Angles, Viewpoint and Cropping

Photography influenced composition - Edgar Degas:

I have chosen to look at these images of Edgar Degas' work to show how photography has influenced composition in painting. Photography has influenced the composition in these painting by showing that not everything in the painting has to be in the centre of the frame, showing everything they feel that needs to be shown, it makes it look more realistic by having people walking out of the frame or not completely in it because that's the way the are stood or sat. Before photography, if this painter was to paint these images he would have both the people completely shown and not parts cropped out in the first image. In the second example he would of painted the woman from an angle where all parts of her body are visible instead of having her leg in the bath and it not being visible and in the third all of the ballet dancers would of been visible and in the centre of the frame and would not of had any of them walking out of the frame. I think that this shows photography has had a big influence on composition in the way this painter paints his paintings, and it also looks as if he uses photography to capture these images the way he wants to paints them then uses that as a reference to create these paintings.



Early kodak photographs
Photographs taken around 1878 to 1929 using kodaks have a lot of 'early amateur errors'. I have chosen these photographs as examples because they have good examples of these errors within them. In these photographs there has not been a lot of thought about the composition gone into them. There is a lot of cropping happening in all four of these images, from this I can tell that the photographer hasn't put much thought into taking these images, they have just taken the picture of what they wanted to capture and haven't thought about what is in the background and have not made sure that whatever is in the background is either not in the frame or is in it properly or making sure that other people are either completely in or not at all. No thought has been put into the composition of these photographs and on 3 of these images there have been people caught in the shot walking in and out of the frame.

Camera height
For the first experiment I went out around the college to take photographs using camera height, taking photos looking up and looking down.

First off I intended to take this photo looking down on some stones and part of a bush growing fruit, I was aiming to create a good image using camera height. I achieved this image just as I had intended and was successful in using camera height as it is focused down from a distance and has also caught a good image. I like this image as it uses camera height well and also has a food focus and composition. Overall this is successful in all areas. I could improve on this by using different angles from above.

Secondly I aimed to create an image of a set of steps looking down on them using camera height. I achieved this image of these few steps which I think was successful in using camera height and using this makes it look better than it would if taken from a different angle. I like this image but I think that I could improve on this by trying to include more within the frame.

My aim for my next image was to capture something from a camera height of looking up rather that down. With this I achieved this image of part of a building looking upwards towards the sky. Although this image isn't very interesting it is successful in using camera height. I could improve on this a lot by also getting other parts of the building in the frame and making it more interesting which I will continue to work on and will achieve in the future.

For my last image I aimed to create a nice image facing down on a nice plant or bush. In doing this i achieved this image focused on this bush facing down. As well as this being a nice focused image I think that this was successful in using camera height. I like this image overall and think that it was very successful, although I could improve on this a lot in the future by getting more of the bush into the frame and less of the ground which I think will make this image look a lot more successful than it currently does.

Camera angle
For this experiment I went out around the college to take photographs using a camera angle.

For this first photograph I aimed to take a nature picture of some trees using a camera angle. I have achieved this picture of trees and grass, to get this camera angle I rotated my camera to the left. Although this was successful in using a camera angle, I think that this photograph would look better at a straight angle. Rotating my camera has given this photograph a different perspective and has been successful in this task and experiment, but as an overall image I don't like it.



Secondly my aim was to get a photograph of an object around the college whilst using camera angle. I have achieved this photograph of a vending machine around the college, this time I have rotated my camera to the right. I feel that this was successful in using a camera angle and makes it look more interesting than usual, which makes me like this photograph, it is different and gives a different composition. Overall I think this photograph is successful in all areas. I could improve on this by experimenting more and photographing this from different angles.

 For my third photograph my aim was to take a photograph of something around the college whilst tilting my camera upside down. I have achieved this photograph of a circular window which I achieved by angling my camera almost upside down but not quite. I like this image because it is looking at the window from a different perspective and gives it a good composition, due to this I think that this image is successful and is a good photo. I could improve on this by standing in different positions whilst taking the photograph to get different perspectives of this.

For my final image on camera angles my aim was to photograph of one of the hallways around college with this aim I achieved this image of a hallway, for this I rotated my camera slightly left again. This turned out very successful and for me makes it look a lot better because it gives a better view and perspective of this hallway, whereas if I had held my camera straight I would not have caught as much in the shot as I have with this camera angle, therefore I really like this image and feel that is is my favourite out of this camera angle experiment.












Camera crop
 For this experiment I went out around the college to take photographs using camera crop.



My aim for this image was to photograph this building but cropping it and only getting part on the building in the shot and for this I achieved this image of the side of the building with part of the college showing in half the image cropping out the rest of the building. This image is a good representation of cropping but could be improved by taking it from a different distance showing more of the building but still using crop but overall I feel this is a successful image for this experiment,











For my second image my aim was to capture a photograph of two fire extinguishers using cropping in which I achieved this image that I feel has been successful in using cropping because it is showing enough of the objects but has cropped it at the same time which I feel overall has been successful but in the future could be improved by zooming in more getting more of the fire extinguishers in the frame but still cropping them.

For my last image my aim was to photograph this hallway with the bin and cropping the bin half way. I achieved this image which I feel has been successful as it crops the hallway and windows as well as the bin which shows more than one example of cropping in this one photograph.














For this image I have used two of these techniques in one. I have used the camera rotation by turning my camera left and also used cropping which has been shown by cropping out part of the stairs, window and the stair frame. This image has been successful in what I had set out to do, I like this image and think that it looks better when more than one of these techniques have been used within taking one photograph.