Lesson I

[MichaelS]

Hi,

here is the submission for the 1st assignment, my wife’s sewing machine… 😉

Cheers,
Michael[attachment=0:2iviqnp3]IMG_0335.jpg[/attachment:2iviqnp3][attachment=1:2iviqnp3]IMG_0339.jpg[/attachment:2iviqnp3]

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Hi Michael!

Welcome to the student forum!

Did you confirm that you are on the email list?

Also, are you on twitter? If so: http://twitter.com/photographyicon

Now onto your assignment.

I have to say that I’m very well impressed with your first submission.

The goal of this assignment was to make something ordinary, look extraordinary. You have done this very well.

Although this sewing machine might not be considered a “boring” object you’ve certainly made it even more interesting than it is. So you have completed the first assignment.

There is always room for improvement so here are a few things that might have made this a better photo:

[attachment=0:r0kcv4k0]sewing-maching-closeup.jpg[/attachment:r0kcv4k0]

1: Empty Space
Now, if you did this intentionally as part of your framing and you wanted it to look this way then good. But if this was a mistake than you should think about your composition more carefully going forward. Sometimes negative space like this is good but I want you to think about it…

Some negative space examples that are nice:

geodesic by 416style, on Flickr

leaving the scene by iboy_daniel, on Flickr

Just make sure you do it for a reason!

2: Potential Crop
If you framed your image this way it might have been more dynamic. Getting really close is VERY important for good photography. It’s probably THE most important thing! Get close, then get even closer.

3: Focus
This is the most important element in the frame and I want you to be sure that the important elements are in focus. I can’t tell if this is in perfect focus or not. Either way, make sure the most interesting element are perfectly focused. Other elements are not as important…

4: Bokeh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

Try to use bokeh to imporve your images. In this case I find it to be distracting.

You might have to do some “chimping” to make sure this doesn’t happen…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimping

Overall you’ve done very well for your first assignment.

I’m very happy to be working with you.

Oh and I LOVE barcelona! I was there recently and took these personal photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelastminute/sets/72157624030400444/

[Author]

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