Assignment #53: Diagonals

[matthew]

We often hear of “camera angles” (that is, those made by a guy who throws himself flat on his stomach to obtain a cetain effect or style), but the only legitimate angles that exist are those of the geometry of the composition.
-Henri Cartier-Bresson

Diagonal lines add drama and interest to a composition, and draw the eye much better than horizontal or vertical lines. Landscape, architecture, portraiture -- there's no genre of photography that doesn't benefit from finding and using a diagonal. And unlike those pesky horizontal lines, nobody will ever tell you that 'your diagonal is off'.

For the next two weeks, look for ways to incorporate the diagonal into your compositions. Stand off to one side. Tip the camera up a bit. Look at the whole composition through the viewfinder, and see how it can be made more dynamic. While you're looking at diagonals, don't miss the opportunity to go back through your favourites to find the ones that work, and share them with a note about why.

[Irma]

Excellent theme for an assignment Matt...

Here I have two I took at the beginning of this year in Berkentin. There were some youngster at the other side of the bridge, I let them pass to take my picture. When I had everything ready, (tripod, composition and settings) this kid appear and I couldn't resist and took the picture. Till now, I hadn't found a nice treatment for them. I have been playing with lightroom and I like the colors and mood I got.








I post them here because playing diagonals with the bridge was my play that day.

[smarti77]

My 'simplistic' (is that even a real word?) approach...

[matthew]

Smarti, I really like your simple and minimalist photographs, both here and in the "hidden" assignment.

Irma, it was a good call to include people. The second photo's really compelling.

[matthew]

Diagonals are hard for me -- I like right angles and square compositions. Old habits are hard to break.

[NT73]

Maybe the Martians live here.

[Pat]

My contribution taken with my 17-40mm

[matthew]

I'm having a really hard time with this assignment, which is good. I want things to be straight and parallel to the frame, so finding diagonals that appeal to me has been tough.



I'm yet to find a photograph that uses diagonals as more than an accent. Even when they're blatant, it's just because I'm photographing a subject with diagonals in my usual square way.



Back to the drawing board for me....

[matthew]

This is the same building as in my second photo in the thread. It turns out that it was designed by a friend of my parents, whom I knew when I was about ten years old. Time flies. Now she runs her own architectural firm, and I photograph her building.



And a scene from a local tourist market at the end of the day:

[matthew]

I'm loving this new "diagonal" technology. After I was done taking my usual square-on shots of a building covered with perforated corrugated metal, I tried a few new angles.

This first one is basically straight from the camera, with just my usual lightroom preset and no tweaking. It hasn't even been cropped. (Taken with my 7-14.)



I take a lot of photos with my ultrawide, but not a lot of good ones. :/ Switching to my macro lens usually gives me better results.





But I haven't shaken the "square" habit, just now it's showing up in my cropping.

[tiiviitii]

[matthew]

tiiviitii, that's a really remarkable photograph.

I have a few more from today:





And a detail shot showing the new addition to the old museum:

[Irma]

This was the audience in the tractor pulling event last Sunday.