David's Project 365

[davidc]

edit: tweaked to use the flickr link instead of 500px.


Vertical - 114/365 by cedarsphoto, on Flickr

[Peter Boughton]

Did you try taking different rotations/orientations for the buildings?

[davidc]

Yeah while I was waiting for the plane I tried other views, this one worked best. Tried variant with the "open sky" bit in different locations but it seemed wrong in every orientation apart from this. I put it down to sky needing to be at the top

Why, have you rotated and found an orientation you like?

[Peter Boughton]

Yeah, I was fiddling and found I liked ~30° CCW, 45° CW, and horizontally flipped - each for different reasons.

I think my brain is interpreting the buildings more abstractly than as towers.

[davidc]

Tried those this morning and I strongly prefer my original version, sorry, YMMV

I had other shots of the scene (sans aircraft) but just out of shot bottom right that walkway between buildings gives way to more sky which looked badly out of place. This way I could create a "trap" for the right thing to fly into

[Paul Heester]

Your perseverance once again pays off! Although it would have been a fantastic shot without the plane that added element raises it even higher. Lovely B&W tones as well.

Had this place in mind for a while and had hoped to catch it with blue sky but it seems as soon as spring came it's gone again so I figured B&W would be the best bet.

When I saw a plane cross overhead this shot formed in my mind! Plenty of airports near London, surely it wouldn't be long until one moved into place... It was rather a long time

[davidc]

Thanks! It's also now my highest ever rated shot on 500px & 365project too, and I'm interested to see how it goes on Flickr now it's working again!

Not that I'm obsessed with scores or anything but waking up to this was quite cool

[davidc]

Actually you're prompting me to revisit the cropping/orientation of this

Some other alternatives, any preferences? I've certainly got my own, curious to see what others think.

Just cropped

8679607533_6af1db2e11_b.jpg (206.49 KiB) Viewed 5060 times

Different orientation

8680719436_68b9e9dbe3_b.jpg (215.72 KiB) Viewed 5060 times

[Mike Farley]

Hi Dave

First off, congratulations on waiting for the plane, which absolutely makes the picture as you must have appreciated when you took it. Otherwise you would not have hung around for so long.

Personally, I prefer the original orientation. I did initially find the upward angle at which you shot took a bit of getting used to, which Is what I think prompted Peter's comment, but anything that causes a double take is no bad thing as people will usually want to take a longer look.

For me, it is the diagonals which dictate my preference. They are stronger compositional elements than horizontal or vertical lines and people invariably follow them from left to right, at least in westernised cultures and this seems to be consistent whether the viewer is right or left handed. (So far as I am aware there has been no scientific research into whether this also applies in societies which do not read from left to right. Most of the studies into human perception have occurred in the western world.) The most obvious diagonal is the gap where the sky is seen as it is the brightest part of the image and therefore attracts the eye first. The way you took it, this leads the eye to the plane, whereas the other orientation is directing attention out of the picture away from the plane. There are also the secondary diagonals of the building's columns which also direct attention towards the aircraft.

Then there is the plane itself. As shot, it is diverting the eye around to the left and this sets up a circular motion so that the eye is constantly circulating as it initially follows its natural inclination from left to right, before being lead back to the left and then back again. Flipped, the plane reinforces the inclination to follow a left to right route and out of the image. The plane is also in a better position in the original, as the bottom right hand area of the picture is the most dominant position, since this is where the eye ends up. The dark area in the bottom right hand corner holds it in and reinforces the circular motion. Being on the intersection of two of the thirds helps as well.

Sometimes flipping an image can improve it, but more often than not we instinctively select the composition which works best at the time of taking. I am sure that you could have shot the scene as shown in the second version and maybe you did. If so, what were your reasons for not selecting a different oriention either when waiting for the plane or when you came to choose the image to publish as your daily shot?

[davidc]

I tried simple rotations to see if any other view took my fancy but didn't think of cropping at the time. It just looked right to my eye at the time of processing so I didn't crop.

As for the orientation, while waiting for the plane I tried tons of different ones - essentially looking up through the viewfinder and turning on the spot! I chose the original because I felt that the slatted wall was almost like a ladder leading into the image and tied nicely with the diagonal "girder" part too. Plenty of other diagonals elsewhere but I found that creating a "trap" for the plane bounded on three sides with the sky open to the top looked better which is why I was at that position when it came over.

The crop version I posted above was an experiment to see if I could do without some of the extraneous diagonals and truth be told I'm leaning more towards the original crop too, but think that crop 1 is OK as well.

The second was an effort today that went beyond rotating. It appealed because it was fairly close to a geometric composition, had elements of golden ratio about it and even sat on a third intersection. I was going to have diagonals no matter the rotation but the strong silver pillar bottom left looked nice. However with this rotation the blacker pillar on the right just looks like an ugly void to my eye. Odd, because it doesn't when bottom left

So though I did more rotations & flips today I still think I like it as originally posted most of all too