Learning from the Masters

The fashionable format for scenic images is to have significant foreground. This is accomplished by using a wide angle lens typically under 50mm and to be close to the front subject, usually 2ft above the ground or lower. This concept has the benefit of adding interest in the foreground in addition to the primary subject someplace back in the frame. Virtually all of the young lions of photographer employ this style and it can be found easy enough by browsing the images posted on web sites like Natures Photography Online Magazine . Here is an image of the Edgartown Harbor Light taken with a 24mm lens in which I was approximately 18" from the sand that demonstrates this format.Undoubtedly, this process produces very nice images and it can be used to dramatize the setting of the primary subject, like flowers in a field, or highlight the settings in which the subject is found. In the image here I am able to emphasize the beach, grass and the effect of the morning sun. This image may be less appealing if I had taken a comparable image from the same spot but at eye level because it would be more about the lighthouse and less about it in its environment.On Sunday of our trip to Boston, we made a journey out to see the Boston Harbor Lighthouse. The weather was cloudy and the light was poor but one has to take what one gets and on a whole, the 12 days in Massachusetts had been very good, so I was not complaining. One of the better images is here and it is another of those images shot from about 18 inches above the rocks.After our visit to Brewster Island, we went to Boston's Museum of Fine Art for a look at the art on display there. I really do enjoy visiting museums because as I like to wonder the Masters and see how they handled composition, light, etc. A lot to be learned. On this trip, I was reviewing Claude Monet's painting, "Snow at Argenteuil" and admiring his sense of composition and use of colors. Suddenly I realized that he painted this image at eye level. In fact the more that I looked at the other works on display, I confirmed the virtually all the artists painted their works at eye level. Of course, getting on ones knees to paint a picture was a little difficult. I know that this is not groundbreaking news, but it was a reminder of how important it is to take oneself out of our standard conventions and review how the great artists worked. They produced good work by how the put their view on canvas, the sum of the total.Here is another of Monet's work, Meadow with Poplars. A great piece of art.