Thanks for sending in your first two photos.
Sometimes students submit photos in waves. All of a sudden there is a deluge of student assignments to critique and I get behind… 😳
Right off the top I’ll let you know that you did a great job on your first images.
This is how the assignment reads:
Lesson 1: Assignment Assignment Title: Beast to Beauty
We want you to find something particularly boring in your home. It could be a doorknob, a remote control, a garbage can, a plain couch, tiles or anything else which you would rarely notice around your home. Something totally forgettable and uninteresting.
Now what we want you to do is to take 2 pictures of the object. Take one picture of it as you normally see it. Stand back and take the picture of the object with disregard for its relation to other things or any interesting elements within the object itself.
Now, I want you to get close to the object and see it with fresh eyes. How can you make this object interesting? What if you changed the lighting? What if you added something to it? What if you zoomed in? What if you blurred your camera to make it more abstract? What if you put it in close relation to something else to make it more interesting? These are all just ideas, but the possibilities are endless. Now Take a second picture and turn this ordinary object into something much more visually pleasing.
How can you make this object interesting?
That is the keyphrase in this entire assignment. You’ve done just that. A box of crayons on the floor is pretty mundane and so it fits the bill. So well done on that area!
Now you’re beauty shot is a real beauty. You’ve made me care about a little box of crayons. You’ve made me take notice. The interplay of the macro (close up) framing, the colors, and the shadow makes for a nice little image.
However there is always room for improvement. This photo has relatively shallow depth of field. And given that, the area that is in focus should be the ‘focal point’ or the most interesting part of the photo. In other words, it’s where you want to draw the eye of people who are looking at your photograph. In this case my eye is drawn to the tip of the crayon. This is a little bit of a let down because it’s the wrong tip of the crayon… I’m just using this as an example (and I don’t think your photo is a let down) but try to make the most interesting part of the image the part that is in focus.
Also try to remove distracting elements if you can. This big yellow blur in the bottom left of the frame also draws my attention but doesn’t really add anything except a little color (which isn’t that bad)… But beware of elements like this when you’re shooting for sure. Especially when you’re shooting portraits of people. IE is there a giant pole in the background that will look like it’s coming out of the back of their heads?! You get the idea…
What you’ve also done well is to try new things and shoot more than less. Both of which are great ideas and you should keep doing (as you mentioned in your note)
Good work and I look forward to your next assignment!!!