Assignment 2 Elements Of Design.

The idea of this assignment is to incorporate all of the insights that we have learned so far on this course into a set of images aimed towards one subject. We have to produce around 10-15 images of a similar subject and to show the following effects.

• Single point dominating the composition.
• Two points.
• Several points in a deliberate shape.
• A combination of vertical and horizontal lines.
• Diagonals.
• Curves.
• Distinct, even if irregular, shapes.
• At least 2 kinds of implied triangles.
• Rhythm.
• Pattern.

The book gave a list of subjects to do.

• Flowers and plants.
• Landscapes.
• Street details.
• The raw materials of food.
• if you prefer, choose your own subject.

So I went for the option of.

• If you prefer, choose your own subject.

Which I have, that being the subject of weddings so I went to 3 weddings over 3 weeks and used the images I took for this course, hopefully covering the right areas.

So to start with was a single point dominating the composition of the image. This image is one I took while sat in 1 of the pews and as I was looking at the live view screen I saw the white ribbon bow and rose with butterfly with the bride and groom in the distance. So I knew that setting the camera aperture to F1.8 the shutter speed to 1/125 and the ISO to 200 I could blur out the bride and groom and leave it so that the rose feature was left in focus making it the dominating point of the image.

With the 2 points in an image I choose an image where a bride and groom were outside the church having a moment together I saw this and thought that looks great. I went with this image for 2 points because you could class the bride and groom as 1 point being that they are so close together and point 2 being the old church door. Settings for the camera were aperture set to F13 shutter speed to 1/60 and the ISO set to 100

Then we have several points in a deliberate shape I knew that I could use the flowers for the last wedding so I knew I needed this shot. I got hold of the bride and bridesmaids flowers along with the mother’s corsage and the button holes for the ushers. So with the flowers I noticed that they would make a great triangle and I remembered that I needed an implied triangle so I went for it. Only problem I had with the image was the paper the flowers were in was too short to cover the area for the image. The camera settings for this image were F20 aperture speed of 1/160 with an ISO at 100.

With a combination of horizontal and vertical lines I was not sure what would cover it till I looked up and saw the light, I really did it was 1 of the disco lights that was there for the entertainment. It gave the look of an old window with the light shining through. For this image I had changed my lens to an 18 to 70mm lens with a low F stop of 3.6 I then set the camera to an ISO of 200 as light around us was fading fast the shutter speed to 1/250 and the aperture to F5.6.

With the diagonals I was lucky really because I took this at the first wedding and was not quite sure what images I needed but I was looking around looking for clues as to what I might need, when I looked up I saw the diagonal ribbons flowing to the balloons in the centre and just had that feeling that diagonals was going to be one of the images I would need for this assignment so I took this image with the camera set to F5 and 1/13 and the ISO at 400 I got my image.

Whilst at the first wedding I remembered doing a topic on curves as I saw this through the view finder. The head table with their starters all set and a lovely curve to the head table so using the middle dish as my focal point I took the shot, camera set at ISO 400 speed 1/25 and aperture at F4.

Now for a distinct shape I had to go for this image I took it hoping it would fit and it is a large daisy flower head in like a small round fish bowl on a round silver plate, so it was a circle within a circle within another circle I loved it and was glad it could fit in. I did keep the objects in at the side as I felt it just gave the image that little bit more and not making it feel boring. The camera was set to an ISO of 400, speed to 1/25 and aperture to F4.5

Now with the implied triangles I know I covered 1 earlier so here is another implied triangle this time using the groom and his Nan and granddad from Australia but I also did an extra one of the bridesmaids from one of the other weddings so that is 2 images showing implied triangles with people and one from earlier showing a still life implied triangle using the flowers.

With rhythm I was not sure how to tackle this one so I set up a similar set up to the wildebeest in the book but I did not have a plain or any wildebeest so I settled for a large family image from the first wedding. Plus I could not wait for the light to die down a bit as everyone would have gone on to the reception event. This image I took at an F stop of 11 speed of 1/200 with the ISO at 200. I also took an extra image and that is of the area that was used for the above image and I felt that the roof tops also convey a sense of rhythm a long the roof tops.

Then the last image to have a pattern in it so I used this image of the chairs all set out ready for everyone to arrive. I did crop this image in a bit so that it was just the chairs in the frame. The camera was set to an ISO of 400 speed of 1/13 and aperture at 3.5.

So they were my images for assignment 2 and I hope that everyone who sees them likes them.

Thank you.

Rhythms and Patterns

This exercise we have to create at least 2 photographs, one of these images should convey rhythm and the other should be conveying pattern.
I started by looking at patterns and it came to me that patterns are very much everywhere, as patterns are very much a static image.
When making a pattern image whether it be a regular pattern or an irregular one it is best that the framing of the image is kept as tight as possible so as not to lose the pattern you are showing.
A rhythm image tends to have a flow across the image as if to music so you look across the image and a pattern makes you look at each point in the image.

So this is a pattern image I have taken using the image from the book as a guide they used images of holy images where as I have gone for more of the Lego. I then took another image of a flower displaying a lovely pattern.

This image displaying a slightly irregular pattern so again frame is kept tight to keep the interest in to the image.

With this image I went for a rhythm image but going into the image and not across it so the beat flow from the light areas.

Implied And Real Triangles

With this exercise we are to look at creating two sets of images one set with real triangles and then another set with implied triangles.
With the real triangles we have to find a subject that itself is triangular then to make a perspective triangle converging to the top of the frame, then a harder one as above a perspective triangle but converging to the bottom of the frame, so taking a picture of a building and turning it upside down would not work.
Then the second set of images were implied triangles. So again as above three images, one a still life arrangement with the apex of the triangle at the top, then the same again but with the apex of the triangle at the bottom, then it is to arrange a group of people in such a way that their faces or the lines of their bodies make a triangle.

Real triangle 1 I found this one at a kids play park, so we have apex at the top but also the reason I went for this image was it was not just the one triangle within the image it was the fact there were 5 just in plain view.

Real triangle 2 converging to the top of the frame, when I looked at this I thought that you could do it with any building but I found that if the building had an apex roof to it then the image would not work correctly because the apex would straighten up an edge.

real triangle 3 a perspective image with the apex to the bottom of the frame. This image I found walking around thinking about how I could do a perspective image of a triangle with the apex at the bottom of the frame, this is a corner of an old barn wall and I chose to use this image because it was not a strong line of the brick to give the lines of the triangle but the broken up cement covering the bricks. This I feel helped to make the image work.

This is my first implied triangle in still life that I have purposely done, I spent twenty minutes stacking the rocks trying to get it so the big one was on top, the slightest knock to the table would send them rolling, so I was glad when I got these images of them. So that is one implied triangle with the apex at the top.

Second implied triangle with apex at the bottom was a little harder as I was not sure how I could do it the I saw some flowers and went off to play. After getting the flowers to stay as I wanted them to be I got my image but after looking at it more I feel that if I had more flowers I could have kept the yellow roses as they are and added in lots more different flowers so as to add some contrast of colours to it but still leaving the triangle there.

Implied image three an image made by arranging people into a triangular shape with either faces or the lines of the body, as you can see I went for the faces of my kids. I had several ideas to how I wanted to place them one as above then there was height order with tallest in the middle, I also thought about having heads to feet so it would have given faces and body lines.

Implied Lines

This exercise is about using implied lines these are lines used within the image to draw your attention to a point within the image. These lines are an eye–line, an extension of a line or lines that point.

To start off we look at the 2 images that are in the book and try to find the implied lines within the images

With the first image in the book I find that there is a curved line that curls in towards the Matador and the bull which draws me in so it is a line that points for me in this image. With the second image by Gotthard Schuh, “Threshing corn.” I see this to be an implied line of an eye-line where the horses are watching the handler.

Now we have to do the same thing with 3 of our own images.

With the above image of a wedding group outside a church waiting for the bride you can see that they are all looking at 1 thing at first you may think that it is the man walking in to the image but if you look closer you see that they are all looking at the little girl hiding behind the bridesmaid. So this brings this image to be an eye-line implied image.

With this image I did go for an eye-lined implied image and I feel that it is clear to see what the centre of attention is. With this little girl dressing up in a princess wedding dress that her nanny had made her and everyone asking her if she would like to have her picture taken in it which she did in the end.

Now with the 3^rd image I decided that I would do another image using the implied eye-line with this one I went with a falconer and his hawk.

 

So here it is the eye-line to the hawk.

So now I want to have an image that shows implied lines that point.

 

I took a whole sequence of images to get this 1 but it was worth it. So here I have made it so that my 5 smoke lines are pointing their way to their planes. Like an image in the book that shows a runner but being pointed too by a diagonal line of steps.

Curves

Now we are looking at curves in images keeping in line with the last couple of exercises. Curves can have a sense of direction and movement with them like diagonals do, they say that a curve can be considered as a kind of diagonal line as it draws your eye in. When curves are used in an image you can get the associations of grace, elegance and smoothness which I have tried to capture this within my images so as to give the images these feelings.

Like before it is to take 4 images which use curves in them.

 

With this image of the tulip it was all on its own on the side of a cliff and it was quiet and peaceful. I like the way each petal curves up and the colours were a nice contrast with each other that it work lovely I did however use photoshop on this image to hopefully add more feeling to it. I had been reading a photography magazine and it was talking about a new blur filter in the software I have so I tried it out and added a bit of vignette also. With this done I do feel that you are drawn more to the curves of the tulip.

I feel that with this image of the cat you are drawn straight to the eyes of the cat. I look at this image and even thou I know what the cat was doing I still look at this image thinking what are you doing? What have you done? What are you thinking about? But also where are you going? This cat was actually stalking one of the other pets we have and seemed to be oblivious to me being just a couple of feet away from her.

 

I like this image, I took this while my boy took a quick break from practicing his violin (don’t mind him playing it outside as he plays quite well.) I do like the music that can be made by the violin as you can change the feeling of the music so quick. The styling of the violin is very graceful with its smooth curves used all over the main body giving it a lovely hourglass appearance.

With this image I wanted to make sure that you could feel the movement with the curves but still having the smoothness, grace and elegance. When I took this image I feel that if I had taken it with a slower shutter speed I could have just got a bit of motion blur on the wheels just to add more to the image but it was quite scary having to just the driver (my wife) not to run my head over. With this image I was trying to get as many curves as I could from the curve of the road, the curve with the bush, curves in the wheels and arches, the curves from the doors and windows plus also the light unit. I really like it.

Diagonals

This exercise is a continuation of the horizontal and vertical lines but now we look at diagonal lines that are used strongly in the image.
I wanted to try and make sure that these next 4 images have that strong use of diagonal lines but also that each one was different in its own way and using the diagonal lines in different ways.
I found that this topic was much easier than what horizontal and vertical lines were, but I do think this is down to something that Michael Freeman had written in “The Photographer’s Eye.” That the diagonals are much more under the control of the photographer than horizontals and verticals are. I found this to be very true as if I took an image and was happy about it I could make a small adjustment in the frame and the lines moved to how you want to have them, whereas with the horizontal and verticals you were fixed to the way in which you took the image so as to keep your horizontal and vertical lines.
So let us get on and let’s show you all what I came across and found for my diagonals.


This is image 1 for diagonals and I went for this shot because this was the first shot I saw when leaving my desk to take some images for this topic. I went for it simply because it shows how looking at horizontal and vertical lines from a different way will give you your diagonal lines.

Image 2 with the rain clouds starting to roll back in, I took this one next as this was going to be my first because I can almost see the whole of this image from my desk. Sat at my desk reading up on diagonals look up and all I see are the diagonals of all these rooftops. If I was able to move around further then you would probably see that the rooftops go on for a little way, I just wished the clouds could have helped more and been a little more sloped to match the rooftops.

Image 3 out looking for a different object to capture and I end up sat in a hay field, looking around I noticed this red and black bug climbing a blade of grass. So popped up the flash and went in for this I took 2 of these images the reason I chose this one is because the soldier bug is looking at me and the grass has such a mix of diagonal lines that it was a keeper and I love it.

Image 4 I found at the rear side of our local police station near some heavy looking fitted windows. I took a couple of images in that area, from looking up at bits and pieces through the view finder but it was this shot above my last shot I took that I loved the most and this I looked down upon it. At this angle I felt it gave a lot of feeling where it seems to go on forever and the rough and tired look of the paint just adds to it.
Whilst at a farm I was in the milking shed looking around and I noticed that everything seems very level and straight so I took a picture of it and noticed that because of my position and my perspective of what I could see I gave me quite a different image which I feel works quite well.

Books that I am reading.

I have been making sure that I am also reading more photography books so as to help me with this course and hopefully make sure i keep heading in the right direction with them.

So the books that I have been reading are:

1: Photo Art the new world of photography which is edited by Uta Grosenick and Thomas seelig.

This book looks at different photographers from around the world and shows the way in which that photographer see’s and shows their way of photographic art.

2: The Photographer’s Eye, Composition and design for better digital photo’s by Michael Freeman.

I have found that this book is great it seems to be covering the topics that we have done and are doing and I did notice that some of the images are in the course material.

 

Horizontal And Vertical Lines

This exercise was to go out and look for 4 specific examples of horizontal lines and also 4 specific examples of vertical lines. We are also advised not to repeat the subject so if you used a wall for one image don’t go and use another wall for another image you find something else.
The exercise is to help us find the different ways that horizontal and vertical lines appear to the eye and the camera. How certain design elements come about and how common or rare they are.
I found this quite hard to start off with I think that I was over thinking the questions or not reading into it the right way but I feel that in the end I have got there and I did notice that there are more ways out there for us to use horizontal and vertical lines. I also found that we use a lot of these lines in images we take and see in everyday part of life, from framing an image with trees or the use of the horizon.
I am going to start by showing you the images I took for horizontal lines.

Horizontal image 1. Taken at 22.40hrs over the jubilee celebration weekend I could just make out the cloud formations with the horizon, the horizon is at the bottom of the frame. I took this image as handheld as I had forgotten my tripod (well done me). I took this image because I was looking around and saw that all was in nice rows and after the town had done fireworks nearby it was very peaceful I look at this image I see the horizontal lines in it and feel relaxed by this image.

Horizontal image 2. This image I see almost every day when out walking it is the last part of an old wall as either end of this wall it is normal brick walls just out of the frame of the camera. The lines are as you can see horizontal but what I failed to include was the fact there is more to it and that is the grass verge at the bottom of the wall, then at the top of the wall it is finished off to a point and then above that you end up with the brick work of the house behind this wall. So with this shot I could make quite a nice background for something like portraiture.

Horizontal image 3. I love this image taken in between passing rain clouds I like that I can see the rain water on the panels and how all the horizontal lines level the shot up, the finishing touch is the bird feeder of flowers which is not central and helps to finish the image.

Horizontal image 4. With this image I did originally have the top of the tiles acting as the horizon in the bad weather but whilst looking at it I was not too sure that it would be able to stand on its own so I looked at cropping the image as practiced in the last assignment and saw this and liked how it looked with the horizontal lines from the roof tiles giving that slight feeling of tricking the eye.
So those are my images for horizontal lines but now it’s time to turn those lines from horizontal around to vertical and have a look at what I came up with for vertical lines.

Vertical image 1. I was out on 1 of my evening/ night walks when I looked up the road and saw that the area I live in has a lot of vertical lines like the road I live on. All the vertical lines from the buildings, windows, lampposts and walls and drainpipes. I turned this image to black and white because in the orange glow of the sodium lights it did not look too good but works better in black and white.

Vertical image 2. The Lego is back to show that with vertical lines you can get quite a uniform style of an image. But here instead of a solid line it is made up of multiple points to which I feel adds some interest to the image.

Vertical image 3. This is the second image I done for this one the first was some railings but it was to plain and I did not like it so went out and took this one which is a section of a feathered board fencing. It was in colour but the fence had been coated in treatment and was a bright orange/red colour so when I put the image to black and white, it worked it showed off the vertical lines of the overlap but also the grain in the wood. The part I like about this image is the knot in the wood and how the wood just seems to go on forever.

Vertical image 4 with this image I went for the classic vertical subject trees, I even managed to throw in a vertical standing bike with vertical handlebar streamers. I got some real funny looks taking this shot as I was on my own in the woods with a small girls bike and taking pictures of it, but that is something I love about photography to get the shot you want you do what you can for it I have even led down on a town path just to get a shot of a spider. This image however was much easier it was a long shutter speed at a high F number. I like it and the vertical parts all work for me in the way it frames up the bike too.

Assignment comments

So I got my email with my assignment comments back and I have to say I feel that I could have done better. This is because I had the image idea in my head but had played it safe so the image was good, it just lost some of it’s message that I was trying to show. The comments were not bad in fact the comments were very good I would say it is just me being me and wanting for everything to be just right. I was asked to read a few books one of them being “the nature of photographs” by Stephen Shore which I will do, I have been reading a book called “Photo Art” which was put together by Uta Grosenick and Thomas Seelig which covers a bit of the aesthetics of a photograph.
I found this book to be very interesting and also hopefully has given me a few ideas to use in my own photography.
What I did find interesting is that after going through the book it was the images that shocked me the most that I remembered one them being Diana Scheunemann who has been very successful doing fashion, lifestyle and advertising images for some very big names, it was the other photos she would take that when you turned the page it made you stop and say really but then you read why they were done and what she wants to get across and you get it which is to show life and its fun and the energy life has.
Now to get on with this next exercise speak soon

Multiple Points

In this exercise the book asks us to make up our own still-life image, starting with a basic background and building the scene up keeping the frame the same at all times.
So with all this in mind I set off to make up my scene and as I was doing this I was thinking that every image has a story to it so I made a story to go along in my still-life set. With thinking about the scene I managed to come up with a plain background so then all I had to do was to consider my placement of my points so I had a whole story when I had a complete grouping. I kept with the same idea as with the last exercise using the Lego and added a little story to go with the placement of my points, so this way I was able to plan where I would like to have each point placed.

Image 1 starts with our neighbourhood criminal making his getaway hence that is why I placed it near to the edge of the frame

Image 2 now a storm trooper has come out from hiding only to have come across our criminal and our criminal has seen the jewel in the trooper’s hand. The placements are the trooper just of centre and the criminal has been turned slightly to make it look like an interaction between the 2 points.

Image 3, three points 2 just of centre with the vehicle on the edge of the frame. Here we can see that a conversation is taking place.

Image 4 has the 4 points in this one I have brought the police in on the left edge of the frame hopefully they can catch the criminal, no other movements were made as I felt it was not needed at that time.

Image 5 the police are after their man, will they catch him? Movements are the police man on the scene the trooper and the criminal have both moved a bit too.

Image 6 the final shot, the trooper has made a ran for it, the criminal has got closer to his car but is followed by our new point the police dog, the cars and the police officer have stayed in their places.
I like this image but I do feel that it does not show the points off as well as I had hoped for so I took another shot from a different angle to see hoe that worked, as you can see below the new shot has worked a lot better to show of the points in this image.

So there we have 6 points in the image most of the parts were kept near to the centre of the image just off centre and not dead centre, with the 2 larger parts being kept to the edges of the frame.
Now let’s move on to Horizontal and vertical lines.