The "4W" Assignment

 Apr/May Assignment - How Are You Getting On?

“The 4 Ws"

As described in my previous post, the April/May assignment is slightly different from our previous club assignments.  The idea is for us all to take photographs of the same 4 scenes so that we can compare and contrast differences in technical aspects, composition, and interpretation.

The assignment is to take a set of 4 images of the 4 Wadswick Green Ws: 

• the “pub sign” at the entrance to the private lane, 
• the W water feature, 
• the W on the side of the Greenhouse, 
• and the W near the back gate.

My Quest for the Perfect W

While wandering around considering how I would tackle this assignment, I realised that 3 of the Ws are visible from a single vantage point in the village near where I park my car, provided you have a wide enough lens.  Looking at my lenses, the widest lens I have is my 18 - 135 mm zoom but even that was not quite wide enough.  So I decided to attempt a panoramic image using my new 50mm prime lens.  While this will not test the large aperture/shallow depth of field aspects of this very fast (f1.8) lens which was the reason (apart from a good promotional price and cash-back) I bought it, I decided to give it a go.

The result was a join of 7 portrait aspect images (see above) and, yes, 3 of the Ws are visible, just.  The image is, however, not very exciting as most of it is of the Pavilion, which is not an architecturally imposing building on its own.  So I wonder if different lighting conditions would improve this image.  As the camera is looking towards the West I will try again around sunset (currently 20:22), a better test for the low light capability of this new lens.

In the meantime to prove 3 of the Ws are there, here are the individual images.

The "Pub Sign" is clearly visible in this first image, but:

• The main subject is not "on a third" as the image was not composed as a standalone image.  The W does not jump out as the subject of the shot.
• The image has a "processed feel" because of the high dynamic range in the original between the brightness of the sky and the darkness of the trees.

The water feature W is visible in this  second image, if you know it is there.  compositionally it is not a strong image and does not draw attention to the main  subject.

This third W is probably the clearest of the 3 but the image still only says one thing: "So what!"

Conclusion 

This is a good example of the whole being stronger than the sum of its parts but I still have not achieved a portfolio shot so it is back to the drawing board.  Next time is to explore the same merged panoramic approach under different lighting conditions, starting with sunset.

I will post my ongoing attempts at the perfect W in a Google Photos album, click here.

Update 27 Apr 22

I tried another panoramic last night just as it was getting dark from a slightly different viewpoint. 

Slightly stronger image but does not deliver strong enough images of the Ws so, back to the drawing board.

Water Feature W

Dusk was also a good time to have a try at the water feature "W" as it is illuminated at night.

This is the best of the bunch from last night but they were all spoiled by "clutter" on he patio behind even with my aperture set to maximum (f1.8).  Still learning about this new lens, it has not produced enough background blur at this subject distance (about 3 meters).

I need to try from the other side and to see if I can improve the blur in the background with another lens.

Small aperture, f22

Large aperture, f1.8.  Still not enough background blur.

Update 8 May 22

Back Gate W

Bring your own .....

As I suggested to Norman, bring your own foreground interest.  Still not "different", "special" enough, so let's go abstract and interpret the brief literally.

Taking the brief literally, the "W"

The Pub Sign

The "Pub Sign" shouts out to be photographed at night but the exposure is then quite difficult, especially making a long exposure on a mobile device.

iPhone 13 Pro struggles with High Dynamic Range
and over exposes the illuminated sign.

The "pub sign" is over exposed, despite several attempts.  The iPhone camera could not meter precisely enough. I may go back with SLR and tripod to try spot metering.  But, in any case, who left those bollards there?  When you know they are there your eye keeps getting drawn to them!

In the meantime I decided to get closer and zoom in on the sign so the camera did not have to cope with such a high dynamic range from very dark to very bright.

Getting in closer converges the verticals
because the camera was tilted.

This solved the metering problem, all the lettering is readable visible and there is some background interest, but tilting the camera up has resulted in a common lens distortion, "converging verticals" as the image tilts away from the plane of the camera.  This can sometimes be used as a composition device but I think it detracts from the image in this case.

So I used the cropping tools on my iPad to correct the distortion.  This was the first time I tried this on iPhone/iPad and found it remarkably easy, easier than using Lightroom.  The result is a pleasant record shot; it looks as if the image was taken at the same level as the sign itself.

After lens distortion corrected in Apple Photos on iPad