Week 5 Assignment #3 - Framing

I decided to take all my framing shots at the tennis court. I thought it allowed me to shoot an interesting and dynamic subject and the location gave me plenty of options for framing photographs. I believe all of the framing and sub-framing in my shots does an effective job bringing out the subject and drawing the viewer's eye directly to the subject of the photo. The first frame I was lucky enough to find was this whole in the fence:

I also used the net as a frame for these two shots:

I found an old tire near the court that I was also able to use a nice circular frame for these shots:

My favorite framing shot is this one, which uses one player to frame another player:

Lastly, I used the car's mirror to get this shot with a nice sub-frame:

Week 5 Assignment #2 - Rule Of Thirds

I took a lot of pictures trying out the rule of thirds, but most of them ended up being too cluttered. I was trying to put too many things in each of the thirds and it was becoming unclear and confusing which section of thirds my subject was in. So I've decided to use my simplest two for the assignment purposes, where my subject was simply a car emblem, located in the center of the photo and then in the bottom right corner of the photo. It does make a big difference and this simple composition technique does make it much more pleasurable to look at.

Week 5 Assignment #1 - Composition and Aesthetics

When I started my research on aesthetics and composition, I came across a lot of basic examples of these techniques like we did in the readings. There are so many repeated themes in the rule of thirds and especially framing readings that I started to think of ways to compose my own unique shots. I came across this article about how to not be cliché and I found it very interesting. The article is titled "Three Good Ways to Avoid Clichés" but I found the third way, "take pictures that are personally meaningful to you", to be the most resonant. I liked this one the most and it really made me think about my shots that I have taken and the ones that I want to take. The article reads, "Robin P. sent me a picture of a dog who just got a new mat. Now, to you, or anyone else, that might just be yet another dog picture. You might think it's a cliché. But it's not to Robin. To Robin, it's his beloved Daisy, who he knows very well, and whose expression in this photograph naturally delights him. That makes the picture infinitely richer and more resonant to him than it might be to a stranger."

Here is a link to the article:

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/photographic-aesthetics/

Week 4: Color and Lighting - Assignment 2

I spent most of my time on this assignment deciding what to use for my object. I wanted a dynamic object that would be able to capture light in many different ways and forms. I ended up choosing a glass Coke bottle, thinking that maybe the rounded glass would refract light and make different lighting scenes look very unique. In hindsight, maybe an non-translucent object would have been better; something that actually reflects the light and has different angles for the light to hit, but I think I was able to get some unique shots with the glass bottle. I took some shots outside in the sun, some inside with the flash, and several at night with different light sources.

First, I took the bottle outside and took a photo with the sun reflecting off of it:

Then I attempted to change it up and shoot the bottle with the sunlight coming through it:

The next two shots were taken at night with the light source coming from underneath the bottle:

This second shot with the light source beneath the bottle also included the use flash:

I also tried some back-lighting with the glass bottle:

I also took several nighttime shots with the light source coming from an angle instead of directly behind. The first shot was taken with flash and the final two shots were not.

Week 4: Color and Lighting - Assignment 1

For this week's first assignment, I tried to get some shots of each of the color schemes discussed in the book: Monochrome, Analogous, and Complimentary.

First, I went out for some Monochrome shots. I found several outdoor subjects that fit the proper color scheme:

It was a little bit more difficult to come across subjects with an Analogous color scheme, but I believe I found an appropriate example with this helmet, which displays the colors Blue, Green, and Yellow. These three are all next to each other on the color wheel.

Finally, I went on a search for the Complimentary color scheme. I was fortunate enough to come across my Oilers jersey which is a perfect fit with its Blue and Orange coloring, which are opposite on the color wheel.

Week 3: Macro Photographs

Thankfully I did dig out my camera's manual back in week one, so I was able to find Macro mode pretty quickly. I started out trying to get as close to the subjects as I could while still being able to focus, but I found that if I backed up from the subject a little and zoomed in as far as possible, I got better and closer results. I stuck with this method and then started getting my shots. I really didn't have a theme in mind, I just took a few shots inside, then went outside and walked around the yard. Most of my shots came from outside, just insects, nature, and whatever I could get close to. The Picasa collage creator is really neat! I made one traditional collage and then made a grid collage so all the photos could be seen in their entirety.

Week 2: One Object, Many Views - Compare and Contrast

The pictures I have chosen to compare and contrast are very different shots. The first one is a very close up image with a lot of detail, and the second one has the subject rather small within the frame. The perspective changes the photograph entirely. The first photo was taken within six inches of the subject, while the second one from about one hundred yards away. The first one gives a much more intimate view of the bike, really showing us some of the internal components. The second one's perspective is entirely different. It allows the viewer to see the entire subject from a far away viewpoint and gives a contrast of colors. I personally like the second picture better because it has a great contrast that really makes the bike stand out against the sky blue background. All around, I prefer the general feel of the second picture because of the framing (with the bike off to the left side) and the colors of the photograph.

Week 2: One Object, Many Views

For this week's assignment, I chose to photograph my younger brother's dirtbike. I chose it because it's large enough and complex enough to give me many different angle options for photographing. These are the eight pictures that I took.