Part 1 : Complimentary Colours.
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| Image 1 |
Image 1 is a live music shot taken in a dark venue with the aid of coloured tungsten lighting. In this picture the complimentary colours of yellow and violet seem to work well together, occupying reasonable portions of the frame in an approximate ratio of 1:2. Attention is demanded by the vocalist being the point of focus. However the line of the microphone helps to draw the viewer through the picture to the guitarist in the background.
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| Image 2 |
I took a bit of a risk with Image 2 and it doesn't really seem to have worked. I was looking for red/green. I have attempted to apply a ratio of around 1:1. I have left some space on the right hand side of the frame for the fox to move into, following the line of his gaze.
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| Image 3 |
In Image 3, a still life of red and green apples, I tried to make a focal point of one apple by turning it upwards and placing it within a "thirds". To emphasise the movement towards this green apple I partially surrounded it with red apples. I made a tight crop to help hold the attention.
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| Image 4 |
I have difficulty lighting glass objects indoors, as can be seen in Image 4. Using yellow and violet as my complimentary colours I have tried to achieve balance in the image by placing the brightest objects on opposite sides of the frame on either plane.
Part 2 : Similar Colours.
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| Image 5 |
In image 5 I was attracted by the yellow and green centre of the flower and used a macro lens for a close-up shot. It was a windy day which has detracted slightly from the sharpness but added the bonus of the pollen being released in the breeze. Placing the main subject matter in the centre of the frame has worked in this instance as the lines around the sides of the frame offer some symmetry.
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| Image 6 |
In image 6 I have used yellow and green again as the similar colours. I was attracted by the strong horizontal lines in this composition which help to take the viewer from the front to the back of the frame.
The strong red/orange colours of Image 7 are highlighted perfectly against the blue/green background. Keeping the main subject in focus I used a slightly narrower aperture to add depth. As the dragon sculpture is facing to the left side of the frame I left an area of negative space here to give a sense of balance.
Image 8 was almost a contrasting colours picture due to the red and blue wall. However the passer-by in this instance was wearing a red shirt so I kept to the "Similar" theme. The lack of depth to the space in which I placed the camera meant I had to use a wide angle lens set on a tripod close to the ground. This has made for an unusual perspective and the slow shutter speed used had given movement and urgency to the composition.
Part 3 : Contrasting Colours.
Image 9 was an attempt at a still life shot. I arranged the three pieces into a triangular pattern. The stark contrast between the green and orange colours is accentuated by the use of a black background. The viewers attention is drawn from the limes to the orange and back again.
In image 10 I have used red and yellow as contrasting colours for this picture of a hibiscus taken on a recent holiday. There is a large splash of yellow in the composition but not too much that it overpowers the vivid red on show. The stamen, starting in the centre of the frame and working it's way upwards and to the right, helps to guide the viewer right through the image.
Image 11 is an attempt to highlight the contrast between green and orange again. Using a mid-wide aperture has thrown the background out of focus but kept just enough detail in the golfer so you can see what is happening. I asked the player to make a pretend putting stroke and hold it so that the club was pointing towards the hole. I then got myself into position on the ground and placed the ball to the right of the hole to retain definition by keeping the shadow prominent. The line created between the ball and the golfer take the viewer from the front ot the back of the image seamlessly.
Image 12 is a red/yellow contrast shot from the holiday I recently took. The background has been rendered completely blurred by the use of maximum aperture. Additionally I changed the hue very slightly to warm up the rather dull yellow. Natural backlighting has helped with the contrast between the two colours. The curve of the birds body from the bottom left of the image guides the observer straight up to the eye which is the point of focus. Once there, the beak helps slightly to take the attention to the right into the negative space and out of the frame.
Section 4 : Colour Accents
Image 13 is a crowd of jelly babies attending a football match. One jelly baby is with the wrong group of supporters and is the obvious centre of attention. I have made the yellow subject the point of focus and highlighted it by using a maximum aperture to keep the attention there. Composing the image with an upwards left to right movement helps to take the viewers attention straight to the required spot.
Image 14 is a red grape being dropped into a bowl of orange juice. This required the isolated colour to be placed in the centre of the frame to work best. The splash surrounding the grape at the moment of entry adds the required symmetry to hold the attention. The shot was lit with the use of flash bounced off a reflector to avoid glare.
In image 15 I have used a green peg against a red shirt. The shirt has been arranged so that it forms almost a triangle pointing at the peg. The use of a red line also helps to guide the viewer towards the green peg from the opposite side of the frame. Whilst a smaller peg would probably have been more helpful for the point of this exercise, I think the composition helps to create the required effect.
For image 16 I positioned myself so that the musician stood directly between me and a red wash light. This created a red rim around the guitarists head, and a strong accent between the blue and red. This demands the immediate attention of the viewer, aided by the tilted composition which helps to guide the eyes upwards from the right of the frame.
ASSIGNMENT FEEDBACK
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| Image 7 |
The strong red/orange colours of Image 7 are highlighted perfectly against the blue/green background. Keeping the main subject in focus I used a slightly narrower aperture to add depth. As the dragon sculpture is facing to the left side of the frame I left an area of negative space here to give a sense of balance.
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| Image 8 |
Image 8 was almost a contrasting colours picture due to the red and blue wall. However the passer-by in this instance was wearing a red shirt so I kept to the "Similar" theme. The lack of depth to the space in which I placed the camera meant I had to use a wide angle lens set on a tripod close to the ground. This has made for an unusual perspective and the slow shutter speed used had given movement and urgency to the composition.
Part 3 : Contrasting Colours.
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| Image 9 |
Image 9 was an attempt at a still life shot. I arranged the three pieces into a triangular pattern. The stark contrast between the green and orange colours is accentuated by the use of a black background. The viewers attention is drawn from the limes to the orange and back again.
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| Image 10 |
In image 10 I have used red and yellow as contrasting colours for this picture of a hibiscus taken on a recent holiday. There is a large splash of yellow in the composition but not too much that it overpowers the vivid red on show. The stamen, starting in the centre of the frame and working it's way upwards and to the right, helps to guide the viewer right through the image.
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| Image 11 |
Image 11 is an attempt to highlight the contrast between green and orange again. Using a mid-wide aperture has thrown the background out of focus but kept just enough detail in the golfer so you can see what is happening. I asked the player to make a pretend putting stroke and hold it so that the club was pointing towards the hole. I then got myself into position on the ground and placed the ball to the right of the hole to retain definition by keeping the shadow prominent. The line created between the ball and the golfer take the viewer from the front ot the back of the image seamlessly.
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| Image 12 |
Image 12 is a red/yellow contrast shot from the holiday I recently took. The background has been rendered completely blurred by the use of maximum aperture. Additionally I changed the hue very slightly to warm up the rather dull yellow. Natural backlighting has helped with the contrast between the two colours. The curve of the birds body from the bottom left of the image guides the observer straight up to the eye which is the point of focus. Once there, the beak helps slightly to take the attention to the right into the negative space and out of the frame.
Section 4 : Colour Accents
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| Image 13 |
Image 13 is a crowd of jelly babies attending a football match. One jelly baby is with the wrong group of supporters and is the obvious centre of attention. I have made the yellow subject the point of focus and highlighted it by using a maximum aperture to keep the attention there. Composing the image with an upwards left to right movement helps to take the viewers attention straight to the required spot.
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| Image 14 |
Image 14 is a red grape being dropped into a bowl of orange juice. This required the isolated colour to be placed in the centre of the frame to work best. The splash surrounding the grape at the moment of entry adds the required symmetry to hold the attention. The shot was lit with the use of flash bounced off a reflector to avoid glare.
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| Image 15 |
In image 15 I have used a green peg against a red shirt. The shirt has been arranged so that it forms almost a triangle pointing at the peg. The use of a red line also helps to guide the viewer towards the green peg from the opposite side of the frame. Whilst a smaller peg would probably have been more helpful for the point of this exercise, I think the composition helps to create the required effect.
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| Image 16 |
For image 16 I positioned myself so that the musician stood directly between me and a red wash light. This created a red rim around the guitarists head, and a strong accent between the blue and red. This demands the immediate attention of the viewer, aided by the tilted composition which helps to guide the eyes upwards from the right of the frame.
ASSIGNMENT FEEDBACK
Tutor Report Form
| Student name: | Robert German |
| Student number: | 507010 |
| Course/Module title: | Art of Photography |
| Assignment number: | 3 |
Overall Comments
Some images (e.g. the first one) have a
vibrancy and strength of colour which other shots here lacked. I do
find it strange that the difficult, low lighting of a gig has
produced the best exposure and colour saturation.
With your still-lifes, you have
struggled to get the correct exposure, not chosen lighting with power
and direction, to add modelling of forms and greater saturation of
colour. Bracket the exposures by at least a stop each way, then
choose the best exposure. Check the camera's histogram to make sure
that you have detail recorded toward both ends of the scale. If you
have whites, or pale colour there should be spike on the graph near
to the right-hand side.
I previously suggested that subjects
for this assignment can be of any scale and often work better if they
are relatively simple. By and large you have managed to do this,
although a few shots are a little fussy.
Feedback on assignment
Colour harmony through complementary
colours
1
This is a well-composed live music shot
that copes excellently with the difficult lighting conditions. A
by-product of this lighting is that you have vivid purple and yellow
on opposite sides of the subject. The yellow is on the lady's hair
and her face is in almost white light, both of which appear almost
natural. The small area of brighter yellow balances the darker purple
tones.
2
I agree with your commentary that the
colours don't really come off here. There are two reasons for this:
The 'red' fox is more brown than red, except perhaps around the head.
The other reason is that there is no direct light on the subject to
bring out the saturation of the colours.
3
The red and green are a simple
combination with potential. More careful arrangement would add to the
shot's impact (eg excluding the blue background). More importantly,
this is crying out for what the previous shot also lacked - some
directional light to add light and shade, modelling of forms and
better saturated colours.
4
The lighing isn't too bad here, despite
your comments to the contrary. Glass is best lit from behind, by an
even spread of light - either reflect light off a light-coloured
background, or shine light through the base/back of a translucent
surface (eg perpex). The water doesn't look clear which distracts
from the effects of the light passing through. The violet background
needs to be a brighter colour as it appears too grey here. This image
is underexposed, so the colours are more subdued than they need to
be.
Colour harmony through similar colours
5
This is a good close-up shot of a
single flower head. The symmetry and shapes are good, as is the
sharpness of the nearest details. The light levels are too low again.
It is a pity that the red areas around the corners have been left in
the shot. These aren't similar to the yellows and greens.
6
The foreground plants are striped in
many shades of greens and yellows. The background adds to the colour
range without distracting from it. Your choice of a wide aperture has
helped to blur all but the strong shapes in the foreground. There
isn't a strong light from any direction, but there is enough to bring
out the colours of the plants, and to show through their leaves.
7
The reds and oranges are very warm
colours that are also quite striking. The sun on the dragon's head
separates it from the dull background. The blues and greens behind
are very subdued so do not detract from the foreground colours, due
mainly to the difference in lighting. If there is any more room at
the top of the original file, could the top of the dragon be included
within the frame?
8
The man has been captured at a good
point in his step. One leg is static and the rest of the body is
blurred by movement, but still recognizable. The red shirt and reds
on the wall are very similar, but the blue isn't, so this should be
contrasting as you mentioned in your text.
Colour contrast through contrasting
colours
9
The oranges and limes are certainly
contrasting. The soft top light has rendered both reasonably well.
The reflective base adds another dimension to the image's composition
too. The only problem is the exposure which is far too dark.
10
The red and yellow contrast well and
the flower is a great example, in the peak of condition. The greens
in the background detract from the main event. A blue colour added to
red and yellow would be an acceptable third colour, as it too is one
third of the way around the colour wheel from red and yellow.
11
This is the best of your set-up shots
in its concept. There is a slight yellow cast to the shot that alters
the grass to a yellow/green colour. The scale and placement of the
ball and man are very good. I think this shot would benefit from a
little brightening.
12
The pose, composition and sharpness are
very good. The only factor that needs tweaking is the background; it
looks more green than yellow to me. Try using hue/saturation to shift
it towards a yellow and to brighten the shot sllightly.
Colour accents
13
This is a bit of fun with an inbuilt
narrative. The yellow is a complementary colour to the purple. The
odd one out really needs to be on something purple to provide an
accent to it - the black isn't a ground to provide an accent.
Brighten the image to bring out more of the colours.
14
The rendition of the liquid is
excellent. I really like the shapes that have been produced by the
ripples and the capture of the droplets shows the freezing action of
the flash. The grape is too far down to be seen clearlty and has gone
beyond the zone in focus. Again it is too dark to see any colours
accurately or with any saturation. Put a glass of orange juice next
to this image and see the difference (about 2 to 3 stops I'd say).
15
The colours are good and the concept
has worked quite well to look natural. The flat light has helped to
bleach out the sky so that it doesn't detract. The composition is
good too. I think this shot should be in 'complementary' as the peg
isn't a small area on the red ground, but an line that leads out of
it.
16
Another great gig shot, with vibrant
pink colours against a deep electric blue. I guess this is colour
accents, not accent as there are many pink points. A crop down to
just the head would make a superb portrait of a blue head with pink
rim-lighting. In the last feedback I said that 'colour accents are
usually a 'single point' composition, to guide you towards examples
like those in the module handbook - one bright colour against a field
of another colour.
Learning log
Don't forget to update your log with
any activities, plans and thoughts about your work. Add also your
research and thoughts on other photographer's work that you've read
about or seen online or in exhibitions. In particular, relate your
reflection and developing thoughts about what you see to your own
work.
Suggested reading/viewing
I recommend reading 'Dialogue with
Photography' by Paul Hill & Thomas Cooper
Conclusions and targets for next
assignment.
In the last assignment feeback I
suggested that you 'Continue to look for the light, line and form to
produce better images, as you have in this assignment.' That means to
look for suitable light first, then for subjects in that light. I
feel you are still looking for subjects first, then photographing
them regardless of the light on them. This will change in the next
assignment; choosing appropriate lighting to bring out specific
properties of your subject is the theme of the assignment. This
should be a real boon to your image making, revealing that light
alone is the most important factor, not subject matter.
The next assignment is one where
choosing a subject needs care. It should be just one object, but can
have many facets, textures, colours etc. A distinctive shape will
help make for an interesting outline (shape), a good surface will
give opportunities for texture shots (generally close-ups). It should
also have some colour that can be shown off by direct light. An
object you can turn will enable shots to be taken using sunlight at
any time, as you may rotate it for best effect. Or you may prefer an
object in its natural environment where the sun's position will
determine the time of shooting.
| Tutor name: | Derek Trillo |
| Date | 20/07/11 |
| Next assignment due | 31/08/11 |
ASSIGNMENT FEEDBACK
Without doubt my weakest assignment of the 5. I was aware of this at the time but personal issues caused me to rush through unfortunately. Based on Derek's valuable assessment I wish to make the following changes.
Part 1 Complimentary Colours.
Stick with image 1.
Image 2 I would like to disregard and replace with image 15.
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| Image 2 |
Please disregard image 2.........
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| Image 15 |
...and replace with image 15
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| Image 3 |
OK so now that I understand light a little more I had to re-shoot image 3. The correct colour apples were unavailable so I took another picture of red and green candy sticks, lit much better than the original shot.
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| Image 4 |
I had trouble replicating this shot as I no longer have that colour background so I tweaked the exposure and brightness settings and added a little contrast.
Part 2 Similar Colours.
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| Image 5 |
Image 5 is simply a tighter crop of the original composition, disposing of the pink parts of the image.
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| Image 8a |
As Image 8 has moved from "Similar Colours" to "Contrasting Colours" I had to shoot a new photograph to replace it. So this is the new Image 8
Part 3 Contrasting Colours.
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| Image 9 |
Please disregard Image 9.........
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| Image 8 |
........and replace with image 8.
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| Image 10 |
Again, a tight crop on the flower has removed the unwanted green colour from the frame
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| Image 11 |
In image 11 I have changed the hue of the grass to a much more natural looking green.
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| Image 12 |
Similarly to image 11, I have shifted the hue of the background colour to a more yellow shade.
Part 4 Colour Accents
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| Image 13 |
Sticking with the Jelly babies theme I have taken another picture without a seperate background.
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| Image 14 |
Being unable to recreate the grape in orange juice with any degree of success (I eventually ran out of servicable grapes) I have decided to use this simple shot of a cheque book and pen for image 14
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| Image 15 |
As the original image 15 is now in the section covering complimentary colours I have included another shot to replace it.
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| Image 16 |
As suggested by Derek I have cropped this image to just a single colour accent rather than many accents.
