Exercise: Curves.

Curves, like diagonals, have a sense of movement and direction, and in some ways can be considered a kind of diagonal line.  Because they pull the eye, they are useful in planned composition. Curves have associations of smoothness, grace and elegance, so add these feelings to an image.  For this exercise look for and take four photographs using curves to emphasise movement and direction.

When does a curve become a circle?  That's the question I asked myself when I took this photograph of an old wagon turntable on the dockside at Birkenhead.  I'm was not sure this could be included in this exercise so have looked for other examples of curves, something I found to be a challenge.

I had originally intended this image to be one of the "vertical lines".  However I can see curves in this photograph so felt it fitted well into this exercise.  Both the roundabout with the chevrons on, and the road sign showing directions from the roundabout, convey movement in a circular manor.

This is a rather boring photograph, it fits some of the required criteria for this exercise, but does not convey any sense that the train is moving.  It was coming into the station very slowly, so I was unable to show any sense of speed or movement.

The water left behind when the tide went out, has formed a nice curved line.  The image is improved because the person walking their dog in the distance is wearing a red coat, another example of how a strong colour can help a photograph.  The water leads the eye towards the dog walker, so the curve is giving a sense of direction, but again, there is no impression of movement.  Even though the figure is very small within the frame, the red coat will always catch the eye, so the curved line is not really essential.

The boat having just turned around has left behind a curved wake, which when combined with the boats bow wave, conveys a sense of movement.  Not I'm afraid one of my better photographs.

For me this is a much better photograph, the colour red again!  There are lots of curves to be seen.  Firstly the railings are on a bend in the road, also they have a curved design along the top, which is then repeated in the shadow on the pavement, finally there is a curved shadow down the centre of the pavement.  The cars in the background are blurred, so give the  impression of movement.  I pressed the shutter a little early, and would have preferred the grey car to have been a bit further round the corner.

Of all the photographs taken with this exercise in mind, I feel this is the best.  I've used a slow shutter speed to blur the movement of the car, the arrow on the blue sign and chevrons on the roundabout, both imply  direction.  Also I used a wide angle lens, which has helped to show the curve of the road.  The welcome to New Brighton statue on the roundabout sets the scene for my theme of the Wirral coast, and to cap it all the car is RED!!