The guidelines for this assignment were to produce an image with an expanded perspective. (The perception of greater distance between foreground and middle or distant objects.) The assignment description recommended using a wide angle lens and getting down lower than "standing height" so that you are relatively close to your foreground elements. Getting closer to your foreground elements will enable you to exaggerate the perceived size difference between foreground and background objects, and thereby exaggerate the perceived distance to produce an "expanded perspective."
I really enjoyed Marilyn's series of images with the super-wide angle lens, and thought her
Reflected mallow image did the best at conveying an expanded perspective. I believe the reason for this is that Marilyn was closer to the foreground in this image than in the others. As we noted in our discussion, photographers usually have to consciously force themselves to get "unnaturally close" to the foreground in order to exaggerate the foreground elements enough to convey a sense of expanded perspective. As Marilyn said in answer to my question "I think I was between 18-24 inches. I was amazed at how close I had to get (in addition to being so low to the ground) for all of the shots I did with Clay's lens (EFS 10-22mm)." Remember our "wide and close" assignment?
This assignment was another way of illustrating a similar concept. Extra points to Marilyn for using a gold reflector to open up the shadows and tame the contrast a bit, and add a little more warmth to the scene. As I mentioned in my comments in the gallery, "shooting with an extreme wide angle is challenging because it requires you to pay an inordinate amount of attention to the foreground. The challenge is to eliminate "dead space" without making the foreground too busy or complex." Marilyn did an excellent job balancing the near, middle and far elements in this image to produce a very strong composition. All of these techniques come together to produce an outstanding image deserving of
Editor's Choice for Technical Merit.
Reflected mallowEditor's Choice for Technical MeritPhotographed by Marilyn McKinney
Getting low to the ground also helped Marilyn create an interesting composition for her
Branching perspectives image. The low angle helped accentuate the shapes and forms of the branches against the sky, and took advantage of the repeating theme in the "branching" clouds. Very well done. This image is definitely successful at conveying the feeling of a vast, expansive scene in front of the viewer.
Branching perspectivesPhotographed by Marilyn McKinney
Marilyn's
Winding path did a wonderful job drawing me into the scene and leaving me with the desire to hike further down the path and see what was around the bend. The outstanding clarity of this image helped me imagine that I was there, enjoying a wonderful hike.
Winding pathPhotographed by Marilyn McKinney
Lars'
Metro line image was surprisingly effective at conveying an expanded sense of distance between the camera and the front of the car. This image had great clarity (especially for a cellphone image) and wonderful colors and forms, with a nicely balanced graphic design. Well done.
Metro linePhotographed by Lars
I enjoyed the dreamy fairy-tale feeling of Luc's
princess in waiting image. The dreamy look of this image complemented the subject (and title) perfectly. This was a challenging high-contrast scene with a dynamic range that the sensor just couldn't capture, and I think Luc's decisions on exposure were very appropriate for the scene. (He concentrated on a good exposure on his "princess" and let the sky be overexposed.) I suspect that the strong sunlight backlighting the clouds contributed a little bit of flare (and softening of contrast) to this image. In addition, I think the very small aperture of f20 was smaller than needed for this scene, and definitely contributed to some softening of the image due to diffraction. In this case however, the flare and softening actually contributed to the "dreamy" feeling of the image, and resulted in strengthening the theme of the composition. Well done Luc.
princess in waitingPhotographed by Luc Bigler
Of his two dinosaur images, I thought Luc's
walking away! image was the best at conveying an expanded perspective. Getting relatively close to the footprints in the foreground made the children look tiny by comparison, and the way the wide angle lens makes objects in the distance appear smaller then accentuates the size of the dinosaur in comparison. This is another great illustration that in order to convey a sense of expanded perspective you need to get close to the foreground elements and include distant elements for comparison.
dare we touch the dynosaur?Photographed by Luc Bigler
walking away!Photographed by Luc Bigler
I think Rebecca had fun playing with an old (and relatively unusual) close-focus 28mm lens for her image titled
Is that a fish eye lens? Even with a relatively small aperture, she found that the depth of field at these close focus distances was very narrow, and found manually focusing on the moving fish to be a challenge. She did a great job getting a sharp image of the fish given the circumstances, and managed to accentuate the "magnified" view of the fish's little world by moving in very close to her subject. (Within about 4 inches or 10cm.) Her use of off-camera flash (using a radio remote) to open up the shadows and provide a bit more light on the fish worked well too.
Is that a fish eye lens?Photographed by Rebecca
Dave did a wonderful job conveying the feel of spring pasture burning in his
Burn image. Marilyn said it best when she commented "That's an awesome photo, Dave. Really captures the expanse of the land and tells a story about the spring range burn." I've tried several times to get a decent image of the burning pastures, and have never successfully captured one that I like, which makes me appreciate Dave's images even more. I suspect that in order to capture this image at a wide angle focal length of 12mm Dave had to be close enough to really feel the heat. Wonderful job telling the story Dave.
BurnPhotographed by Dave Leiker (prairiedust)
Dave's
Wasps 'n Smoke is a fascinating image that immediately captivated me, starting with my first glance at the thumbnail. I don't know how many shots Dave had to take in order to get this look; however, it is an amazing combination of sharp detail on the weathered wood and wasps against a softly defined background that sets the scene perfectly, while being subdued enough to let the viewer focus on the primary subject. The smoke in combination with the unusual (sinister) shapes of the wasps creates a mysterious feeling to this image, which encourages the viewer's imagination to run wild. This is one of those images that is much more than the "sum of its parts" and exists because of the artistic vision of it's creator. This is an amazing image selected as
People's Choice and
Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit.
Wasps 'n SmokePeople's Choice and
Editor's Choice for Artistic MeritPhotographed by Dave Leiker (prairiedust)
Thank you again for continuing to inspire me with your photography. I'll get out and photograph again soon, I promise.
Keith
