Opinions needed!

[StevenRB45]

Currently doing a geophotography course as part of my degree its very different to anything else i've done you are given a paltry word limit and can pick a topic relating to current geographical issues. You then must take photos that show your chosen issue without an essay to give context...currently thinking rural/urban divide.

Anyway been out taken some photos and i'm trying to sort out in my head which are compositionally better blurred foreground or blurred background?
Also theres a concept shot (what i'm aiming for but better quality) of the very recognisable sage and millenium bridges with a country scene in the foreground.


I reckon the blurred background it loses nothing but has more interest in the picture somehow

Cheers for looking any comments appreciated

 

[d0wnin]

I think the blurred foreground and normal background works better than the opposite way round

But im not expert

 

[arc]

what camera are you using? can you screw filters onto the end of the lens?

if so, i would recomend you get an ND grad filter and/or a circular polariser.

nd grad read this;

http://www.great-landscape-photography.com/graduated-filters.html

http://www.bryanhansel.com/?p=1029

for circular polariser read;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_polarizer#Polarizer

and i would say you get the whole lot in focus, you can do this by upping the f/ number - you might need to use a tripod as this will increase the exposure time.

edit;

how many photos are you going to use? what about doing on with countryside stuff in focus and looking vibrant, with urban blurred in the foreground and then another looking from the countryside back at the urban area, with urban looking vibrant and sharp and countryside foreground blurred.

 

[StevenRB45]

8-12 photos, but If they have to be blown up big I get less to space to display restricted to A1 sheet. Doing the countryside in focus and the town is what the second countryside shot was a tryout for, I'm trying options atm and that one although I didn't like it at first is now my preferred option. I like the idea of out of town to the country...might have a play with it tomorrow while my cars in garage.

I'm using a Pentax P30t...its a bit oldschool pic enclosed for refererence

Upping F stop not really an option working on F22 and F16 already. Using a 300 zoom with a skylight 1B on the end, its at fullstretch so shutterspeeds are down to about 15th of a second, I have a 3'6 tripod but not tall enough so I've had to resort to using the roof/bonnet of the car as a camera rest we do get to play with them in photo shop if we want, but no good with it so want to do as much as possible with original pics.

 

[arc]

like i say, i wouldn't shoot landscape type shots without an ND grad or CPF. ND grad is going to stop the tops of the shot from blowing out, and the CPF is going to bring vibrant colouring into the blues and greens - no need to photoshop.

Surely at f/16 f/22 your depth of field is vast, and most of the shot should be focused..well if you focus on hyperfocal distance it would be i guess!

I like my idea of showing the two of them in diffrent aspects with the same kind of shot

 

[StevenRB45]

The second shot I purposely focused on the brambles, other one I deliberately dropped the back ground out of focus the brambles were only about 5 ft from the end of the lens so getting them clear would drop the rest out but I don't think it loses much really keep on changing my opinion as to what I prefer...Got some 200 film to try next time been using 400 to try and keep camera shake to a minimum.

Also bit of other stuff...