Week Five: Frames as Composition

A few photos that represent framing. I don't love any of these! This is definitely a technique that I need more practice with.

Week Five: More Examples of Thirds

I'm not having great luck with the weather, but I'm making the best of it. Here are two more examples of the difference between a centered-subject shot and one taken using the rule of thirds.

Centered:



Not centered:



In the centered-subject shot, the diagonal lines are broken up and don't carry the eye through the picture. In the second shot, the bird is in the corner of the photo and the lines are much more visible.

Rhododendron in winter...

Centered:




Not Centered:

Week Five: Part Two

These photos are similar in that subject is the same, but their compositions are totally different. One was taken using the rule of thirds. You can see how the grass and fence frame the photo and my little boy is not directly centered in the shot. This photo was taken on an older camera in fall 2008 but shows the 1/3's rule well, I think.


The second photo I took of him straight on. All you see is a face! This photo doesn't tell a story like the first one does.



Hang tight for a few more examples coming soon! Let's hope this slushy, dreary weather lets up and allows for some nice photographic lighting tomorrow.

Week Five, Part One: Composition and Aesthetics

If you're looking for photography tips geared toward the informed amateur, you have to check out The Pioneer Woman. The photography section on her blog is really educational but it doesn't get bogged down with too much information in one post. She has a great tutorial about cropping and the rule of thirds, called Cream of the Crop. A lot of rules to remember about composition are things I've been unknowingly following for a long time. Who knew?? Still, I am a long way from being a skilled photo-taker. :)

Being a skilled photographer is all about the feeling you bring to a shot. Aesthetics in photography is hard to define, just as it's hard to pinpoint in any work of art, but we've all experienced it. When the stars align in a photo, the perspective, tone, lines, etc. work together to make viewers feel something special.

More Monochrome

Emma was wearing a blue shirt today that really seemed to play on her blue eyes. I stood her next to the window in my bathroom with blue walls and took her picture. Gimp was used to up the contrast a bit and add a little more color to her eyes.

Week 4, Part Two

These three photos were taken of the same subject (my daughter, Emma) at 3 different times of the day. She was sitting on the sofa next to a window.

The first photo was taken at 10:00 AM (in Vermont, month of February). Camera settings: f 2.8, shutter speed 1/15, no flash and only natural light.


The second photo was taken at 3:30 PM (again in Vermont, month of February). Camera settings: f 2.8; shutter speed 1/10; overhead, incandescent lighting and no flash.



The third photo was taken on the same day at 8:23PM. Camera was set to automatic with auto flash. Incandescent, overhead light.




I'm not sure that I love any of these shots. My point and shoot camera can be quite frustrating when shooting indoors, and manually adjusting the settings only helps so much. It's cool to see the difference lighting makes on a photo, though. Which photo looks best to you?

Week 4, Part One: Color Schemes

First up, a photo that represents a monochromatic color scheme. I'm happy I learned last week how to use the macro setting on my camera.




Next is a photo representing an analogous color scheme. I like the variety of reds and yellows with an orange thrown in there.

Another Collage

I liked the idea of a macro collage, but I felt like a collage of fewer pictures would show the details better. So took some more shots and made another collage of the new ones I liked.


I played around with the color curves in Gimp and got this cool effect on this photo of a snow shovel. The rust really pops out with the high contrast.

Week Three: Macro Collage

This week we were to create a collage using 20 photos shot with our cameras' macro setting. Here is my collage!

Week Two: Same Object, Different Perspectives

This week my assignment was to take 6 to 7 photos of the same subject from varying perspectives. I decided to shoot a piece of farm machinery that sits in a field across the road from my house. We were supposed to choose our two favorites and compare and contrast them, but I could only narrow it down to three.

Up first is a general shot of the entire piece of equipment. I think it gives a pretty good idea of what it might feel like to be standing there in person. There was no flash because of the sunny day.


The next photo is a close-up of the belt system at the rear of the machinery. I believe this was used for ejecting square hay bales up and out the back. Anyway, I like this photo because of the abstract nature of it. You can't really tell what the subject is. The snow in the background is way too bright, though.


The third is my favorite. I love the color saturation, the textures, everything.