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This week’s photo challenge from the team at WordPress is ‘The World Through Your Eyes – and so that’s what I am doing. The article suggests:
Observe a scene first before lifting your camera to your eye.
Ask yourself: What is the subject? What will you (not) include in the frame?
Look for natural lines or frames in the shot to guide the viewer’s eye.
Try different angles: Get low on the pavement. Look down from above.
I have chosen a photo that I took the photo for an event being organised via Facebook in which 1,500 people worldwide have joined in on today to take photographs of the sky.
(In fact, there may be fewer than 1,500 in total – because it is a Friday, and because some people will have been delayed or detained in one way or another.)
The thing is though that I knew I had to take a photo of the sky. And I knew that the best chance of getting a sky was looking out over Bruntsfield Links here in Edinburgh. And I knew that the pointy church was going to be in the shot.
And then I took the photo and it was ‘meh’ – that is, disappointingly flat and uninspiring.
So I converted it to black and white – and not only is in less flat, but the light patch in the sky seems to be just above the church spire.
So, did I think before I raised the camera to my eye? Not a lot. I composed it before I left home, but at the time I took the shot I was mostly thinking of getting back home.
Did I think about what would be in and what would be out of the shot? Yes
Did I think about lines and frames? Yes
Did I look for different angles? Kind of. I tipped the camera to include more sky and less ground.
The sky is very dramatic in black and white and the church steeple adds to the drama. Good photo.
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Black and white can add so much to a sky, great photo!
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Yes, it worked well for this shot.
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Wonderful shot! I like how the grass seems to mirror the sky. I visited Edinburgh years ago and happened upon a procession and ceremony at the castle. My Canon AE-1 and I were ecstatic!
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The church and the surrounding buildings seem to be unaware of the raging skies. Wonderfully captured contrast David 🙂
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When I looked at the black and white image, it seemed the heavens were opening up just above the church spire. I wish I could say I planned it, but no.
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I think, at most times, the best of the moments captured are the ones unplanned for. It’s delightful to surprise yourself sometimes, isn’t it?
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Yes, delightful – so right.
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🙂
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I like how the eye seems to be drawn to the heavenward steeple.
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It was a bonus that the sky was lightest just above the steeple, as though there was a connection.
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Beautiful
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Love the world thru your eyes – Simply Stunning!
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Thanks 🙂
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The B&W gave an expansive sky and the steeple is magnified beautifully.
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The black and white definitely helped. I don’t normally think of black and white conversions and I’ll have to keep them in mind more often. Thanks for commenting.
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Turned out great.
janet
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I like the shot David, but there are so many ‘flares’ in the picture that I wonder whether that is what the numerous spherical inclusions actually are?
What lens were you using for this?
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It’s a Nikon 35mm f1.8 lens.
Thanks for the comment. Do you mean the little dark, round spots, I didn’t notice them before you mentioned them. They are dust spots on the sensor that were highlighted by the B&W conversion.
Thanks for pointing it out. I must clean the sensor.
I’ve put a ‘non black and white’ version of the image up in the post.
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