Tag Archives: R. Doug Wicker

Today concludes our Seven for Seven series with the final seven photographs presented below.  No lectures this time.  Put to use what you’ve learned and tell me which of the following photographs work and why, and which in your opinion do not work.  Feel free to post your comments.  I promise I will not be offended if you think any of the following such worse than an antique Hoover.

Trevi Turbulence

Call Waiting

The Guiding Tug

Istanbul Wedding Boat

Dinan Dynamics

Purple on Blue

The Devil is in the Details

Were rapidly closing in on the end of the Seven for Seven series.  Only one more entry to go after today, with the series concluding on Monday.

I haven’t presented any panoramic shots yet, so today I’m going to throw in two (for the price of one, so you’ll still get six other shots).  Panorama shots are made by taking overlapping photographs and stitching them together during post processing.  If your camera has a panorama assist mode, then by all means use it — that mode will guide you in the overlap, and will control the aperture and shutter speeds to keep from having different exposure settings during the shot sequence.  If, however, you either do not have this mode or the panorama will have a wide dynamic range (going from sun on one end of the panorama to shade on the other, for instance), then you’ll have to switch to manual control and put your experience to work.

The first panorama is of Katakolon, Greece.  Other than the actual digital stitching, not much more was done to otherwise enhance this particular shot.  The second panorama — of the tops of the Grand Place Guildhalls in Brussels — was “boosted” using Picasa’s “boost” tool, which enhances both color and contrast to ridiculous levels.  I specifically went for this effect to emulate the look of the postcards of the ’50s and ’60s.  Kind of a fun effect, don’t you think?

Katakolon Kolors — Panorama

Postcard from the ’60s — Effect made using Picasa’s “Boost” tool

These next four shots primarily reflect proper use of the Rule of Thirds.

Mont St. Michel — Rule of Thirds

Statuesque Lisbon — Rule of Thirds; Use of Negative Space framing

Bruges Beauty — Focusing on architectural detail; Rule of Thirds from both left and right sides

Overlooking the Thera Caldera — Rule of Thirds

This next photograph is of the Temple of Poseidon near Sounion, Greece, just outside Athens.  The rule demonstrated here is perspective, as the upper and lower lines formed by the columns serve to draw your eye into the scene.

Poseidon’s Perch — Use of Perspective

And, finally for today, some pictures just beg to be snapped regardless of the rules.  I guess one could argue that the horizon is somewhat near a Rule of Thirds placement, but that’s not what makes the shot work.

The Fortress at Dinan — Not all compositions follow some hard-and-fast rule; this one is just interesting