Composition, pre click of the shutter button, is an important part of my sports' photography. A recce of the course, whether it's a fell race or on tarmac, allows me the opportunity to think about what I want to capture within a frame and the intended crop I'll use during editing.
I know that social media platforms are geared towards certain crop ratios, Instagram tends to be 4:5. I'm not producing images solely for these "outlets", it's what I'm happy with when viewing the image on my monitor.
Some cameras allow you to choose a specific ratio and you are able to see the chosen crop in the viewfinder. Unfortunately, I don't have such a camera and I'm not that interested in purchasing one.
The vast majority of my photographs take the background into consideration. I'm probably repeating myself, but I do feel that the surroundings play an important part in the composition, especially in fell races.
Physical elements such as the curve in the road, see image above, can add impact to the finished photograph. Even better if there are other runners in the distance.
We see "things" at different levels of understanding; whether that's in nature, science, mathematics or art. The curve of the road, chosen for effect, isn't something that they see as an important element of the capture. Sky is almost non-existent, something else that's taken into consideration when choosing a snapping place. A high percentage of a dull sky in a frame can be distracting to say the least. Even worse than that, is a thin band at the top. I don't know why it winds me up, but it does. There are times when this can't be avoided of course.
Sunday's outing to The Trigger race, is one example where excluding the sky benefits the editing process. The sensor doesn't have to cope with a wide-dynamic range (light) and it's possible to have a raw image that needs hardly any editing at all, other than converting it to a digital negative. See image below.
Having shot from the same place at Crowden Little Brook on two previous occasions, I knew what to expect in terms of composition. I'm a "safe" sort of person and need to push the envelope from time to time. The plan, such as it was, to come back with something a little bit different and be able to explain the reasons behind the resulting photographs. To crop the shots in a way which magnifies the harshness of the landscape, as well as the challenge facing the runners.
There are two black and white images posted below this paragraph. It's the same photograph but cropped in two different ways.
What I'd like you to do, is to look at them a little bit more deeply than you might normally do. On a mobile device it's probably not as effective as it is on a large screen.
Apart from the fact that it's the same runner in exactly the same position, does the crop make any difference to how YOU see the composition?
There's a bit of a gap in the blog, before I explain what the different crops mean to me.
It's just my interpretation and the way in which I see a photograph. Different strokes for different folks. I'd be really interested in your thoughts.
It would be far better to see these images on a large scale, but I'll have to make do with what's in front of me.
Black and white certainly reflects the harshness of the day, though most people prefer colour. The colour of their clothing can have a dramatic effective when converting to b&w and not always in a good way.
The cinemascope crop, top image, concentrates on the river crossing and the choice the runner has to make. We can see the length of the bank and whether he/she is actually making the right decision. No sky, no colours to distract from this moment in time.
The second image isn't cropped at all, just the original 2:3 ratio. Either by pure chance or good composition skills, the runner is placed centrally.
The descent to the brook is far more prominent and I'm trying to work out how the runner managed to navigate his/her way safely to the point they've arrived at. The descent looks far more difficult than the crossing of the fairly narrow brook. Why are they taking so long to decide? Just go for it. You've managed the hard bit ... JUMP!
At this point, you probably think I'm talking B*LL*CKS.
But this is the way my brain works when editing and deciding on a crop.
Great sky at the Ian Roberts Memorial Fell race. The tough tussocks makes progress more difficult. Isolation of the runner within the moorland terrain. Desaturated colours add to the impact of this photograph. Ah well, onwards and upwards.
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