Wednesday 2 November 2011

Line and Space Photography

Featured in this post are a selection of photographs that I produced for a project titled, `Lines and Spaces`. All these photographs were shot on my Canon EOS 500D. I hope you enjoy them!
Click on the images to enlarge them.

Hastings College
This photograph features a section of the Hastings College building in East Sussex. This is a rather abstract image, with the blue sky and white building contrasting to the darkened windows of the college. The metal frames shading the windows create lines within the photograph and cast interesting shadows onto the building.


Acoustic Guitar Neck
The subject in this photograph is the neck of an acoustic guitar. I positioned my camera near the head stock of the guitar, facing down the neck, towards the guitar's body, I then took this image. Lines and spaces are a very predominant factor within this photograph as you can see the spacing between the guitar's frets very clearly, with the strings running in and out of focus over them. The shallow depth of field in this image has been created by the fact that I was fully zoomed in at 55mm's when taking this photograph.


Net Huts at Hastings
Whilst studying Bernd and Hilla Becher, known for their photographs of `Water Towers`, I discovered a technique within architectural photography that was particularly interesting. They would quite simply photograph their subject from afar, with it framed in the centre of the image; there were no fancy angels involved or special camera equipment, their style of photography would like the building itself do the talking. This is what I have tried to recreate in this photograph of the Net Huts on Hastings Seafront, East Sussex.


Underside of a Snare Drum
This photograph depicts the curled metal wire snares that run along the bottom skin of a snare drum. By using the `Macro Mode` on my Canon EOS 500D, I was able to produce quite an inspiring image as the wire snares create a great deal of perspective, drawing closer together at the top of the photograph. I placed a piece of black card underneath the snares as the transparent skin of the drum didn't allow the snares to stand out, losing focus to the image. The shallow depth of field within this image creates blurring both in the foreground and background of the photograph, producing circular patterns that create an eye-line to the image, drawing your attention to the wire snares that are in focus.

Top Tip: 
`When photographing close-ups of objects or using the macro mode on your camera, use manual focus; it will enable you to choose exactly where you want your focus to be and will allow you to control the depth of field within your image` 

4 comments:

  1. Amazing! I look forward to seeing what else you have to offer :)

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  2. Do you use a tripod when you do macro photography since you set your focus to manual?

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  3. Yes, I do you use a tripod when I can whilst using manual focus. A tripod isn't essential when using manual focus but it will help to reduce camera shake and will enable you to compose your shot more easily. I took the macro shots featured in this post in a studio using quite dim lights, so the tripod came in very handy then. Hope this helps!

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