Assignment 1: Beauty and Beast

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #17748
    Nicole
    Participant

    (I think I posted this in the wrong spot before)

    I was excited about this first lesson. My favorite pictures are those that you look at and say “Wow, neat color/pattern/contrast/shadow/texture… what is it?!” I love taking an odd shot and this is one of my favorites! I hope you like it too!

    Are we allowed to post more than one set for each lesson?

    #19178
    Duncan Rawlinson
    Keymaster

    Wonderful example for this assignment.

    You’ve chosen to compose a macro photograph as your “beauty” photograph. This is common tendency that many photographers are drawn towards. However, it’s important to realize what it is about macro photography that draws photographers into it in the first place.

    As you’ve already pointed out, you were better able to communicate color, contrast and texture in this photograph. You’ve also been able to control your color palette and limit your color range to whites and gradients of blue and brown / orange.

    The photograph is abstract in nature. If you didn’t upload the first image, nothing would be provided to provide context to the shot. Instead of focusing on objects and story, the photograph experiments with shapes, texture and color. It’s a great shot, but please know that the same visual ideas can be communicated in larger scenes as well. Your next challenge will be to play with the idea of space a little more and try to capture the same photographic elements in larger settings.

    The only concern I have with the photograph is that it suffers from a bit of noise and a bit of overexposure in the white areas. Noise can often be made more subtle by using a lower ISO speed (i.e. 50 or 100). Some of the whites are “burnt out” (i.e. overexposed), and all detail has been lost in small pieces in that region. It’s more noticeable when you enlarge the photograph, but as you progress as a photographer you’ll want to start enlarging your work so it’s important to start recognizing these seemingly small details now.

    Most digital cameras have a hard time handling dynamic range (also known as latitude) and that is why this problem occurred in the first place. We have an entire blog post written on the subject. Please take the time to read it. I think it will help you with your future assignments.

    http://photographyicon.com/blog/2008/11/26/digital-cameras-latitude-dynamic-range/

    Other than that… great work!

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.