assignment 1

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[teacher_2]

Hello and thank you for submitting this assignment.

Sorry for our own late reply. We have just finished transferring over the site to a new server and it took more time than we thought.

Let’s get right into the review of your first assignment.

This assignment asked that you take an ordinary environment and transform it into a photograph with a stronger sense of design. There was no one right way to go about doing this. We just wanted to see you use your imagination to showcase your understanding of the shaping powers of depth, lines, perspective, colors, framing etc. All of these things you can manipulate very easily simply by changing your position around the object you’re exploring. You’ve done a great job of that.

You’ve taken a wide shot of a lighter and you’ve transformed it into a close up where you’ve placed more emphasis on the foreground and you’ve de-emphasized the background. You’ve done this by using a shallow depth of field (also known as selective focus).

This is a great technique to use if you’re ever working with backgrounds that don’t support the “context” of your shot or they are difficult to organize because they are too cluttered. Effectively, by softening the focus of the background you are telling your audience (visually of course) that the background is of less importance than the areas of the photograph that are in sharp focus.

Learning how to tell your visual story in the strongest way possible is as important to a photographer as learning how to punctuate a sentence is to a writer. You need to find a form, a shape or a message in your work. To do this you’ll need to have an intimate understanding of how the technical components of the craft help you communicate your ideas.

In your first photograph for example you have noticeable “amputation” (i.e. cutting off of object by 1 or more of the 4 walls of the frame) which is distracting and doesn’t add to the point of your visual story.

In your 2nd shots you’ve removed the context by blurring the background. My only suggestion to you would be to experiment with balance and object placement. Generally speaking the center of the frame isn’t the most dramatic or interesting placement for an object. Center placement is called “formal balance”. You might want to try experimenting with a strong sense of “informal balance” by making your photographs abide by the rule of thirds which would force you to place your objects to the sides of the frame.

Other than that, you’re off to a great start. I look forward to seeing your next assignment!

[Author]

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