Shapes - final image
This image that I captured is very much so, a definition of adventure. I really tried to create a very natural scene but I also desired to produce an image which showed the relationship between the humble placement of human within nature. I did this by capturing the image during an expedition which was the perfect moment to be doing this. In my visual imagination this would of then showed the person at one with nature and the surrounding landscape.
In terms of composition it was an extremely tough mental process, to decide where the image would be taken from. In the boat? In the water? Etc. I ended up deciding to compose my image from the kayak, due to the fact I was able to use the curved shape of the boat to create a leading shape, which would attract the viewers attention further and deeper into the image. The landscape surroundings including the rocky and harsh horizon meant when the image was transformed to B&W I was able to distinguish a very dominant and clear horizon line, which ultimately enabled me to create a stronger composition. The tones of the kayak also helped create juxtaposition between both the human and the landscape, which helped distinguish the placement of them both.
One of the hardest practical things to overcome whilst creating this image was to maintain focus from the bottom third and throughout. This was extremely difficult due to the fact hyper-focal distance focusing methods and techniques do not work with subjects that are nearer than 3 feet to the camera. Which almost blew my idea for the photo out of question. To resolve this I had to result to fixing my tripod to the kayak with suction cups, so it was now directly over my head. So all focusing and technical settings had to be done before I set out to produce the image. This meant the only control I had over the camera was the click of a shutter release cable, so it was inevitable there was going to be multiple tries to end up with ‘money shot’.
In terms of composition it was an extremely tough mental process, to decide where the image would be taken from. In the boat? In the water? Etc. I ended up deciding to compose my image from the kayak, due to the fact I was able to use the curved shape of the boat to create a leading shape, which would attract the viewers attention further and deeper into the image. The landscape surroundings including the rocky and harsh horizon meant when the image was transformed to B&W I was able to distinguish a very dominant and clear horizon line, which ultimately enabled me to create a stronger composition. The tones of the kayak also helped create juxtaposition between both the human and the landscape, which helped distinguish the placement of them both.
One of the hardest practical things to overcome whilst creating this image was to maintain focus from the bottom third and throughout. This was extremely difficult due to the fact hyper-focal distance focusing methods and techniques do not work with subjects that are nearer than 3 feet to the camera. Which almost blew my idea for the photo out of question. To resolve this I had to result to fixing my tripod to the kayak with suction cups, so it was now directly over my head. So all focusing and technical settings had to be done before I set out to produce the image. This meant the only control I had over the camera was the click of a shutter release cable, so it was inevitable there was going to be multiple tries to end up with ‘money shot’.