Beach Balance

Pfc. Thomas J. Snyder takes a photo of Pfc. Christerpher F. Coleman on Omaha beach in Normandy France on June 7, 2010. Snyder and Coleman are PSYOP soldiers with the 325th Tactical PSYOP co. in Nashville, TN and are participating in Operation Air Drop Warrior 10 which commemorates the 66th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Felix R. Fimbres)
 
   I started this weeks theme yesterday with "Leading to balance" so today's image will continue that trend.

   Quick sidebar: We don't normally associate beaches with soldiers in uniform, but during Operation Overlord (D-Day) the U.S. poured thousands of them onto beaches like this off the coast of Normandy, France. When I was with the U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) [we also dropped thousands of paratroopers behind enemy lines, thus why we as an airborne unit came to commemorate this historic series of battles] we took soldiers from across our command to remember and be inspired by the hurdles our predecessors had to overcome.

   When I went through my photography training with the Army, posing was frowned upon. With the exception of award ceremonies. Similar to the cries of, "Photoshopped! I can tell by the pixels," I'd often hear,

"Oh, that's posed." and instantly the photograph wouldn't be considered not worthy because it's essentially been faked.

Balance? Check. Leading Lines? Check. Rule of Thirds? Fail.

   So what does any of that have to do with this shot? Well, I didn't fake it for one. For two [yes grammatically incorrect] because of that my subjects, in my opinion, aren't as clear as I would have liked them to be. Is that an excuse? No, of course not, I still used at two elements of composition, so there.

   All joking aside. You'll notice right that my subjects aren't in any of the points of interest. But they are balanced. The sky, ocean, and beach are ALMOST balanced horizontally as well, but not enough that I would consider that balanced. Those two soldiers however are well balanced. Their heads/eyes also give us leading lines.

   So, back to the "observe and document, don't interfere" philosophy I was taught. I saw these two guys and started taking pictures because I had no idea how long they would be there taking this photo. Since I couldn't recreate the moment I had to get what I could. 

   I can tell you with this photo I was fairly far back. I carry two camera bodies with me when I shot uncontrolled action, a wide and a long lens. Because they were so far away I reached for my 70-200 lens. I zoomed in and took the shot.

   Because of the long focal length I was able to compress the distance, including more of that wavy low tide beach sand. Which was good, and I was able to make my subjects bigger, also good. But not big enough for my taste. So how would have made this shot better?

   Well I would have liked the two of them to have been closer together. I should have said, 

   "You should get closer and zoom out, you'll get just as much beach but have a better focus on your subject than by just stepping back." 

   To which he probably would have accepted my professional opinion and moved closer. Then they would have been closer to each other. At which point I too could have stepped closer and zoomed out to a wide angle. My subjects would have been clear because they'd be in points of interest, they would have been balanced, and they would have had leading lines.