Creative Imaging : Composition At Home

Hello everyone,

Back again to report about my adventures with yet another creative imaging assignment. Below I have included my top 6 shots depicting a certain design element in each. Along with each photo, I have included a short description as to what I struggled with with that particular design element. If you do not want to go into too much detail, you can read my brief description (directly below) of my experiences with the assignment.

MY EXPERIENCE WITH COMPOSITION AT HOME

I am not good with boundaries. I struggled with this assignment as much as I did with our '100 Creative Ways' assignment last week. I am happy with my final images, yet I doubt how clear and concise my design elements are when portrayed in most of my 84 images. I feel so confined in my house, and therefore get panicked, and the whole 'being at ease' and 'letting go of self' before photographing sort of goes out the window. This is not something I am learning to do easily but with time and many more of these assignments I'm sure I will both

A) Be a pro with limited area and design elements

B) Go mad in the process!

I like to be challenged, and I really do hope to get better at this. I may even start doing my own challenges, like confining myself to one area of a park while shooting or shooting one subject 100 ways once again. Despite the issue of confinement, I feel a little hazy about how to distinguish between all of design elements. Line, shape, and form all seem to fall under one area for me, and I get frustrated trying to find the proper composition while still incorporating the design element I need - all to make one final great photo. I will just have to keep shooting and pushing limits with myself.

DEPTH

This is my image for the design element depth. I approached depth by using the 'sharpness/depth of field perspective'. I compressed my space between this vase and it's background by using a telephoto lens and a low F stop. The compression of space has created a very sharp subject and intriguing short depth of field.

SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

This is my image depicting symmetrical balance. I think it is quite self explanatory as to why I chose this as my top image for this design element. The windows are symmetrical, and the range of tones surround the outside of the windows along with the dark tone in the middle of the two draws the eye in quite effectively.

TEXTURE

This is my image for the design element texture. It is of a grapefruit and orange, and even though it is somewhat soft of a texture, it's quite apparent, especially in the grapefruit.

PATTERN/RHYTHM

This is my image for the design element pattern or rhythm. I think it is fairly self explanatory why this is a pattern and somewhat rhythmic photo. The rich color of the table cloth make the pattern quite distinct and 'easy on the eye'. I also sense a bit of rhythm due to the rolls of the table cloth as your eye is drawn to the right.

SHAPE/FORM

This is my best image for shape or form. Although I took quite a few shape/form images, because I understand shape/form, this one stood out the most. The glasses have a great texture to them, and your eye is not distracted to the background because of the low F stop I used. This was taken with a telephoto lens. I suppose these shapes are more of a form because they are modeled somewhat dimensional.

LINE

Here is my image for the design element, 'line'. I decided to use this image for line because, well, there are very distinct lines in the image. Not only are the lines distinct and intriguing to the eye, but there are two tones (the paint) in the image as well, that meet. Edges are implied in the distinct corners of the four windows and wherever the walls meet. I feel this is a very strong depiction of the use of lines in composition. I do also recognize there are hints of rhythm and symmetrical balance, but lines are the most dominant due to the two shapes, tones, and colors that meet very distinctively in the photo.

Til later,

LC Murdoch