Fitting the Frame to the Subject, Cropping and Moving Subjects Around the Frame

The photographs below were taken at St Martin’s Church in Ashton on Mersey, Sale, built in 1714.

I took the first shot without taking too much care over the composition of the scene although it has come out rather nicely. For the second image I tried to fit the church to the edges of the frame as best I could. This shot isn’t too impressive and looks very crowded. The third shot is a detailed, close-up of a window. The final image shows the church in the background whilst featuring more of the surroundings. I tried to make the gravestones in the foreground more prominent. This is my favourate of the images as I find that it is quite pleasing to look at; my eyes are drawn to the gravestone at the bottom left to begin with, but are then drawn up and to the right, settling upon the church itself.

Initial Viewpoint

focal length 18mm, shutter speed 1/800sec, aperture f/3.5

Fit to Frame

focal length 32mm, shutter speed 1/320sec, aperture f/4.5

Detailed Shot

focal length 24mm, shutter speed 1/640sec, aperture f/4

Stressed Surroundings

focal length 23mm, shutter speed 1/60sec, aperture f/14
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Next, I will try cropping my images with a set of L frames to see if I can improve their composition.

For this part of the project, I placed some L-frames onto my images to see if they could be cropped to obtain other interesting versions. To display my cropped photographs I opened the originals with Photoshop and draw digital L-frames onto them.

I feel I have made some interesting versions, although a few appear crowded and un-balanced. I much prefer the originals to the cropped images I have created.

Moving Subjects Around the Frame

Along the Trans Pennine Trail, between Altrincham and Lymn, I spotted the tree below by itself in the centre of a field. I found the relatively symmetrical shape of this particular tree appealing and decided it would be a good subject for this project.

01. Positioned to the Right

75mm, 1/400sec, f/11

This is my favourite shot. I kept the subject at the same horizontal level as the first but positioned it to the right of the photograph. I feel this makes the shot much more interesting. It's very comfortable to look at; my eyes are drawn across it from left to right, this feels natural as this is how we would read a book.

02. Standard Shot

75mm, 1/160sec, f/11

With my first shot being pretty much symmetrical, it's overall appearance is quite pleasing. It's well balanced and comfortable to look at, although I feel the symmetrical format is a little plain and not very interesting.

03. Positioned to the Left

75mm, 1/250sec, f/11

Again this is a pleasing shot, although there is a little too much foreground. Had the foreground contained more interesting and detailed objects I would have been more pleased with this composition. Also the bush that is slightly visible on the right of the image spoils the shot.

04. Higher in the Frame

75mm, 1/125sec, f/11

Returning to the symmetrical format to give it another chance, I have decided that this composition does not work at all. there's too much foreground and the image looks cramped.

05. Lower in the Frame

75mm, 1/500sec, f/11

This time, there's far too much sky and the bush on the right again ruins the photograph. The composition could be improved and the bush removed with a simple crop but as it stands this shot is my least favourite.

I have found that placing the main subject on the right hand side and in the middle seems to create the most pleasing composition. However, had the subject not been so symmetrical, it's placement would need to be adjusted. If there were a large branch jutting out on the right of the tree, placing it on the right hand side would not be appropriate.