OCA Course: Cropping.

I crop many of my bird photographs, especially flight shots, because the birds don't wait to be posed in the right part of the frame. However, I'm not usually looking for a different picture, just a better one.


This is a bamboo bridge over the Daying River in Yunan, China. It's like walking on a spring matress. The pole and flag are part of a frame at the entrance to the bridge. This is a full-frame image taken at the time.

I thought there was another picture here concentrating on the bridge itself, eliminating the rather untidy and detached pole and flag.

Although the bridge itself is highlighted, it isn't ideally placed in the frame, so the crop hasn't worked too well.



This is Scarborough Lighthouse from castle hill - an image used in the focal length exercise.

I thought a square crop would remove some of the foreground and distant detail, thereby enhancing the lighthouse and ship. The pier curves nicely up to the building, the ship adds some foreground interest and helps to set the scene.

I think the result is possibly better than the original.



Fordon Church - a tiny edifice in a forgotten hamlet on the Yorkshire Wolds.


I thought there was another interesting image here concentrating on the path, doorway and "spire", with a tall vertical crop, leading the eye up the path to the door and up to the spire.

I think the result works quite well.


In order to draw the crop lines on the images, I printed off the original and put them in a plastic sleeve, and drew on that, then scanned them. Freehand sketches I'm not good at!

OCA Course: Vertical and Horizontal Frames

I'm not sure I really tackled this in the correct way, as I had to take the vertical and horizontal images together, knowing I wouldn't have time to re-visit the area. One or two of the pairs subconsciously started off with the horizontal view, rather than looking for the vertical view first.
All the images were taken using a 17-40mm wide-angle zoom lens with a polarising filter, and most were shot using a tripod. Only one pair, of the lighthouse, were shot on a different day.

Scarborough Lighthouse: This probably works better as
a vertical format because of the shape of the building, but
the horizontal view gives a better sense of place.

Gravestones, St. Mary's Church: This works equally well
both ways. The stones have been re-positioned to save
space - bodies weren't buried like that!

Wall, St. Mary's Church: I initially was interested in the
rusty hinge, but "chimping" the image on-screen showed
the yellow bricks to be prominent. This probably works
both ways also.




Winking Willy's: These chaps were doing some repairs to
the fish and chip shop. I thought the ladders were inter-
esting (triangles - later). There is too much foreground on
the vertical shot, I should have angled up more to make
it work better, but I think the horizontal one wins here.




Lobster Boats: It works both ways, I think.




Regal Lady: It's the pleasure "steamer" in the distance,
framed by the ropes. The vertical shot is distracted by
the foreground, so I think the landscape is better.




Ask Restaurant: These folks were enjoying the sun (this
is the north-east coast - it doesn't shine often!). I thought
the portrait view would divide into layers, so it's partly
successful, but the landscape is better.




Wheelhouse: I didn't see the distracting metel rail in the
foreground in the viewfinder. However, it probably helps
in the vertical image, which, overall, I think works better.




Ropes and Chains: Either-or works for me.




Lifebelt: The symmetrical horizontal image is OK, but it's
better as a vertical, as it suits the overall shape of the
subject.




Steps, Harbour Wall: In order to cover the steps and life-
belt, I had to include too much sky and road in the vert-
ical image, which I don't think works well at all.




East Pier: A traditional "landscape" image, but it works
just as well in portrait mode.




Helter-Skelter: Definitely better as a vertical. There are
some interesting "lines" here for future use.




Lunar Park: Buildings to the right of me prevented a
better viewpoint to include the circular flowerbed round-
about to balance the big (well, small, actually) wheel. I'm
not convinced either of these work.




Cottages, Old Town: Although both images work, the
vertical, with it's prominent foreground, accentuates the
steepness of the castle hill.




Scarborough Harbour from the Castle: Both work, one
displaying he sweep of the bay, the other the prominence
of the harbour.




Seats, Castle Dykes: Possibly the symmetrical landscape
works best. They aren't very comfortable!




Steps to Castle Dykes: he vertical image stresses the
steepness more effectively, but the horizontal is nicely
framed by the trees.




Flamborough Head from Castle Dykes: I tried to frame
the distant headland with the dark trees, but neither
work well, I think.




Lifeboat Cottages: The landscape view gives a better
impression of site.




Looking for vertical images that work was a challenge. It's very easy to fall into the rut of the landscape format, and I will be more conscious of the vertical alternative in future.

OCA Course: Panning.

With respect to personal choice, it's horses (or bikes) for courses. As a sponsor, sharp images with the highest shutter speeds means their adverts will be readable in Motor Cycle News. As a racing picture, speed is conveyed best with medium shutter speeds, probably the best at 1/200 sec., where the background is blurred, but the bike is sharp apart from the bits that should move - the wheels! The slow shutter pictures are not without merit, representng an "artistic" view of the sport, abstracted to a large degree into smears of colour. It's the middle one for me.

1/5 sec. The bike and background are just a blur, although it is still clear what the picture represents. The bike has moved some 120 feet during the exposure, and the angle of view changed by about 45 degrees. Ernst Haas's bullfight pictures look like this.


1/13 sec. The bike is distorted front and back by the changing angle of view presented to the camera during the long exposure, although the middle is still clear. Following the action accurately for 1/13th of a second was difficult, and a number of shots at this speed were too blurred.


1/20 sec. There is still a good impression of the bike at speed, without too much loss of definition.


1/40 sec. Detail of the bike is lost due to it's movement in relation to the camera, but a dramatic image of extreme speed is conveyed.


1/80 sec. There is the beginnings of difficulty following the bike with the camera, and overall blurring is developing.


1/200 sec. The bike appears to be going faster than on the previous image.


1/400 sec. An obvious impression of speed now.


1/640 sec. There is definite movement on the background and the bike wheels, conveying an impression of movement.


1/1000 sec. The background is just beginning to blur, but still doesn't really give the impression of speed. The bike is still sharp, although there is just perceptible movement on the front wheel.


1/2500 sec. Very little difference from the previous image.


1/3200 sec. Everything is sharp, and there is no perception of movement. The bike could be a cardboard cut-out, but the riders sponsors would like it because you can read the adverts on the bike. The crowd are already looking for the next rider to appear.


Panning: Nothing much moves in Scarborough other than people and traffic (and sometimes that doesn't!). I tried this with cars on the Marine Drive, but the images were boring, so I intentionally delayed this exercise until the motor-bike races on Olivers Mount. This is a twisty, hilly circuit on the edge of town, a closed public road, which holds three or four race events per year. There are some good positions for photography, as you can get close to the trackside. These images were taken from a fixed position at the "esses". Lap average speed is 80mph, so the bikes are doing this sort of rate at this point. I used a Canon EOS 1D Mk 111 on Tv mode, with a 100-400 zoom at 100mm. It was sunny weather, so I had to use 100 ISO and a polariser to get the longer exposure times in the sequence. It was great fun, and I took lots of other images on the day.