Old vs New

by Pam
(Douglasville, GA)


I loved the contrast between the steel battleship and the wooden clipper type sailboat. I thought the contrast between the two ships was really cool and tried to capture that in my photo.




Ahh, it's the Old vs. New. This is a wonderful way to look at the world.

I've seen a few examples of this genre (if I can call it a genre). The main idea is to take two things that don't normally go together, and deliberately place them next to each other.

There's the tramp sitting on the steps of a posh hotel, the fancy new sports car sitting in a scrap yard, and of course, Pam's old sailboat next to a mighty modern battleship.

The first point I would make is that it's clearly shows a keen photographic eye. Otherwise this contrast would be not have been spotted and the shot missed.

So well done there, Pam!

Tips and tricks? Well, the one thing that stands out here is the crop.

It's always good to have a look around a scene before pressing the shutter button. Look for two things:
  • Are there any distractions in the background? Is that tower sticking out of your main subject's head?
  • Is anything chopped off? Perhaps your main subject is missing an arm because he/she is too near the edge of the scene?

The reason I mention this is that in Pam's photo there is a lot cut off.

The crows nest at the top of the sailing boat's mast. The second mast. The bottom of the sailing boat.

And on the battle ship, the front end, the guns, the top of the conning tower (is it called a conning tower? My knowledge of ships is a little rusty!).

I suspect that Pam might not have been able to move back far enough to get all this in shot. So here's a suggestion – concentrate on one of the objects, and use the other one as background.

In this photo Pam could have framed the photo to include the figurehead, a mast, some old rigging, and part of the modern battleship as background.

This would still encompass the new vs. old theme, but would avoid trying to cram too much in.

Thanks for the submission Pam, and I hope you find this useful.

Ed.
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