Week 10

Week 10
November 3rd, 2010

It is difficult to accept pictures without a pure black.

It is easier to accept a picture lacking a pure white

If the histogram goes all the way down to the left corner, there is a pure black

If the histogram goes to the top right, there is a pure white

Sometimes it's good to not meticulously place your object. Just throw it out, randomly distributing it, and then look for the pattern.
-- Just like Amy did with the Cheeze-Its and popcorn in her photographs.

Shooting early in the morning makes for good light. The sun is not high in the sky yet and provides good side lighting, without creating too many harsh shadows.

Light can powerfully frame a subject. Like in the image of the scorpion on the lamp shade. The light helps to frame the outline very well.

Contrast makes a photo very powerful. The dots on top of stripes show excellent contrast. It shows contrast with shapes, colors and pattern.

For my cigarette photo I should have tried placing the cigarette at the very bottom of the frame and having them come out from there. This would add a more dramatic element to the photos. Michelle did an excellent job of this with her fish photograph by letting the fish run off the edge of the frame.

I also should have had a more interesting subject reflecting in the lenses of my glasses. The Apple logo was good, but some more interesting imagery in the background would have allowed more to be discovered in the picture.

Always review your images in the field. With digital photography it's easy to figure out if you should re-shoot your photograph.

The setting of an object tells a story. The game pieces on the ground suggest gaming outside. More object could tell a more powerful story.

Diffused lighting is best to light a shiny, reflective object. It will bring out more vivid detail.

Thoughts:
It was interesting to learn about the different color elements of a photo and how they affect whether or not we can accept them. It will definitely be something I am more aware of in my photographs and also something I look at on the histogram after my photos are taken. This also gave me a better understanding of the histogram and the information it presents to me as the photographer about the colors in the photo. It was also helpful to see how powerful light can be and teh effect it can have on our photographs. Some of the photos from the critique, such as Amy's, really helped to demonstrate this. I look forward to playing around with light in my future assignments.