Exercise 16 - The Relationship between Points

In this exercise I was initially asked to take two photographs with two isolated subjects in the frame. I returned to the quays having previously noticed a few possibilities and managed to capture two images that I was reasonably happy with. 
I tried to take these pictures as naturally as possible without spending too much time composing the pictures or positioning myself. I did need to change positions to capture these pictures.


The first photo was taken at F5.6 and 1/125 using the telephoto lens at 75mm hand-held. The composition of the image is a bit disappointing because the edge of the front boat is cut off by the edge of the frame. This was due to the speed that they were moving and a bit of a slow response from me.
The two boats dominate the frame despite some distraction from the back drop. The eye is drawn to the blue boat in the foreground and then the white boat. What also helps the relationship between the two boats, is the eye line between the people in the boats. The viewer can tell from the angle of the blue boat rower's heads that they are looking at the white boat.  The blue boat commands more space due to it's proximity to the front of the photo and it's size. I think the colour helps as well.


The second image is of two red cranes and differs slightly in that the two subjects are the same colour but there is still a size difference.
The photo was taken at F14 and 1/125 due to extreme brightness at the time. The telephoto lens was used again this time at 97mm.
The right hand side crane is the less distracting of the two even though its mass is probably bigger due to the two beams protruding from behind it.
The left hand side crane is equal distance away from the edge of the frame but it still has dominance as the larger of the two and therefore the first thing that the eye sees when viewing the picture. There is an implied line between the top of the left crane and the top of the right which enhances the relationship between the two subjects. I think that this image is more successful than the rowing shot as there is little else in the frame to draw the eye. The red cranes are so dominant that the viewer takes a while to notice the thin cluster of building materials and storage at the bottom of the frame. I could crop this out for more impact. 

The last image I needed to take was of the most common, two point subject which gets photographed, the human face. The folder states that the eyes will both attract an equal amount of attention and this photograph works well to prove the point. I used F4 and 1/60 with the telephoto lens at 200mm. This was due to wanting to have a shallow depth of field in order to make the image more flattering to the model by throwing as much of the face out of focus as possible. I appreciate the point about unresolved tension as the viewing eye is pulled between left and right and back again.