Hello and thank you for submitting this assignment. This was a technical assignment and you’ve done a great job of showcasing your ability to control both depth and motion.
In your first image you’ve used a shallow depth of field to help guide your audience’s attention to your foreground. This type of selective focus helps you direct your audience to the most important parts of your visual story.
In your second image you’ve successfully frozen the water from the tap using a fast shutter speed. However, from a compositional standpoint I think both images could use enhancements.
Let’s look at the first image. The liquor cabinet contains many different items. Your strongest point of focus is in the foreground (on the back of the vase / front of the small object (toy?). This is where you are telling your audience the most important part of your story is. But I’m uncertain how all of these objects (both primary objects and secondary objects) work together to create visual story.
I would have liked to see a stronger sense of focus, not from a technical standpoint, but from a story telling standpoint. If you wanted to tell a story about this liquor cabinet then you could have lit it and framed it in such a way that made it come to life. You could have played with shadow, texture in the wood, dust on the bottles, typography of the brands, symmetry and shape of the cabinet and so on.
The same is true for your second image. Although, from a technical standpoint you’ve done what was asked from you, I would have nevertheless liked to see you experiment with your composition. Water is a great object to photograph. But you need to experiment with lighting in this shot. Your lighting is very flat and there is no life to the water. Not only that but the water stream is in the center of the composition. This gives the image a formally balanced feel which means it doesn’t abide by the rule of thirds. Try playing around with your balance and composition by ensuring you experiment with unbalanced object placement. The result is usually more dramatic and interesting.
Your work has been great so far. I just want you to keep the bar high for yourself and continue to push yourself to the next level.
Great work overall! I’m looking forward to seeing your next assignment.