Exercise Real and Implied Triangles

Work and family commitments have meant that I have been a bit slow through the back end of this module. I have been trying to put this exercise together for sometime. Although the principle of the triangle seems very straight forward I found that parts were difficult to picture, such as the implied triangles. I experimented with various lenses and eventually succeeded in achieving some partial success.

This first photograph is of a standard triangle and was taken in the rain near a lake. The building is clearly triangular in shape and stands out in the shot.

This second photo was taken with a wide angle lens and was of the corner of my house, the angle of the camera has created a triangle of the edge of the building into the sky. There is also a natural triangle with the roof of the next door house.

I found that making this third shot was very difficult as the triangle needed to converge at the bottom of the frame. In this shot the posts are actually parallel and the effect of taking the picture from above helps with the convergence of the posts to the bottom of the frame. It would have been better if the shot could have been taken from a higher angle. Also the boy creates an implied triangle with the point converging at his feet, this effect is created because he has his arms apart.

For the attempt at the still life I tried a couple of scenarios the first was a wine rack with the wine stacked into a triangle the second was an arrangement of 4 ornaments on a mantle piece.

I prefer the wine bottle arrangement as there is a slightly more natural look, or less manufactured.

In this shot the apex of the triangle is at the bottom, thus making an inverse triangle.

The picture of my three children has an implied inverse triangle through the three of them. This is my favourite shot in this assignment as it has the most natural look to it. If I were to shoot it again I may try to get a better background and use a lower aperture to create some background blurring.

Exercise Implied lines

For the first part of this exercise I was required to draw implied lines on the two pictures in the course literature. The first picture has an implied line in the markings on the ground lest by the bull and the implication is that the bull will continue on the same line. The second picture has two implies lines. The first is the man's eye line and the second is that of the horses. The most powerful line is that of the first horse as it dominates the frame.

I have now selected three photographs of my own that have implied lines:
The first photo is of my daughter staring onto the distance, the implies line is from her eyes into an undefined point in the distance.



The second photo is of a sign that points in several directions, it is not the best example of an implied line as the sign and the path together would make a better example. The strongest line is the part of the sign that points into the gated field.

The third example is of my youngest son trudging through a snow filled field, the implied line is the line of his walking and the direction of his eyes into the ground and the task ahead.






For my examples I firstly tried to capture the eye line and the arm/aim line of my son throwing a snowball at his friend. You can just about see the eye line.




For the picture of the extension of lines or lines that point I have used the tracks in the snow that lead to the car in front of the house. On reflection the lines in the photograph are not as powerful as I saw them when I was constructing the photograph.

Exercise Curves

In this exercise the requirement was to take 4 photographs with curves giving a sense of direction. Having considered the task I thought that there were some obvious curves such as roads,tracks and trails. I took several pictures and the ones that I chose cover a few of the available curve options.


The curve in the river leads into the distance and makes the eye follow it.


This is an interesting curve because the river has several reflections that also draw the eye along the river.

I am not sure whether this picture works as a curve effect as the curve is only on the edge of the bunker and does not give a sense of movement.

The curve in this track is more subtle and leads the eye into the distance, it would have been more effective with some kind of vehicle on it.

Exercise Diagonals

This exercise was to take 4 photographs with diagonal lines in them. Although the tasking stated that this was easier than the horizontal and vertical pictures I found it quite challenging to find good examples at first. However once I got the hang of what was being asked it became more straight forward. Here are my four examples:


This was taken on a children's pirate ship and the rope handles form diagonal lines into the background


This was a wall on the edge of a farm field I tried to create a diagonal by standing at a offset.

This path on the golf course cuts a diagonal line through the picture.

The rail tracks form diagonal lines into the distance.

Exercise: Horizontal and vertical

This exercise seemed straight forward but was actually quite tricky. Not repeating examples was difficult and also ensuring that the picture was subordinate to the line was also not easy.

These are my examples of horizontal lines:

I think that with all 4 photographs that the eye is drawn intially to the horizontal line with the possible exception of the photograph with the of the water mill. Although there are horizontal lines in the building there are other more powerful distractions such as the wheel.

These are my vertical lines:

I think that there are several verticals in this photo, the rope the wall are the main eye grabbers

A photo of person standing is a good example of a vertical line. This shot is taken from a low perspective and enhances the vertical perspective.

There are other things in this photo but the vertical pole stands out the most.

This is an obvious vertical image- a tall building stretching into a blue sky.

Exercise multiple points

For this exercise I chose an unfussy part of the beach with attractive ripples in the sand. I thought that it would make an excellent back drop.

I then added pebbles of similar but varying sizes and colours one at a time.

with the first pebble I tried to place it on the thirds line, however I can see that on review it is probably too near the centre.

For the second pebble I wanted a bit of an offset but not too much and also a colour contrast.


The third pebble was placed again in a random position but still forming the inevitable triangle.


I then placed the fourth pebble in a position that I thought did not create an obvious geometric shape. However on review I can see that the shape of a square is clearly evident.

The fifth pebble was a brighter colour and I was trying to break up the obvious square shape.

When I added the final pebble it was clear that my positioning could have been better I was too near the centre of the shot with the stones and the shape was a little too geometric.


The blue lines show the relationship between the pebbles and displays a couple of clear squares, the red line is the outer shape and is a clear rectangle. Within the shapes the green lines show several triangles.

Exercise: the relationship between points

I found this exercise quite difficult as natural scenes with two points are quite hard to discover. I eventually settled on three pictures.

The shoes on the beach shot has two shoes that are equal in size so it is not easy to decide which one dominates and thus draws more attention. I think that the the one that draws the eye most is the shoe on the left as it contains more detail, colour laces etc.


The houses in this shot are also very similar so again it is hard to decide on which is the most eye catching. I would go for the one on the right as it is better lit.

In this picture of two conkers lying on the ground there is a clearer draw to one over the other. The conker that is still partially in it's shell is more eye catching as it is larger and more interesting.

As described in the task text it is almost impossible to resolve between the two eyes. I do quite like the composition though as it is slightly unusual.

Part 2. Points project Exercise postioning a point

For this exercise I am going to use 3 of the photographs that I have picked as my working examples. Although these photos were taken in colour I have converted them to black and white in order to remove colour from the equation as recommended in the text.

These are the three photographs:

In this photo I placed the seal in the top right segment of the frame. I believed that it was a good position as it made the deal appear as if it was swimming away from the frame and although the body is not visible in the picture you can imagine it is below the water in the shot.

In this second photo I placed the bird in the bottom right of the shot as it seemed appropriate for the way the bird is facing and also the angle of the shadow. The stone shelf also provides an uncomplicated backdrop.

In this third photograph I placed the castle to the middle right, this was so that I could also get the feeling of isolation as the sea is all to the left and the cliffs are also to the left. It also helps draw the eye across the sea and up to the castle over the cliffs.

Part 2 project: Points

In the first part of this project we have been asked to jot down as many examples of types of situation when there is a clear photographic example of a point.

The boat in the sea is a good example

More would be

The moon in the sky
A combine harvester in a large field.
A singular poppy in a field of grass.
A singular person in a field.
An isolated building such as a castle or hut.
A pea on an empty plate.
A seagull on a beach
A coin on the floor.
An aircraft in the sky.
a bird in the sky.
A duck on a pond.
Something hanging on a wall.
A runner at the front of a cross country race, on his own.
A key on a mat.
A letter on the floor.


I have picked several images that I have taken with the single point. As suggested I have converted them to black and white.