I like this shot very much Wendy, simple but strong. Some may say the horizon should be higher or lower but I find a central horizon here reflects a peaceful country scene. The triangles give added strength to the bottom half and the ploughed field gives shape and gradient to the slope. I want to know what is over the hill.
I took one quiet similar shot a little while back with my film camera. The trick I am finding is to give the correct proportions to each area to balance the shot, which I feel you have done well here.
I started this thread as an experiment to see if others used diagonals and triangles and to see if this compositional element holds up generally as a valuable technique. I am sure it does. I have been generally concentrating on the broader shapes in my landscape shots, as well as detail, but I found the use of triangles adds greatly to the finished product.
I think a lot of photographers look at their image and say “thing one really worked” without understanding why or looking at the broader shapes in the image that gave it the basic composition. I draw an imaginary line around the broad shapes (circles, semi-circles, triangles, rectangles, etc) in my images when I review them to see what worked and why but paying particular attention to proportion.
Keep posting please, I am still learning from all I see.
Thanks for posting Alan,
There are many opportunites for triangles, as you have posted here and also as Wendy from Canada posted above where she used the features of the composition to create the triangles. It is a different and I think exciting way of composing.
Yes Wendy this is the use of triangles I was on about initially. This shot could have been a boring gradation of tones like a layer cake – one on top of the other, but using the triangles in the foreground has added interest to the shot and in this case added a leading line to draw you into the image.
Below is an image I took and used the slope of the ground and the shadows (that formed triangles) to cover up what would have been a boring foreground.
Last edited by Peter Ryan; 3rd August 2010 at 01:46 AM.
I even impressed myself on this occasion by taking the shot at this angle. I must have read an article somewhere!