A Travel Blog - One photographer's journey with the Canon EOS 5 Series DSLR Cameras and Lenses

We are always taught in photography classes, workshops and magazines to never place the horizon dead center of the frame. This contradicts the compositional "Rules of Thirds" whereby it states that the horizon should always be placed at the bottom 1/3rd or the upper 2/3rds of the frame. However, compositional rules are not etched in stone. Rules are just guidelines and should not be used just for the sake of using it. There are times where you need to break all rules and compose according to the scene in front of you. The camera is not going to break down just because you did not follow some compositional guidelines.

While I am aware of the power of the Rules of Thirds, I have never allowed any compositional rules to dictate my way of shooting. More often than not, I will still incorporate the Rules of Thirds in most of my images. There are also times whereby compositional rules will not do justice to the architectural landscape in front of you. The Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque shot from Ayer 8 in Putrajaya is one such example. To enhance the symmetrical aspect of the composition, I had placed the horizon dead center in the frame - dividing the image into two equal half. The Rules of Thirds composition will not work in this case. I do not think the viewer's eye will be confuse on which half is the more prominent half of the frame. The reflections of the mosque and buildings on the lower half of the frame will always play a supporting role to complement the upper half of the frame where I had placed the main focal point of the image. In this composition, I do not mind the vast negative spaces left on the bottom and upper top of the frame. These negative spaces had "isolated" the mosque from it's surrounding which to me had portrayed a stronger composition.

Two images were blended to make the single image you see above. The strength of this image relies on the stillness of the reflection and the lighting of the buildings during the blue hours of twilight. Close to the blue hour, a catamaran had powered across the lake. This had created ripples and waves which had broken up the stillness of the reflection. I had wanted to use an earlier image before the catamaran, but the lightings of the buildings were not prominent yet. As a last resort, I had blended an earlier image before the catamaran had caused the ripples and a later shot of the mosque where all the buildings were lighted.

Canon EOS 5DS R / Lens EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM

I admit, this is not an original image. I had seen this viewpoint in numerous postcards sold all around Perth. Determined to also shoot from this location, I bought two of these postcards at London Court and started asking the location from where the image shot was shot. All of them told me that this was shot from South Perth. The Australians were very helpful, some even started to draw the maps to show me how I could get to South Perth. The only problem is that South Perth is as big as PJ.. and no one could pinpoint me the exact location of this shot. I always knew that this was shot from South Perth, but where exactly in South Perth?

I then remembered that there was a park called Sir James Mitchell Park in South Perth that is overlooking the Swan River. Taking along the postcards that I bought, I started scouting Sir James Mitchell Park for this location. It was only after walking for two hours in the freezing temperatures of Perth's winter that I managed to discover the location of the shot. Yes, it was taken from Sir James Mitchell Park, but from the other end of the park, a location that I had missed during my three previous visits to Perth.

There was a 500 meters walk from the car park. I also noticed that there were lots of ducks and geese swimming in the lake. I realised that this would pose a problem as ducks swimming across the lake during the exposure will be recorded as blurry streaks. Ducks not moving would be recorded as dust spots on the sensor. The ducks would also "break" the reflections on the lake thus preventing me from getting a smooth reflection of the Perth skyline. I then tried to chase the ducks away, but the more I chased, more ducks had dived into the pond, swimming across my frame during the exposure. Out of the almost 20 shots I took from this location, this shot had the least "duck streaks" in them. I was not able to eliminate the "duck streaks" completely. You can still see the ducks swimming across the frame at the bottom right corner of the frame.

As my family was waiting for me back at the apartment for dinner, I had to wrap-up the shoot at 6.30 pm. At that time, it was also getting dark and extremely cold. There was still another 500 meters walk back to the car-park. Due to the falling light levels (it gets dark around 6.30 pm during the winter), I had completely forgotten where I had parked the car. It was only way after 7.30 pm that I made it back for dinner.

EOS 5D Mk II / Lens EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM