decided to leave panning for a while to try it again later. It wasn't easy to tell from the LCD screen on the camera whether the pictures were sharp enough. The sun was bright and it didn't help. I decided to try a safer approach and went for very fast shutter speeds.

I set my camera at 1/1000 second and change the ISO sensitivity from a 100 to 200.

This resulted in clear images but froze the subjects to a point that the image looks static. It lacked creativity and sense of movement, it really looks like a snapshot.

This next one below is a slight improvement with the position of the racer implying movement and subtle movement can be seen on the wheels

Then I tried zooming in closer at 80 mm.

It makes it a bit more appealing

Trying a different angle and point of view 

Now I'm Increasing the speed to 1/1250 second to see if it has any unusual effect

this one is not bad but still feels very static.

Switching back to 1/160 s and getting and zooming in.

This was again mildly successful but apart from the subjects not being sharp enough I like the composition.

Back to my panning attempts I caught this photographer on a motor bike at 1/40 second 

This is not a bad shot and to photograph a photographer always makes my day.

back to panning at 1/80 s

this works well but the background is not blurred enough to my liking.

with a shutter speed at 1/40 the effect is well rendered, the movement is noticeable and looks good to the eye

I like the movement in these 3 next ones

this one really puts the focus on the green racer with the other s being blurred by the movement. I like the speedy effect.

both racers are sharp, this is probably due going at the same speed and on the same focus range.










Now feeling more comfortabe with panning I try again at 1/25 second and zoom in a bit.

I then went down to the lake (lake Geneva a.k.a lac Leman) to watch the swimming and running.

It was very crowded and not easy to move around. It took ages to get anywhere and the crowd was so dense that there was almost no place I could stand to get a clear view.

I catch this athlete training before the the big race.

I took another shot clear of the barrier.

then onto the swimming race. I wsa too far away and the zoom helped but as swimmers were most of times in the water you couldn't see much other than arms moving.

I shot a picture of 2 swimmers close to eachother making like a bird shape with arms and hands.

when coming out of the water.

on to the bicycle

next the final run.

From the bridge where I managed to go sneaking into the VIP section. I managed to get a quick close-up before getting noticed.

Shot from the bridge with athlete Campbell from the back.

same athlete but further away

another position in the crowd, I took the picture when her face was lit by the sun.

I have taken hundreds of pictures but in this exercise I decided to describe the bicycle race more deeply. The swimming and running was hard to catch as the crowd and blocked area prevented me from having freedom to change my compositions and approach. My goal for the day was to cover parts of all the disciplines, which I managed with some struggling.

What I have learnt here is for a sport event you need to be very organised. knowing the whole program, getting there in advance and finding a strategy to get quickly from one point to another is key. 

The technical part of it is also tricky. I figured you need to make sure your camera's battery is fully charged and the bigger the memory card is the better. The weather conditions also play a huge factor. In this case the sun was very bright and would easily create over-exposed and under-exposed areas at the same time. Then setting your camera's white balance and picture style, shooting JPEG seems to be the way to go. Most of all, experience would have helped me not losing time on technical aspects. I could have focused more on composition and light, taking more close-up pictures. I've noticed here I haven't taking a single vertical frame and this clearly shows I was too overwhelmed by the technicalities of covering this event.

Exercise: sequence of compositions

This started on my way to the market on a Saturday morning. I had no idea what to expect as I haven't been there for years and this morning, the temperature had dropped from 35 to 20 compared to the day before. Knowing that, I figured it wouldn't be too crowded this morning but I soon realised how wrong I was.






I'm getting to the stairs close to the market








My first view of the market from the stairs leading down to it.

 I zoom on to the few people hanging around the fountain










Another shot at it

Taking a vertical shot of the people walking  to the left of the previous shot.

Now moving into the center of the market.

Not a very attractive composition but I keep on shooting and decided to focus on the woman's face near the middle of the frame

following her makes her face in focus while blurring the rest of the scene. I think I'm a bit obsessed with the panning technique which I practiced earlier in this course. It might not be the best scenario for panning but it was worth trying.

shifting right I caught this couple in the background.

Taking another shot both women in the middle of the frame notice I'm taking their picture.

Another shot without thinking too much. I notice a man in the middle of the frame and decide to zoom in closer to him.

this shot is interesting, he clearly stands out of the moving crowd by staying still. He's looking at something, I then decide to take another shot.

Same shot a moment later, someone in the back is pointing at something, the man in the middle is looking the same way and we could imagine the woman with the box is going the same way

Further away I notice this asian lady looking worried while choosing her vegetables. I try a vertical shot.















I then try a horizontal shop as I wanted to include the old man in the background.

looking down the street I notice a musician on the left of the frame this could make an interesting subject.

Unfortunately, this shot is very blurry due to the small aperture at f/22 being used and shaky hands.

Decided to take shots of the musican.

This could have been an interesting shot if I had used a wider aperture. Unfortunately with f/22 my hands were too shaky and the musician too fast.

This one is more like it, less blurry but I'd like to get some of his face.

I like this one, it is kept quite sharp and the look on his face is interesting.

I now move on to another location.

On my right I saw 2 musicians. took a shot not thinking much about composition












In this shot, I tried a technique I had heard about and it came to my mind at this very moment. zooming in or out while taking the picture.
This didn't turn out bad, the hands of the musician are sharper and it focuses your attention into them while blurring out the surroundings.

taking a vertical shot with the musician off center, to the right.
This doesn't work out as he is looking away and we can't see any public.

including the keyboard player in the frame works out better. the angle is not bad but not quite right.

trying from the front I quite like it but it's a shame I cout out the cases in front of them









Zooming into the musician's hand playing on the keyboard

A close zoom at the case.

Then I decide to get a vertical frame of the singer

zooming in the singers instrument, only seeing part of his face makes it an interesting picture.

Moving on to another scene..

Photographing a  photographer is something I do unconsciously, I guess it's fair play.










Next to the photographer I catch this couple.

Then seeing those two men catches my attention, could they be brothers? I decide to zoom in..

They do indeed look like brothers.
I'll wait till they turn a bit to take another shot.

This is not bad. a crop in post production could improve it further.

Now moving back, getting a more overall view.
I decide to zoom into the vegetable stall on the far right.









Seeing this group of people all digging in their purses makes it an interesting shot.
I first shoot in in landscape mode then when the lady in black joins in I try a shot in vertical mode.

I then decide to stop it at this point.

My overall feeling about this exercise is it takes experience, confidence and good technical knowledge to be able to take full advantage of this type of situation. The fact that I didn't notice I was shooting at f/22 the whole time was a mistake someone unexperienced would make. Having so much going on in a small place requires attention and focus. I could have concentrated on one subject instead of trying to photograph everything around me.

At the same time, I feel that luck plays alot in these type of situations. I think the more I get familiar with these type of shooting situations the more I'll feel comfortable dealing with all the aspects of it.

exercise: different positions in the frame

This is my first attempt at this exercise. The most difficult part is to find the right scenery, a plain and even background with a main subject which could be "placed" in different positions in the frame.
My 1st guess was to look for a field outside the city but sofar I haven't found the right area yet.
However, I give it a shot in order to analyse how the different positions turn out to be in comparison with the background.

1st shot, not thinking when taking my first shot after taking out the camera:

2nd shot, Center of the frame:

3rd shot, slightly off center:

4th shot, corner of the frame:

As for the different positions, my first impression is the one that work the least is the center position. The slightly off center gives a better balance than the corner one. Then again, I feel the exercise is rigged due to the background not being plain and even. 

As for the image quality I am not so pleased with it so this is something I will also have to improve in my next attempt. The post processing, involving RAW file adjustments and sharpening, is not consistent throughout the 4 pictures and the color balance looks different on the 4th picture.

Overall, I realise that the choice of scenery is key to this exercise to serve the purpose of analysing the different positions. Keeping in mind the other flaws in this attempt I will have to repeat this exercise to get the full potential.

Here is my 2nd attempt. the background is quite even and the subject very clear.

Right upper corner of the frame

Center of the frame

 

left upper corner

left, off center

 

What I found interesting in this scenario is that the right upper corner of the frame works out better for me than the left upper corner one. when the bird is looking towards the empty space of the frame it seems to have a better effect. In my opinion, the off center picture above would have worked  better if the bird was off center on the right hand side.

Exercise: Fitting the frame to the subject

For this exercise I have chosen a truck that collects items destined to be recycled.

I start with taking a first shot as a baseline.

Then I try to make the subject fit the frame as tightly as possible. It's not possible for me to shoot right in front of it as a pole is preventing me from it. I fit the frame with the lowest angle possible available to me at this moment.

Now I'm photographing a part of the truck with none of the edges in view.

Now for my last shot I shoot the truck as part of the surroundings, taking about a quarter of the frame.