In part two we looked at composition and the rule of thirds,
in this edition we are going to look at a couple of elements that require some
technical understanding, image depth and camera panning.
Image depth
Image depth should not be mistaken for depth of field, the
two elements are completely different.
The world we see and interact with is 3 dimensional , the
images we capture with our camera is a 2 dimensional one, so, a quick and easy
way to add a suggestion of 3 dimensions is to look for subject matter that will
add the desired depth, drawing your eye not only to the main subject matter but
through the image, so with this in mind try including not just the main
subject, but add subject matter to the foreground, middle ground and background,
remember to move around the subject trying different angles and viewpoints.
The main subject here is of Ally Campbell and her student (campbellcoaching.eu)
However, I included the trees in the foreground and the wooden north shore in
the background to add depth to the finished image, have a go at trying this
technique next time you are out on your bike.
Depth of field is a different element to photography as I
mentioned, depth of field literally refers to the sections of the image that
are in focus or out of focus, this can also add an interesting element to
photography, a narrow depth of field will leave the image with a small focal
point and lots of blur in the image and a large depth of field gives a large
focal point and little blurring, don’t worry if this sounds complicated as we
will be looking at depth of field in detail at a later time.
In this image I used subject matter to increase depth, in
the foreground I included the landing ramp of the jump, middle ground, the
rider and in the background another rider, the depth of field here is quite
narrow so it helps to give the main element (the rider) punch and helps the
rider stand out.
Ok, enough about depth, we are now going to look at camera
panning, this is a fun element of photography and I know you will all enjoy
trying it out.
Camera Panning
When panning with a camera we are looking for one simple
result, we want to blur the background to give an element of speed but at the
same time we want to keep the main subject in focus, so how do we do this?
First we don’t want the fastest settings are your camera we
want quite a slow shutter speed, as all
cameras are different you will need to experiment, try panning your camera from
far left to far right (you can pan right to left if you prefer) at about the
speed you expect your subject to be travelling, if the background is blurred we
can go ahead and try a shot of a rider, follow the subject as it approaches,
you want to try and capture the image when the rider is directly in front of
you, this normally gives the best results.
As you can see the finished result looks quite dramatic and
adds an element of speed, Bob Campbell of campbellcoaching.eu was really only travelling
at around 10 mph or so, give panning a try, it’s a lot of fun.
Next time I will be including some of your images loaded on
the MBWales flickr page.
Happy snapping and safe riding!
Pete
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