Sensor aspect ratios and reeds

click photo to enlarge
The Lumix LX3 camera, in common with a few others in the Panasonic range offers the photographer different aspect ratios. A switch on the lens barrel allows the user to select 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. What makes Panasonic's offering particularly useful is that the angle of view doesn't change when you make your selection. So, APS-C users are catered for with the 3:2 setting, Four Thirds (and MicroFT) users will be familiar with 4:3, and widescreen (16:9) is there for anyone wanting to either fill such a display with an image, or who fancies a landscape or other shot with this aspect ratio. I find myself using the 4:3 and 16:9 a lot, and the 3:2 only occasionally.

However, a firmware update intoduced a fourth option - 1:1, that is to say, square. Because it's an afterthought it has to be accessed through the menu system. However, for this photographer it is very welcome despite this inconvenience. There are those who cannot see the point, possibilities or aesthetic value of the square format: but there are others who use it exclusively or regularly. The latter group often includes former medium-format photographers who cut their teeth on square viewfinders and square film. And then there are people like me, who see 1:1 as offering the ideal shape for some subjects. If I were a portrait photographer I'd use it a lot. But even for landscapes, semi-abstracts, urban scenes and the like, it has its place.

You're perhaps wondering why I'm mentioning this in the context of a photograph taken with an Olympus DSLR with a 4:3 aspect ratio that has been cropped to square. Well, many argue that cropping obviates the need for hardware settings of this sort. I disagree. It is difficult (though not impossible) to visualise a square composition when you're framing a shot with a different aspect ratio. I did it here, but I'd love to have been able to place a square frame over the viewfinder rectangle or close it down until it was square. But thats not an option.

Today's shot is a black and white semi-abstract with, I like to think, a Japanese watercolour feel to it. I selected a group of dead reeds around a narrow water-course, including one that arches into the water (with its reflection), others that exist only as motion-blurred reflections, and some nearer ones that are out of focus. The delicate lines traced across the square frame, that look like they have been applied with a brush, appeal to to me, though I think they won't be everyone's cup of tea.

photograph & text (c) T.Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Reeds at sunrise

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Reeds were once one of the dominant plants of the Lincolnshire Fenlands. Around the margins of permanent meres and seasonal pools the Phragmites australis grew tall and lush. Reed and sedge warblers churred their coarse song perched on its stalks; moorhen, water rail, bittern and heron stalked around its roots, eating the plentiful insects, fish, and frogs; and water voles and other small mammals built their homes among them. During the Middle Ages the reeds provided a valuable roofing material, and thatched cottages can still be found so covered, though today they are more likely to use Norfolk reeds or straw.

The draining of the Fens and the turning over of the land to arable agriculture saw a drastic reduction in the acreage of reed beds. Today, with a few exceptions such as wildlife reserves, reeds are most commonly seen lining the natural and artificial streams and dykes that criss-cross the fields. Here, on a more limited scale, they still offer sanctuary to wildlife, and on my walks I regularly see sedge warblers, reed buntings, little egrets and other birds amongst them. In the early evening I can watch barn owls patrolling the grid of reed-lined water-ways, hoping to surprise a water vole, shrew or mouse: occasionally marsh harriers can be observed doing the same during daylight hours.

The character of reeds changes over the year. In spring and summer they are a fine, fresh green, but in autumn they turn a khaki brown. Some - for reasons not known to me - have a quite strong orange colour in October and November. Today's photograph shows reeds by the side of a stream near my house. I photographed them on a cold December morning shortly after the sun had risen, catching their delicate silhouettes against the clouds that were tinged with pink, orange and yellow.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 7.4mm (35mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f4
Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

The wind in the reeds

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Here's another image in my recently begun quest to capture movement in nature using motion blur. Regular visitors may remember shots of the wind stirring some unripe barley and the waves on a shallow, stony-bottomed river. Today's photograph shows wind passing across a reed bed.

During a recent walk on a bright but quite windy day at Surfleet Seas End in Lincolnshire, I came upon this stand of reeds near the outfall of the River Glen. The low afternoon sun was offering some good contre jour shots of the feathery heads of the common reeds (Phragmites australis). However, the wind had other ideas. Each shot I made of selected heads using a long focal length lens was slightly blurred. So, rather than fight it I thought I may as well co-operate with the inevitable and do some deliberately blurred images. Looking at the wind passing over the reed bed I could see rippled lines being formed in the vegetation so I made these the focus of my efforts. It took about 6 shots to get this, the best of the bunch, with the lens stopped down to its maximum to produce the shutter speed of 1/10 second. I was pleased to get the blurred "waves" and at the same time some leaves and stems that were fairly sharp.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 102mm (204mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f22
Shutter Speed: 1/10
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On