First Assignment

[bourkies]

Here goes the first assignment. I always see guitar picks lying around my house, this one was just on the floor so I decided to work with it.

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Hello.

Great photographs and first assignment. I really enjoy this assignment because it will allow us to point out some of the strengths of composition as well as common mistakes.

Let’s start with the strengths of the shots. Both photographs have great simplicity and control over the subject matter. You’ve done a great job of organizing the photographs and you’ve effectively communicated your point with precision in both photographs. Just as authors need to make a point clearly with words, photographers are held to the same standard, but with images instead of text.

You’re a visual story teller so you need to organize reality and focus on the important parts of your message. This also means knowing what to exclude from your shot. You’ve done a great job of that.

On a similar note, tone is an important part of photography. You’ve further organized your photographs by controlling the tone of each shot. Your first shot uses lines, shapes and great color control to help advance your composition and communicate your visual idea in a clear, simple manner.

Your other shot of the pick on the floor is also organized and composed using lines, shapes, color simplicity and negative space to help draw your viewer’s eye to your main area of interest. These are great technical attributes of a photograph.

However, what I would like to see you experiment with more is positioning and depth. You’ve started to experiment with it in your guitar photograph by incorporating a foreground, middle ground and background, but your photograph with the pick on the floor lacks depth and therefore the illusion of a third dimension. That photograph also doesn’t abide by the rule of thirds and has an overall awkward sense of space and balance.

Overall you’re off to a great start. You seem to have a great eye for composition and you’re ability to organize is impressive. I look forward to seeing your next assignment!

[Author]

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