Assignment 5- Leading Lines Composition

[Lucilly]

Will this work ?

[Doc]

Yep, that will work- you've got the idea- the driveway leads us right to the house.  BUT, it's leading us to 2 houses?  Which one is suppose to be the subject?  I'd rather see a drive (even if it's off to the side) leading us to 1 house.

BTW, looks about a 1/2 stop underexposed and it has a tilt to it.

[Lucilly]

Yep, I see what you mean. 
Could have cropped it better.
Personally for me that is a redo.  Didn't notice it was crooked either.

I don't know what BTW means. 

[Celestya]

I don't know what BTW means. 

Short for By The Way 

Lovely picture aunty 

[Lucilly]

Here is the redo.  Didn't forget about my assignment while vacationing 
No crooked picture here.

[Doc]

There ya go!  Nice shot and a K.  That drive/walkway leads you right to the building.  I'd probably take some of the right and left (to the people on the benches on both sides cause there seems to be some "exta" on the sides), but you got it.

[Lucilly]

Well, thank you. 

[kriger]

I'm not sure if the train tracks work... they don't really "lead" to anything. But maybe it is a leading line?

[Doc]

As for leading lines in a composition, yes you did, so I'll give you a K.  I think you got the concept down. The train track one is about as leading line as you get.  (Don't care for the bluish cast though).

However, I'd really like you to try this again.  As you said, the problem is you got great leading lines leading the viewer to.... what?  There's no real subject that the eye is lead to. 
(Not too hard to do, just find a subject, then position yourself so there's a 'leading line' to it.) 

[kriger]

Sounds good. I will give this another go. I just wish it would warm up a bit so I didn't freeze by little butt off outside. Maybe round 2, I will try inside.

[aemon_2010]

hi for your comments, suggestions

[Doc]

Welcome to NEM's and thanks for jumping in here!

I think you did pretty good for this assignment, have a K!  You've got a great "leading line" to your two subjects sitting there.

However, there's some things for you to think about for future shots like this.  This was taken at 1/20th of a second, f20, 55mm lens.  If you would've opened the lens a bit more (say F11), you would still have plenty of depth of field for the shot, but the shutter speed would be much faster and it would be "crisper", and you would have no problem hand holding a shot like this.  The Rule Of Thumb is that to hand hold a shot the shutter speed should be at least as fast (or faster) than the focal length of the lens.  In other words, for this shot, the shutter speed should've been at least 1/55th.  (For a 120mm lens, at least 1/120th.)

The other thing is that there's a lot of "extra" in the picture around the edges.  It helps the picture to get down to the subject and eliminate the clutter.  "Close... no, closer!"  If you would've zoomed in (if you have the lens) OR if you would've moved down to the bridge they're on and shot from there.  I didn't cause the original is so small, but I probably would've gotten even closer than I did here to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.



I think you've got the idea.  Nice job.  Practice, practice, practice!

[aemon_2010]

Thank you for welcoming me here. I will try not to forget your tips next time i see this kinds of shots. Cheers.

[onepilgrim]

I'm not sure how well this photo works for the assignment...

[Doc]

Don't know why you're worried about it.  Nice Job!  K for you!  Little dark, and half the train car is covered up by the trees though.  A clearer shot of the car with the track in the foreground would've been super.

[kriger]

Okay... I tried this again today. Is this more the idea. My leading lines towards the benches. I know these leading lines are not as "strong" as my last ones... but...

[Doc]

I like your other ones better because they have strong leading lines in them.  They may not lead to anything, but the lines are stronger.

Now I see what you're trying to do here, but I think it could be more effective if you cropped it down and eliminated all the extra.  Sometimes you just need to simplify a photo to it's essentials to get your point across.  It's also quite blue and dark. 



As you can see we eliminated all the clutter and focused on the path (leading line) more to the yellow benches (subjects) so they stand out more.  We also did away with a lot of that "U" shaped railing on the right that impeded our "view flow" to the bench.

Keep practicing- these are valuable compositional tips that you'll use for years to come.

[pixhunter]

Hi Doc, I'm trying to catchup, and the assignments is something I need to excercise as much as possible, so, hope that restarting this thread is not problem to you!
these are fresh from this week, not for the assignment but applicable:
you will tell me where I got it wrong if so!









thanks for having this place for us beginners to get the hold of it all!
Tony

[Doc]

You're welcome, there's no time limit on the assignments, and they're for anyone/anytime so don't worry about "bringing up an old thread".

Let's look at these.

#1- Nice picture of a fountain.  Now if you would've backed up and showed a path or walkway TO the fountain, then you'd have a "leading line" composition.   And that's what we're looking for- a path/walkway/road/tracks/something that leads you through the picture to the subject.

#2- Nice picture of a spider (even though you cut his legs off), but more of a semitry shot and needs something leading you TO the spider (legs and all).

#3- Nice shot, still doesn't lead you TO the subject.  The subject is the line.

#4- THAT'S what we're looking for!  The path leads you right to the houses.  (Yes, a "leading line" doesn't have to be straight).

One more and I'll give you a K!

[pixhunter]

here it is,



if i got things well from your tips this one should be OK
Ph

[Doc]

There's your K.  The path leads you to the village beyond.  Good Job.  You could lose about 2/3 of that sky and it would look better and have more impact.