Point of view

 Point of view in fiction refers to the source and scope of the narrative voice.  

Point of view refers to: 

• “where an author chooses to stand in relation to his characters and action” 
• or 
• “The angle from which a writer allows readers to view his characters and action”. 

 The Writer and The Narrator

Narrators are not the Writer. You must be able to differentiate between the writer and the narrator. They are two different things. The writer is a real, living, breathing person who invents or constructs or creates the narrator. The narrator can be also called the persona.

There are two main categories of points of view an author can adopt. 

• First person and 
• Third person. 

First person narration can consist of major and minor characters' viewpoint.
It is important to remember that narrators are fictional constructs. That is, they are not real people.

First Person Point of View

In the first person point of view, that is, the author gives the role of narrator to a character in the story. This persona may be a non-participant in the main action, a minor character or a major character. Put simply, the story is told from the “I” perspective .  

Third person Objective

The story is narrated as though the characters and action, as though it is viewed through a camera. The author shows what is seen and heard is revealed. This form of narration does not necessarily follow one character. The reader finds out only what the author chooses to reveal. As such, we can be manipulated to think certain things simply because we do not have access to all information. We are made to judge, as it were, on the basis of intentionally limited knowledge. This can be used by the author as a device for constructing elements of character, as well as for creating suspense.

Omniscient Points of View

Omniscient Narrator: Here we have a god-like view of the world; the narrator is all-seeing and all-knowing. They have unlimited access to the thoughts and feelings of many characters. The writer’s choice of narrative point of view has a powerful impact on the way readers see the world of the story—this technique is very powerful in positioning the reader.

1.       Determine which of the two basic methods of narration is being used.

First person narration, where the narrator refers to self as I or we.

Third person narration, where the narrator does not use I or we, but instead talks about he, she, they, him, her, or them.

2.       Once you have determined whether it is first person or third person narration [or sometimes a mixture of the two with the narration shifting from first to third and back again], ask yourself:

Limited Omniscient Narrator:
The limited omniscient narrative point of view has a similar impact to that of the first person point of view because the reader tends to see the world of the novel from one angle of vision or one centre of consciousness. A useful term to use when discussing the effect of the first person narrative point of view or the limited omniscient narrative point of view is that the character whose thoughts we have access to acts as the focalize for the story.

Why Point of View Is So Important

Why does point of view matter so much?

Because point of view filters everything in your story. Everything in your story must come from a point of view.

Which means if you get it wrong, your entire story is damaged.

Narrative Techniques

The following are the major techniques which authors may use to engage readers.

Character; Irony/ conflict; Point of view; Setting;

1.Character

Character may be revealed through CHADSBOATS:

• CH = character

• A = author; thee author may comment directly about this character; ("he was a mean and nasty piece of work..")

• D = dialogue or what the character says;

• S = says; what the character thinks of the world and other people is revealed in his or her dialogue;

• B = background; the character's context can tell us something about them, such as class attitudes;

• O = others; what other characters say or think about them;

• A = appearance; what some tells us what they are like as people;

• T= thinks; what are the  his or her thoughts, feelings, doubts, fears, hopes.

• S= Setting; where we learn about a character from the setting in which they are found. More often EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE of a character is created via setting, where a stormy turbulent landscape may mirror that aspect of a characters mental landscape and how he / she may be feeling.

 2. The conflict

This is an essential element in every short story. The conflict tells of some type of struggle:

Conflict may be internal or external. The tension created by this conflict gives rise to drama and action in the story. By identifying commonly experienced conflicts in a novel, we can identify THEME; ie how character/ s attempt to deal with and resolve major conflict in their lives is what the author wants us to consider.

              i.      Man (person or character) against man;

                                 ii.      Man against society;

                                 iii.      Man against his environment / nature;

                                 iv.      Man against himself. (This may be physical or psychological, but whatever it is, the conflict propels the story on to its final solution.)

                                       

3.Setting

The plot involves the ordering of the happenings; that is, selection and arrangements of incidents of the story into a recognizable sequence.

The setting involves the place and time of the incidents in the story. The location, the social environment, and period of history form an essential, element in the short story. Within this setting characters may move, initiating some action within the text. In addition the setting will construct some feeling in the reader in relation to place, character, time and action.

WHERE : place specific (classroom); place general (Ireland)

WHEN: time specific (midnight); time general or era (nineteenth century)

WHO ; the characters who may be introduced;

WHAT : some action may be established providing direction for th text to move in;

ATMOSPHERE : this is the mood or feeling created in the reader in relation to some aspect of setting.

EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE : Often the setting of a story acts as an emotional landscape. What this means is that the setting may mirror (or may directly contrast, to highlight) the main character's emotional state. As such the setting embodies feelings we the reader may attach to  the character.

Thus, the setting can play an active part in the short story.

• It can time, place, character and action;

• it can mirror, establish or influence a character's emotions, ideas or actions;

• it can create a sense of mood and feeling (atmosphere). This atmosphere often plays a significant role in developing character, action and theme.

Plot

Plot are simple, linear, chronological sets of events. Indeed some stories are, however, there are many ways in which stories develop. How a story is developed and the order in which it proceeds, is its

 NARRATIVE STRUCTURE.

Narrative structure is about two things:

1.    the content of a story and

2.    the form used to tell the story.

Two common ways to describe these two parts of narrative structure are story and plot.

Story refers to the raw materials of dramatic action as they might be described in chronological order.

Plot refers to how the story is told — the form of storytelling, or the structure, that the story follows. If we want to analyze narrative structure, we can use “who,” “what,” and “where” questions to look at the story or content of a movie. “How” and “when” questions are used to examine plot structure.

Conventionally, both story and plot are described in terms of how a character’s life is disrupted by an event or change in his/her situation; this causes a series of conflicts that the character(s) must face, including the major conflict that is eventually resolved at the end of the Film.

 “Conflict” in this model can take many forms, be it emotional, interpersonal, or even between the character and his/her physical environment.

Conflict:
This is an essential element in every short story. The conflict tells of some type of struggle:

                                       i.   Man (person or character) against man;

                                       ii.  Man against society;

                                       iii. Man against his environment / nature;

                                        iv. Man against himself. (This may be physical or psychological, but whatever it is, the conflict propels the story on to its final solution.)

Conflict may be internal or external. The tension created by this conflict gives rise to drama and action in the story. By identifying commonly experienced conflicts in a novel, we can identify THEME; ie how character/ s attempt to deal with and resolve major conflict in their lives is what the author wants us to consider.

  

Every story is told or narrated from at least one position or point of view. Some stories are told using several different points of view. (For example, a novel written in the third person may contain letters from character/s, providing us with a separate first person perspective.)

Where is the story set?

What event starts the story?

Who are the main characters?

What conflict(s) do they face?

How and when are the main characters introduced?

How is the story moved along so that the characters must face the central conflict?

How and when does the problem resolve most of the major conflict set up at the outset?

Complex Narrative Structure may contain the following:

Complex narrative structure is used by authors to add interest by complicating the story.
There are several authorial methods of achieving this. It can occur when the author uses causally unrelated narratives teamwork together to build thematic unity. This usually involves two or three or more clearly defined narratives each with their own sets of characters. There is often little or no intermingling of characters or narrative events, simply two or three narratives existing alongside each other.
One of the problems this causes authors involves not letting the reader lose track of what's going on. Since there are so many stories happening at once, a lot more reader activity is required to keep track of the various narratives. Therefore time and place are usually
clearly defined: events often occur within a very specific time frame in a specific locale to keep the reader focused. In order to achieve a form of formal closure, there is usually an event at the end of the story that brings all characters to one location or at least affects
them all in some way.

Another way an author can use complex narrative structure is in inter layering many flashbacks, or introducing fantasy elements or stories within stories to make the story diverge from a central plot line while maintaining thematic unity.

- flashbacks
- dream sequences
- repetition
- different characters' point of view
- multiple plot lines converging at the end
- flash forwards
- different time frames
- pre-figuring of events that have not yet taken place
- circular plotting where we are led back to the beginning
- backwards storytelling, where the denouement is shown first and
explained through the plot.

Point of View and Reader Positioning:

Narrators play a key role in reader positioning. The narrator has the important job of telling the reader how to interpret the world of the story. The narrator acts as a filter or lens through which the reader can see the story. The reader is positioned in relation to the characters and the issues in the story by the way the narrator interprets the events. Different narrators will interpret events differently.

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Hemingway

 Hemingway was a journalist and novelist. A storyteller. He’s one of the great writers of literature. In 1953, he won the Pulitzer Prize for “The Old Man and the Sea.” In 1954, he won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Hemingway's writing career began in the 1920s. He was a reporter for The Trapeze, his high-school newspaper, and he published a couple of stories in the Tabula, the school's literary magazine.

After Ernest's high-school graduation, Dr. Hemingway realized that his son had no passion for further education, so he didn't encourage him to enroll in college.  Instead, Dr. Hemingway  find out if his son could sign on as a cub reporter. 

Hemingway's distinctive style. 

Hemingway took great pains with his work; he revised tirelessly. "A writer's style," he said, "should be direct and personal, his imagery rich and earthy, and his words simple and vigorous,  burnished and uniquely brilliant.

1. USE SHORT SENTENCES

Short sentences are easier to digest. They make it easier to follow each point of an argument or story. Hemingway adored the short sentence. He scattered them throughout his books. Their punchiness and rhythm felt as if they were pulling and tugging the reader along.

As a writer — or editor — is to make life easy for our audience. Forcing the reader to navigate through a bunch of long, complex sentences is not necessary.

2. USE SHORT FIRST PARAGRAPHS

Hemingway said writers should use short first paragraphs. Simple language makes our content more accessible.  Writing with simplicity doesn’t mean dumbing down our words. Instead, we write clearly and precisely.  So our content becomes easier to read and accessible to more people. Hemingway makes each sentence about one tiny idea. Then he lets the next sentence build on that idea. His story unfolds in tiny, logical steps.

3. USE VIGOROUS ENGLISH

He means using hyper-focused language to sharply and passionately articulate ideas. So: writing with intention. Being purposeful and deliberate with each sentence. Making each word count. “It’s muscular, forceful (writing). Vigorous English comes from passion, focus and intention.”

This type of writing  is  thoroughly and fully understand what you're writing about. It's impossible to write with vigour and passion without having a real grasp of your subject.

4. BE POSITIVE, NOT NEGATIVE

Basically, “be positive” means you should say what something is rather than what it isn’t.Instead of “I’m not lying to you” Hemingway would write, “I’m telling the truth.”

– Instead of saying something is “inexpensive,” say it is “affordable.”
– Instead of describing something as “unclear,” say it is “confusing.”

 Being “positive” makes your writing more direct. 

5. Never use a harder word where a simpler word will do.

Writers who love exploring new words must be careful. It’s easy to get in the habit of using difficult language where simpler language will do.

I tend to obsess over big beautiful words and at times am tempted to use them in my writing but I also must remind myself there is a balance to it all.

Copywriters, writers and marketers make their living first and foremost through effective communication. The reader must be able to fully comprehend what thought or idea the writer is writing about. This is best accomplished through simple language.

With that said, there is always room to add in the occasional 360 between the legs slam dunk, just to keep the reader on her toes.

One iconic element of Ernest Hemingway’s writing style was the simple words he used in his writing.

He wrote lived instead of existed, looked versus gazed, clear rather than translucent and white in place of ivory.

Hemingway didn’t overcomplicate his craft. He pieced together his sentences from a toolbox overflowing with words everyone spoke and still speaks. The farmer or the rocket scientist could read Hemingway and that’s a feat that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

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DEPTH OF FIELD- Focal Length

  the depth of field.

In short, depth of field is simply the space in the image that is acceptably sharp and in focus.

Focusing consists of adjusting the lens to find the maximum sharpness, contrast, and resolution for a chosen subject.

There are two ways to focus in digital photography:

• Manual focus: Using your hands to tweak the focus ring until you get to the best focus.

• Automatic focus: Using the camera’s and lenses’ internal motors to focus on a given subject.

Using manual focus or autofocus will depend on the type of photography that you do. 

For instance, in some genres like macro and night photography, it’s better to use manual focus. Yet, in other genres, like wildlife or sports, autofocus is faster and will make things easier.

In photography, we can say that there’s

 a shallow depth of field when just a narrow portion of the frame is acceptably sharp, 

whereas 

a large depth of field when a big portion of the frame is considered to be in focus.

Depth of field is affected by many different factors:

• Aperture: The wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field
• Focal length: The longer the focal length, the shallower the depth of field
• Focusing distance: The closer the subject to the lens, the shallower the depth of field
• Sensor size: The smaller the camera sensor size, the shallower the depth of field .

Aperture

Aperture is the opening in your lens that lets light pass through to the sensor. 

Large apertures, which correlate to small f-stop numbers, produce a very shallow depth of field. On the other hand, small apertures, or large f-stop numbers, produce images with a large depth of field.

• Large apertures, which correlate to small f-stop numbers, produce a very shallow depth of field. On the other hand, 
• small apertures, or large f-stop numbers, produce images with a large depth of field.

Focal length

Focal length is related to the photography lens basics. 

The focal length works by describing each lens in terms of millimeters from the optical center of the lens to the sensor. 

Focal length, usually represented in millimeters (mm), is the basic description of a photographic lens. 

It is not a measurement of the actual length of a lens, but a calculation of an optical distance from the point where light rays converge to form a sharp image of an object to the digital sensor or 35mm film at the focal plane in the camera. The focal length of a lens is determined when the lens is focused at infinity.

Depending on how short or long the focal length is, this will have a direct impact on the field of  view of your images and in other aspects like the depth of field.

For example, 

shorter focal lengths like wide-angle lenses will have a wide-angle of view, whereas 

longer focal lengths like telephotos will have a narrower angle of view.

The focal length will also create different effects, 

    like distortion in wide angles of view, and 

    magnification in narrower angles of view.

WHAT IS A LONG FOCAL LENGTH 

long focal length. 

An image taken with a 100mm telephoto lens will have a much smaller section of coverage than a normal or wide-angle 

Lens focal length tells us the angle of view—how much of the scene will be captured—and the magnification—how large individual elements will be. The longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view and the higher the magnification. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and the lower the magnification.

Zoom vs. Prime Lens

There are two types of lenses-prime and zoom. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length and zoom lenses have variable focal lengths.

Zoom Lens Benefits

The advantage of a zoom lens is versatility(ability to adapt). They are ideal when you are photographing a variety of subjects such as landscapes and portraits, and you just want one lens for both situations. Using a zoom lens also reduces the number of times you need to change the lens which saves time .

Prime Lens Benefits

The main advantages of prime lenses or fixed focal length lenses are their size and weight as well as their maximum aperture or f/stop. Prime lenses tend to be more compact and lightweight than zoom lenses.

Prime lenses also tend to have a larger maximum aperture (f/1.4 to f/2.8). This is an advantage when shooting in low light conditions as it will increase the possibility of hand holding the camera and freezing the subject without shake or blur caused by the longer exposures. Photographing using prime lenses with large apertures also means you can get a shallow depth of field which is useful for portraiture where you might want a softer or blurred background .

Lens Focal Length Comparison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CoEsqePADw&list=RDCMUCJFMWWscsO-msPiLj42eXiQ&start_radio=1&rv=4CoEsqePADw

Wide-angle Lens

FX format approx. 14 – 35mm / DX format approx. 10 – 24mm

Wide angle lenses are popular lenses for landscape photography, interiors, large group photos and when working in confined situations.

Standard Lens

FX format approx. 50 – 60mm / DX format approx. 35mm

Standard lenses are popular as they are closest to the angle of view we humans see. These lenses have minimal distortion, which can be flattering to the subject. They tend to use large apertures and allow a lot of light to enter the lens which makes them fast in low light conditions. Large apertures (f/1.8 – f/1.4) also produce a pleasing out-of-focus effect to the background which concentrates the attention of the viewer on the subject. Standard lenses are the popular choice for a wide range of photography including portraiture, nature and low light situations where the photographer can not use a flash or is looking to capture the scene with available light.

Standard Lens

FX format approx. 50 – 60mm / DX format approx. 35mm

Standard lenses are popular as they are closest to the angle of view we humans see. These lenses have minimal distortion, which can be flattering to the subject. They tend to use large apertures and allow a lot of light to enter the lens which makes them fast in low light conditions. Large apertures (f/1.8 – f/1.4) also produce a pleasing out-of-focus effect to the background which concentrates the attention of the viewer on the subject. Standard lenses are the popular choice for a wide range of photography including portraiture, nature and low light situations where the photographer can not use a flash or is looking to capture the scene with available light.

Super Telephoto Lens

FX format approx. 300 – 600mm / DX format approx. 200 – 600mm

These lenses provide a good range for wildlife and sports photography where the photographer is limited as to how close they can get to the subject.

Camera-Subject Distance

Another important factor affecting depth of field is the distance between the camera and the subject. The shorter that distance, the smaller the depth of field. 

Sensor Size

Sensor size also affects depth of field. The size used as a reference in digital photography is the classic 35 mm sensor size, also known as Full-Frame. If the sensor is smaller than this size, it’s said to be “cropped”, and if it’s bigger, it’s considered “medium format.“

For example, a basic rule in night photography is to use a sensor with larger pixels, since these are better at capturing light and will allow you to take a better-quality image with less digital noise.

The depth of field is the last effect of the camera sensors. Using the same field of view, the depth of field will be narrower in cameras with larger sensors and larger in cameras with cropped sensors. An example is portrait photography, where photographers usually shoot with larger sensors to decrease the depth of field and bokeh effect.

In a nutshell, cameras with smaller sensors have larger depths of field. 

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