Hedge Edge
Recently city crews cleaned out the hedge that bounds Ross Bay Cemetery and the east end of Dallas Road.
I liked the way it looked before, but the newly exposed tree trunks can light up nicely at this time of year.
With this image I struggled with the following questions:
1. In the original framing above is that foreground tree too much in the middle? And regardless of that
2. Should I have focused on the nearest tree, or a bit further along as I chose at the time?
3. The square crop below leaves me uncertain, and a bit cold.
4. The third version, which maintains the original aspect ratio, seems to suffer the same problems as the original.
5. How important is that last black tree trunk in the original next to the light standard? Can the light standard go?
6. Perhaps a portrait orientation is called for. With that one, Q2 is resolved, perhaps Q5 as well.
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Mamiya M645 Super, 80mm/f2.8 lens, ISO400, Ilford Delta 400 Pro.
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burnt embers 
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I like #4 the best – the half-tree on the left makes an anchor to that side of the image, so my eye followed the trees as they curved along the road. I like having a bit of pavement in the frame, too, as it reinforces the man-made, even spacing of the trees.
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Thanks Melinda – I like the pavement too. You have been along here, not that long ago. But it looked quite different prior to the haircut.
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Just one more thing for me to see, when I return!
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I like the second one best, I think it’s the square, which you don’t like lol 🙂
it’s simplest in terms of composition, this is why I like it, no distractions to the left and the tree in the foreground thus comes perfectly placed as per the rule of thirds… my eye thus stops on that tree first and then glides along the line of the trees behind it following the road…
I am never certain about my compositions, many times I tend to take a lot of shots until I get something I like.. ima not ready for film yet I guess, will run out of films in no time 🙂
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Hi Alexandra, I quite like the square, but not so much the way I fit things into it.
I take a lot more photos with digital, as the delete button is very much to hand, and a few extra shots is not going to break the bank.One nice thing about these larger negatives is that there is plenty of scope for cropping without losing resolution – this allows one to efectively make more shots with a single negative if the composition is off. Shooting film does demand more attention to composition though, so fewer shots become necessary, and more are keepers.
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I like the third and fourth croppings the best. I think, and I am no professional, that in a receding shot like this one, the focal point should be placed at the 1/3 point observing the rule of thirds. At least that is what I like best and tend to gravitate towards. Also, I like the simplicity and repetition of the shots without the post at the end.
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Hello Erin – I never thought about combining the use of rule of thirds with the focal point in an image. I really must get serious about such things and learn more, but I have said that before on these pages without effect. The moment that it starts to feel like work or school, is the moment I lose my interest as it gets in the way of having fun. I know that taking better pictures would amplify the fun of taking pictures, but it still gets in the way of going there. There must be a fun way to learn about photography, which I have not yet discovered.
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I like the portrait crop best though its a pity the skinny little tree in tbe left foreground had to go. Cropping out the light standard is quite ok with me – it adds nothing useful
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Hi Mario! That skinny tree is really very nice. Maybe when the light is like this again (it will be, won’t it? hard to be sure on a grey flat dull day like today) I can take another shot that features a skinny tree in this overgrown hedge.
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