Blog Entry #8 - Breaking The Rules

The scene of the lake breaks a normal rule of composition because it is taken at an angle. I think this makes it a much more active scenery picture than if it was taken straight on because it creates a lot of diagonal lines. The perspective that the image gives the viewer is that they are sitting amongst the fallen leaves at the bottom right of the picture in a canoe at dusk, looking across to the furthest point on the other side of the lake, where the two triangles, which are formed by the tree line and its reflection, merge together. The triangle shapes are repeated in the foreground by the fallen branches and their reflections and contrast with the lighter larger triangles formed by the sky and its reflection.

The stairs photograph breaks the “Rule of Thirds” because the subject, which is the stairs, goes right up the centre of the picture. In this case it works well because of the symmetry it creates which has the effect of pulling the viewer into the scene and up the stairs. This effect is helped by the fact that the image is framed by the doorway and the open door which invites the viewer to look up the stairs. There is also interest and texture provided by the climbing plant on the right hand wall at the bottom of the stairs which is echoed by the tree branches higher up the stairs on the left side. 

This portrait doesn’t follow the normal rules of composition that would place the subject further back so that there is some space around them and wouldn’t cut of part of their head. Breaking the rules works in this photo because the subject’s expression shows that he seems to be observing the photographer rather than the other way round and so having the subject leaning in very close to the lens and cropping the top of the head emphasises this idea. The flick on his hair helps to soften the cropping and the merger of his hair with the poster on the wall, which is normally against the rules, helps to give humour to the image.  The perspective of the hallway in the background gives a feeling of depth that helps the close-up work.

Blog Entry #7 - Three Different Lighting Techniques

Allie

To take this picture I used a canon rebel, and I adjusted the lighting so that there was only one light on, and it shone on the right side of the subject's face. By using this lighting technique, it created a shadow on the entire left side of her face, which in my opinion makes the picture more mysterious. The mysterious effect is also achieved by the facial expression she has (unsmiling). This lighting angle also works well because it accents her blonde hair that hangs on the right side of her body.

Sam

For the picture of Sam I also shot with the Canon Rebel, but this time I adjusted the lighting so that there was a light on either side of his face, meaning there were no big shadows on his face. The difference between this picture and the next is that I did not use a diffuser from the front, so the light is more ambient and yellow rather than soft white light. I told sam to pose his own way to make the picture reflect more of his personality.

Awkward Family Photo

For this picture I tried to stage an awkward family portrait, where one of the subjects (Sam) was looking in another direction with a cheeky smile to add a comic edge to the picture. I then photoshopped a common backdrop into the picture to make the "awkward family photo" look more realistic. For this I used 3-point lighting with two lights on either side of the subjects and a third light with a diffuser so that there was a soft light on the front of the subjects' faces.

Blog Entry #6 - Wine of Glory (Painting With Light)

In this post I was told to do a painting with light picture, and I chose to shoot a picture of a wine bottle pouring blue liquid into a wine glass. The camera I used to take this was a Canon Rebel with a wide angle lens, and I shot at a shutter speed of 15 seconds. I tried to make my picture more unorthodox by putting the bananas and a red light behind them, rather than the typical fruit that goes with wine which is grapes. The fruit in the picture adds balance  to the picture and I also thought it looked too bare with just the wine glass and bottle. I changed the angle if the camera to make it look as if the light was in fact going into the wine glass and filling it with liquid, and made sure the hand and bottle were in good focus and exposure. In conclusion, I really like the picture I took, and prefer it to the other painting with light pictures in the class, because it is unique.