If you thought photographing birds in flight is tough, wait until you chase a dragonfly with a tele lens. They are about an inch-and-a-half long and zig-zag at random. When they are in love, we are entertained to a Bollywood movie-like dance at the speed of light.
Over a romantic sunset, the couple darted around blades of grass, hovered above water and finally gazed into each other’s eyes, mid-air. That was when I shouted: “Cut! Good take!” 🙂
Olympus OM-D, ISO 1600, f5.6, 1/4000 sec.
Sometimes, you may want to use a tilted angle for creative effect. If you choose to slant the horizon, make it fairly obvious or it may be mistaken for sloppy framing.
One day, a hundred years from now, if this picture hang on the wall of some art gallery, an arty-farty visitor will speculate:
“The photographer wanted to convey the contrasting perspectives of urban and rural, the clash between development and conservation. The two sets of twins represent abstract symmetry but the oblique angle is a subtext of the underlying conflict…”
Actually, the reason I used the Dutch Angle here was pedestrian. I wanted to keep both the skyscrapers and the banana tree in Kampung Baru within a a single frame 🙂 There was simply no space for me to move back for a more conventional framing.
Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f11, 1/320 sec.
A statue of Buddha photographed at the Thai Chetawan Temple. This PJ landmark was officially opened by His Majesty King Bhumiphol and Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand in 1962. The shimmering background is actually out-of-focus shiny roof tiles.
Buddha means The Awakened One or The Enlightened One.
Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f11, 1/1600 sec.
