David Hockney : a Bigger Picture

Visited this exhibition recently...well worth it! There's been a great of publicity in the media re this one...the how and why of creating ' A Bigger Picture'. The exhibition went far beyond expectations.... almost overwhelming in the way you  become immersed in the richness / vibrancy of colour and composition. I was not aware till then of Hockney's very definite views on photography given his well documented use of this medium in his work e.g. - that it does not give depth to a picture ( not so sure about that myself ); can only provide a single view and does not capture time.
Decided to look further and found an interesting article re his view on photography etc. See :

http://bit.ly/wI50np

Enjoyed looking at what the exhibition offered re his earlier work useing photography in an unusual and imaginative way....e.g. getting around the 'single eye' of the camera i.e.the Grand Canyon photo collages. It was fascinating too, to see some of the film taken by the bank of nine cameras that he used to capture the 'Bigger Picture' through the seasons..the effect was rather like a rule of thirds grid across which the scene moved.

To my mind his oil paintings conveyed the feel of the countryside more than his watercolours - the use of texture, vigorous brushwork  and colour - but the results of his Ipad paintings were really intriguing ...not really to my taste as I felt that they came over a little flat and lacking in depth but nevertheless an amazing approach allowing the quick capture of detail.

Cropping

Exercise 14

Taking three different pictures, I used a cropping tool to look for a different picture within the original one.

P67 : f7.1 @ 1/1600

The logic here was to produce a more human interest view :

P133

This cropping works well I think as it has removed the distraction of the wall opposite the subject.

With this next set of pictures, I wanted to create a tighter view of the street within a distinct frame :

P130: f7.1 @ 1/2000

P131

I don't feel that the above cropping works that well other than tidying up the edges of the picture.

However, in the last cropping exercise below, I feel the cropped version does produce the different picture that I was looking for.

 

 



P134 : f8 @ 1/250

 



P135 

Vertical and horizontal frames

Exercise 13

I decided to use Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth for the location of this exercise. as it is a good venue for taking pictures both horizontally and vertically. The aim of the exercise was to take a number of photographs fitting everything into a vertical frame and then repeat the photographs by shooting a horizontal version of them considering afterwards how easily subjects fitted into a vertical frame. As I often opt for a vertical frame I was not that surprised that most scenes can be made to work vertically:

P95 : f16 @ 1/125

P96: f16 @ 1/125

P102 : f16 @ 1/80



P119 : f16 @ 1/80



P110: f16 @ 1/60

P126 : f16  @ 1/30

P122:  f16 1/60

P105 f16@ 1/80

P109 : f16 @ 1/80

P125 : f16 @ 1/100





Theories of frame division - the Golden Section

I had never heard of 'The Golden Section' so spent some time googling this on the Internet..  I had been only aware to date of the Rule of Thirds and have tried to apply this when taking shots.My search threw up the 'Golden Spiral' / Ratio. Also found an interesting site for pictures showing the spiral etc.. See :

http://bit.ly/xicfMf

Since coming across these theories,I've been checking out the pictures posted each morning on the online version of the Guardian to see whether this applies to any of the selected photos..Not sure this is always the case with these particular series as I suspect dramatic subject matter might often override here. That said, I will be looking at Hockney's exhibition next Friday in a new way ( and future planned trips to the Tate ). I've also decided to track down where I can view exhibited photos as opposed to those posted electronically- again to look at the images from these various points of view. 

Dividing the frame 2

Exercise 12  Positioning the horizon

Using a local seascape I took six photographs varying the position of the horizon to see the effect of placing the horizon high, low or towards the middle of the frame. 

P89: f/10 @1/160  28mm

P90: f/10 @ 1/160  28mm

Positioning the horizon towards the top of the picture as in P89 and P90 gives greater prominence to the foreground which in this case adds little to the overall image. The effect would likely be different and maybe more interesting if there were different foreground detail.

P91: f/14 @ 1/260  28mm

P92: f/14 @ 1/250   28mm

Though the horizon in P91 is centrally placed, what could be a static composition is rescued by the foreground detail. If I had to choose one image I would opt for P92 with the slight foreground detail.

I was expecting P93 to appeal more to me given the overall effect ( more sky ) results in an unequal division less static than say P91 but this was not the case.


P93: f/14 @ 1/250  28mm
  



P94: f/14 @ 1/250   28mm

The last shot (P94) really does not work for me. The prominence of the 'flat' sky dominates and overwhelms the picture rather than adding anything. I feel that much of this comes from the actual scene selected though and the effect of the horizon's position on the composition would change if there were more interest coming from the sky e.g colour /shape / texture.

What I think this all shows me is that moving the horizon up and down in the frame can work equally well as other factors come to have a bearing on how the overall effect works e.g. the foreground detail / the look of the sky etc.





Dividing the frame 1

Exercise 11  Balance

This exercise was all about looking at a number of photographs to decide how the balance works in each one. I found identifying the dominant parts of the image easier in some of the shots than others due to the degree and complexity of detail in the composition. Below are two examples of where I applied the 'weighing scale' interpretation to the image itself and illustrated in sketch form.

P 84

P64 was harder to gauge.

P64

Focal lengths 2

Exercise 10  Focal lengths and different viewpoints

I started here by taking a photograph with a telephoto lens. Then changing to a wide angled lens, I moved forward towards the subject in a straight line until I could see the exactly the same view of the subject in the viewfinder.

P80 : 109mm

P81  18mm

Comparing these two photographs, the shot taken furthest away with the telephoto lens brings the viewer much closer to the lectern. But the wide angled view gives more sense of space and  a feel for the surroundings showing more detail The angles exaggerated by the paving stones are more pronounced though which gives a strange perspective of almost looking down at the lectern.Not sure whether this makes for a more interesting shot or not ! That said, this exercise has made me think more about the difference changing lenses can make and again, emphasises how I should slow down more in composing the picture ; to think more keenly re what I'm trying to achieve so that I really set up the shot to deliver what I anticipate achieving. Easy to say but harder to do...