BACK TO BASICS CHALLENGE 12 - DUTCH ANGLE

[lynnh]

Back to Basics Informal Meet-up
Repeat after me: “I will not be a lazy photographer.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breaking the Rules: Using a Dutch Angle (aka Dutch tilt, canted angle, oblique angle, German angle or jaunty angle)

The Dutch angle originated in a 1919 German film named The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is actually a mis-representation of the original word, Deutsch. Deutsch means "German,” after the country in which the technique originated. The use of the angle in this film was to primarily depict chaos and madness in the post World War I region. Dutching was often used during the German Expressionism movement in the 1920s. It has since been adapted by several directors and photographers over the years and has been a mainstay in the photography world.

In landscape photography, keeping the horizon line straight is an important rule of composition. But, tilting adds a sense of excitement or movement to a composition; it also works well for close-ups. Tilting the camera works best when there is a strong horizontal element to add stability and anchor the composition. Just take care to avoid overdoing this technique though; tilting should only be done if it improves the composition.

The purpose of this assignment is to understand how different shooting angles can create mood. You might find it helpful to take your pictures in two ways, your "regular/standard" shot and the same one using a Dutch angle, then compare them, but you just need to post the angle shot.

The difficult part of this assignment? Having the angle make sense for your shot

Your assignment:

The idea is to get that slightly off-balance appearance. It can be a tricky one to achieve; not all subjects lend themselves to this disorienting look and it is often criticized when it is overdone.

If you would like to discuss your experience, please do. We can learn from it.

Our goal is to get our best shot through the camera and not the computer, so please limit the amount of processing. For this challenge, you may rotate your image on the computer. If you shoot in raw, of course you may adjust your photos as necessary.

Commenting - lets try to give support to one another and point out what we like about the resulting photo(s).

If you have criticism, keep it constructive and hide the comment.

Deadline to post for this assignment is Saturday, October 25th

To see an example of how to compose a Dutch Angle shot, please look at this page. Scroll down to the second photo with the arrow drawn. http://neilvn.com/tangents/tilted-compositions/

Trivia – Dutch Angle is also sometimes called "Batman Angle" from the '60s television show where virtually all of it was shot at disorienting angles. 

[1designguy]

Good one worthy of in depth consideration before executing.

[1designguy]

We took Ellie and Miles to Berry Farms this weekend and saw a few elements that worked well for Dutch Angle experimentation. This is the first...

[timbg]

I created a gallery of 10 angled shots here: http://www.pbase.com/timbg/angled
The Cyclocross race really lent itself to this technique because most of the race course was on a steep hillside and the riders were leaning into curves. It is hard to tell what is really straight in some of the shots.
Here is one that I like:

[1designguy]

This is a second attempt at the Dutch Angle challenge. While it
might not exactly have that grounding vertical element, I liked that
it had a very ominous "Batmanesque" mood to it.



...also number 17 "Overt/Outgoing" (he is both of these)

[1designguy]

Another Dutch Angle take...

[vneilknobbe]

I think this one qualifies, though not 100% sure, as a Dutch Angle.

[lynnh]

I'm not totally pleased with this one, and I'll try again before the deadline.

[jolka]

[jolka]

My second try on DUTCH ANGLE challenge

[lynnh]

A second try for Dutch Angle