Assignment 3- Finding depth and motion

[audrey]

hello,
i took a little while before posting my third assignment as i was waiting to become more familiar with aperture and shutter speeds. i am still playing round with settings and exposure. i had little opportunity to shoot a motion picture and i had to do some post production on the motion submission. i am still starting to learn photoshop so it is not perfect. i think my tripod moved when i pressed the button because the image is slightly blurry
i would love to read more on post production work, portrait work and depth of field on the blog. i found a lot of difficulties when trying out different shots and would love to have a space where to ask my questions.
thank you
audrey

[Duncan Rawlinson]

This is a wonderful submission.

You’ve accomplished exactly what was asked from you for this assignment. Your first image of the car creates the illusion of motion in a 2 dimensional space. Your second image of the bed of flowers mimics the way the eye sees focus and depth by your choice of a shallow depth of field.

Let’s start by discussing your first image. The image is strong, but there are still a few areas to consider for improvement. First, from a composition standpoint, the general rule of thumb when shooting moving objects is to leave more space in the direction of the movement. The car is fairly centered in the frame, but it would look more natural if it was placed closer to the left side of the frame.

Secondly, you mentioned that you were concerned about the slight blurriness of this image. True, it may have been caused by slight camera shake, but it also could be your ISO setting. The shot has “noise” in it which causes a less crisp look. Try setting your ISO to a lower number (i.e. 50 or 100) to get rid of the noise. Obviously, this may not be possible in low light situations, but generally you’ll find less noise (i.e. digital film grain) when you use lower ISO speeds and the opposite when you use higher ISO speeds (i.e. 800 +).

Both of your images have great color control and overall composition. Both use limited color palettes which really helps isolate your main area of interest and give your images a strong organizational quality to them.

This is particularly true in your second image where you’ve used the limited color palette of gradients of green and orange. The orange is really contrasted with the green which helps give this image a dramatic look. You’ve also done a great job of ensuring the 4 walls of your image are clear of distracting elements. Lastly, you’ve used your shallow depth of field to help focus your viewer’s attention while still providing background context.

Wonderful work!

[Author]

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