Photography Classes Online – Icon Photography School › Forums › Photography Lessons › Lesson 4 › Assignment four!
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Duncan Rawlinson.
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March 26, 2009 at 6:29 pm #17674
Lizzy
ParticipantThis is my assigment four.
This was an overcast early morning picture of the Cathedral in my town.
I am not sure how to get the whole view of the church ,it is so big!!
What do you suggest?
Thankyou.March 30, 2009 at 8:22 pm #19096Duncan Rawlinson
KeymasterI think you’ve done a good job of capturing the size of the church. You mentioned that you were not sure how to capture the entire thing because it’s so big. Well I think you should consider doing two things. 1 is more technical, the other is more artistic.
Let’s start with the artistic idea. I generally find parking lots and cars to be distracting elements in photographs. It’s hard because they are everywhere and it’s hard to compose any photograph without a car. However, I feel the message that is being conveyed in this image is slanted towards the religious end of the spectrum. It could also be an architectural photograph, but either way the parking lot and cars don’t add anything to this story. They seem more like a composition sacrifice (i.e. I couldn’t get the entire church in the frame if I didn’t stand far enough back and therefore get the parking lot and cars as well). And while compromise is sometimes necessary in photography, you should try to consider all possibilities before you sacrifice your image.
Therefore I feel as though you have 2 options here. 1. You can make the cars look less accidental by showing them more prominently. The visual message could be more about church attendance and the contrast between the beauty of the church and the volume of the parking lot.
Alternatively, and I think more preferably you should stick to your original idea of capturing the church. Therefore you should compose your image in a way that excludes the secondary elements of cars and parking lots. To do this you’ll need to move closer. This brings us to our technical change. What you might want to consider is being a wide angle lens (maybe between 17mm and 24mm). This will allow you to get close to your object while at the same time being able to include the entire structure.
For example, look at the following image:
http://www.nathanelson.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/church.jpg
They were able to capture the size of the church without having to include any distracting background or foreground elements.
Your assignment is great overall. But to go to the next level, it’s all about the small details!
Again, great work!
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