Assignment #10

[bourkies]

I was happy to see this assignment. I believe my strength lies within landscape photos. I have the chance to travel alot because my boyfriend is a musician so I come a cross a lot of eye-catching sights. As I was going through some of my stronger photos, I remembered this one that I took when we went to Ontario a few months ago. We were driving around Lake Superior and thought I should gte some shots. I like this one because there are a lot of elements to it, yet it isnt too crowded. Theres the sand, the water, the hill in the background and then the sky and each one is an element of its own that creates a very characteristic landscape. Also the waves rolling to shore adds a whole new side to the photo.

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Great work on this assignment.

You’re right that the photograph successfully captures a large area of space while maintaining a strong sense of simplicity. You’ve done this by both limiting the number of objects and colors that have made it within the 4 walls of your photograph. However, you haven’t over simplified either. The space is still vibrant and full of texture. strong lines and life. Great work.

I do have three concerns however.

1. Perspective
2. Lines
3. Balance

I want to see you experiment more with your perspective. What you’ve done isn’t wrong, but you can easily incorporate a stronger foreground object (in this case it would be the sand) if you changed your perspective and got lower to the ground. For example, look at this photograph:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3488663602_ee7895438d.jpg

Secondly, I’m concerned that your horizon line is unbalanced. It slopes down towards the right side of the frame which looks unintentional to me. It’s a common issue with larger landscape photographs but it’s important to be aware of.

Some cameras let you shoot with grid on the viewfinder so you can ensure your lines are straight. However, if your camera doesn’t have that ability then you need to be extra careful that your horizon line is straight (unless, that is, you’re using diagonal lines for specific reasons). However, slightly angled lines almost always look unintentional. I’ve attached your image with a ruler so you can see the slope (look below).

Lastly, I feel the horizon line shouldn’t be so centered. In this case I think it should be higher so you can include more of the sand as a foreground element (as I think it’s a more interesting visual element than the sky which would take up less space if you changed your horizon line).

Great work overall. It’s a very strong image. The points above may seem small, but that’s where the mastery of this craft is found!

[Author]

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