19 May 2007

Steeples


The steeples of St. Michel and of the Chapel of the Pénitents Blancs, seen from the market place below the old town.

Posted by Jilly at 19:28

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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous19 May, 2007

    You are getting quite good at composition. I suppose it is your experience but there are many things about this picture that are right and one is composition.

    There is a rule of golden proportion and your composition is close to that.

    I didn't make this up...

    The eye naturally falls slightly above half-way up on a picture or an advertisement or on anything. So on a woman it would be the breast area (from the waist).

    That is the line of golden proportion. It is the spot in print ads where you will find the product, the picture or the main words.

    On a photograph it is above center. Your green trees are above center and cut the picture properly.

    On a face it is the eyes (from the bottom of the chin). Your eyes naturally fall on the eyes.

    On a book, the first Chapter is always about two-thirds of the way up or over half way. Only newer books done by amateurs are made all sorts of different ways.

    The steeples in your picture are balanced by the palm on the left. The palm on the left is a loosely spaced tree. Lots of sky between the branches and the same is true of the steeples. Lots of space between them and like the tree limbs are different sized, so are the steeples.

    If you had cropped the buildings out on the right it might look less cluttered and I am looking at it that way now with this comment box over that area. When I move the comment box over and look at the picture the way you took it, the wall is distorted and falls-in on the steeple area.

    That is good if you had something straight on the other side to match it. The steeples are both going toward a vanishing point up in the sky as is the edge of the building, but the tree trunk is cropped out or it might have been a foil for the building edge.

    When I look at a picture of architecture I am always trying to think of how I would draw this. How many perspective points will I need.

    Well, in your picture I can see at least 3. Two horizontal and 1 vertical. Not that complicated but it is one of the things I learned a long time ago when I was a painter using oils. Those days of smelling linseed oil and turpentine are over. Fortunately.

    I must apologize for this long comment. I keep noticing your compositions are better all the time. I am glad and wanted to tell you about it.

    And I wondered if you are aware that you are looking at things differently or are you just blessed?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Annie20 May, 2007

    There I would walk around with my head held up, my eyes wide open.

    ReplyDelete
  3. freelancer20 May, 2007

    Yeah ! The sky is very blue !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jilly20 May, 2007

    Abraham

    You are such a wonderful man. You are so generous in your comments and a wonderful teacher. I've carefully read everything you wrote and I didn't know any of that. In fact I rather wondered if there was TOO much green tree dominating the photo, so am pleased to know it makes the right proportion. Confess I did consider cropping at the sides and decided not to, just to give context, but see your point entirely.

    I do believe I'm seeing things differently - yes - since starting DP. I now look at everything thru a frame, as it were. I took about six photos to get this one and some were better but had a lamp strung across the street - it appeared in the sky and it didn't seem right.

    Thank you so much for your encouragement and for your knowledge, Abraham. It's so encouraging to try and take better photographs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous20 May, 2007

    I seldom say this much to anyone and not even if they ask. You seem like you yearn to learn a bit more and I think we are friends so I just said things and hoped it would not offend you. I am happy that it didn't.

    No, too much of anything, like you though the green trees would be, are often a counter to something else. In this instance, it is the sky. A lot of sky to be balanced by something else. The green trees.

    Not any of what I have said is a rule, rule. It is not something to be used as a guide, period. If you do that then you lose all creativity and your photos take-on a kind of routine-something expected. There is some danger in that.

    So just remember but don't make anything I have said a "rule." I break it all the time and the red motorcycles, for example, breaks almost everything I know about design but it seemed to work for me and that is the beauty of doing things in a different way.

    Thanks for your visit.

    ReplyDelete

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