Patti hosts this weeks challenge and asks us to use compositional tips to improve our images. The tips and full challenge details are outlined in her original challenge post which you can find here.
We’ve just returned from a holiday where my camera has been really busy. Having returned on Friday I shot a wedding yesterday so there’s no way I’ll get out this week to shoot new images for the challenge. What I can do is use some of the images from yesterday, and last week, to fit some of the tips in Patti’s post.
Simplify your background – I went outside of the wedding venue with the bride yesterday to grab this shot of her bouquet. We found an area where we could shoot against green foliage. I was stuck with f4 which was the minimum aperture on the lens I was using so I put some distance between ourselves and the background to isolate the flowers. This is pretty much the shot I took with a very tiny crop. I’m quite used to shooting with negative space but with text copy in mind. Get Closer: Actually both of these scooter images work for me but I did deliberately change lenses to get a close up of that Patina (the modern name for rot and rust) on the front leg guard. They’re separate images as you can see in the bokeh of the second image. The scooter was parked close in front of a wall so I didn’t have much room to manoeuvre. The first image is shot with a 35mm vintage lens and the second using a 50mm vintage lens.Selective Focus: Another image from yesterdays wedding. The bridesmaid in this shot had just finished with the hairdresser so I wanted a picture of the back of her hair. Depth of field still works in a mirror and I’ve used f4 here again to highlight the hair and isolate it from the background. The blurring of the face was just about right here. Recognisable but not distracting enough for anyone to think this was anything but a shot about the hair.Vary Your Subject Placement. Another two shots from Crete last week. These two shots are all about the sunset but at the same time this boat would appear every evening loaded with people enjoying the same view as us. The first evening I saw the boat, I changed my position down onto some rocks to get the boat in my image to add some interest to what would otherwise have been a straightforward sunset shot. The next evening we walked further along the road and shot the boat and sunset through this frame of trees. BTW, that’s my wife sat on the wall waiting for me to take a pic – the story of her life 🙂
That’s it for me this week. Thank you to Patti for hosting such an interesting challenge with excellent tips and example images. The few posts I’ve browsed through so far have been excellent and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of this weeks responses.
5 thoughts on “Lens-Artists # 401: Focus on the Subject”
LOL for your poor wife Steve. My husband does the same but he’s really quite good at pointing out opportunities for me so always great to have him along (for many reasons of course!!). The last shot today is my favorite.
I have to agree with Tina, about her comment about her husband, my husband is the same, and many times also my model 😁 and also agreement on the favorite image
Steve Hyde 
LOL for your poor wife Steve. My husband does the same but he’s really quite good at pointing out opportunities for me so always great to have him along (for many reasons of course!!). The last shot today is my favorite.
I have to agree with Tina, about her comment about her husband, my husband is the same, and many times also my model 😁 and also agreement on the favorite image
Great examples for the challenge. 😊
Great shots for the challenge, really like the sunset, my husband can relate with your wife 😉
Oh, that sunset between the trees! Coincidentally, I was processing a photo of Vespas from an automotive museum just last week.