Project 25

As suggested in the text, finding rectangular objects in the city was fairly easy, windows, doors, brickwork, buildings are everywhere.  The challenge here was to find interesting compositions with sufficiently varied subject matter and then to produce images in which the outlines remained completely square.  Perspective is a clear issue, however, this could be managed by careful selection of subject matter that had a centre of gravity at or around my eye level.  Another issue came about due to my use of a zoom lens for this project, a 24-105mm f/4, even if I could get the perspective right barrel or pincushion distortion in the image became obvious.  I tried using a prime telephoto lens, but this was too restrictive from a compositional standpoint.  In the end I found that selecting a focal length around 70-80mm minimized the unwanted distortion and squared up the objects.

The first subject I chose is commonplace in Germany, a sign informing the passer by that something is forbidden.  A standard joke here is the everything is forbidden unless explicitly permitted.  I also liked the detail of the spiders web on the sign.  For those interested the sign is basically forbidding feeding the ducks in the nearby pond, universally ignored by one and all!

24-105mm f/4, 80mm, f/4, 1/125s, ISO 400

The next image is a windows in the walls of the Bavarian state court.  This image is almost entirely composed of perpendicular lines and so lining up the shot needed great care to avoid converging verticals.

24-105mm f/4, 70mm, f/4, 1/320, ISO 400

My final selection is the very present street side cigarette machine.  These are all over the city and it is only recently that mechanisms have been added to ensure that purchasers are over 16.  So many people smoke here that these machines make a good income for their owners:

24-105mm f/4, 82mm, f/4, 1/80s, ISO 200