EX91 Time as a compositional element

Time is an interesting compositional element to consider. When you change the amount of time considered in a photograph you also change the meaning and composition.

This is great to play with. A moving subject might help the best for this, but then again, you can always move the camera can’t you.

Experiment with the same subject and overall composition and see how changing the time effects the composition. A great example is flowing water. Longer exposures make the water smoother.

1/8000 of a second and you can freeze the pulses in a waterfall or in a wave.

1/2 second and you are getting into soft flowing water with texture

10 seconds and the water is starting to smooth out.

1 or 2 minutes and it is getting really silky.

6 hours and it finally turns to milk.

The question for us, is how changing the time and the aesthetic effects our reading of a photograph and its meaning. We can use this to intentionally add emotions and story to our work.

So try this exercise with at least one subject if not two. Frame it up, and vary the exposure to see how it changes the aesthetic.

In our zoom meeting next Friday we can talk about how we feel about each of the examples you post of the same composition with different exposures.

Repeat with a second subject or composition if you wish.

Post your photographs at https://lensclub.discussion.community/post/ex91-time-11243464?pid=1321400729#post1321400729

Please note that in my examples below I cheated and changed the composition in between each photograph. I haven’t taken specific examples to illustrate this exercise. By changing the composition in between each photograph we are introducing other factors into the compositions and hence the readings. So see if you can do the same composition with different exposure times. Tripod might work well for this.