Week 5 assignment

This assignment is very similar in concept to the third assignment we had, where we focused on using elements of composition to their extremes, but we also had to add in the idea of utilizing the camera to capture images that would be hard, if not impossible, to see with the naked eye.
My compositional element I worked with was dominance, and I feel I was successful in some cases, and less so in other. I ended up mainly working with signs, as they already have a sense of dominance, in their own right, and I felt the urge to augment that in my work.

This first image I feel gives a very dominant feeling, with the worn, aged stop sign as the key element to the composition. I also worked with depth of field in this picture, but I feel that it lost its weight due to the sheer dominance of the sign itself.

This next photograph lacks much of the dominant qualities that the first picture had, but uses depth of field, again; but in this case uses it to make the sign more dominant. Also, through just a little work in photoshop, I was able to bring out the contrast on the green line sign to make it stand out more.

I feel this is probably the weakest of the images overall, even though I've established the dominance of the large structure as well as capturing a lens flare, which I set out originally with the intention of using them in my pictures. However, the contrast could be a little better in the image and even using the burn and dodge tools did not help as much as I would have liked.

This last picture breaks a little from the sign theme, though the use of depth of field, once again, establishes a good sense of dominance, so, even though the one post is just running through the frame of the image, it seems like a very important post, a very weighted one.

After working on this assignment, I feel that I can actually combine technical elements of the camera, such as using the macro focus to get depth of field, with elements of composition to make an overall stronger image.

This next assignment was an investigation in color and it's usages. In photoshop, we were to create images using non-representational shapes and color to express a certain keyword. The images below were my attempts at the assignment.

"Bryan"

"New"

"Renaissance"

"MassArt"

"Iraq"

"Forceful"

"Fever"

"Delicious"

"Calm"

"Autumn"

Earlier Homeworks

So I have pictures of the first two homework assignments that I did in this class. We only just got them today in class, though I have a few of my own pictures that I can throw up alongside the ones taken in class.


This first one is supposed to be the shadow of one of the green line trains here in Boston. The idea was to make a silhouette of something that has some significance to me. I've always been fascinated by trains, especially when I was younger. I used to have a model train layout back home, and I loved working on it.
The other, greater significance to me however, is that the Green Line is one of the easiest ways for me to get back to my hometown from Boston now. So, in a way, symbolizes the link between my two worlds


This first photo here is actually me attempting to run the picture through my scanner. As you can see, some of the details around the edges of the bridge got blurred 'cause the scanner wants to focus on what's right against the screen.
Anyhow, the concept of this assignment was to base a collage, in part, off of a photo up on flickr, that had good concepts of both line and shape. I chose this image because I thought it was a good example of these ideas, but also because it the original picture looked really desolate and kinda post-apocalyptic, and those kinda photos fascinate me.

Credit for the original image goes entire to the photographer on flickr
Original page

For my second homework assignment in this class, I focused on shooting my desk with my macbook on it. Using several compositional elements, I captured the chaotic of my workspace, as well as a rather dramatic atmosphere.


I started off just getting an image of my desk with some pretty high contrast. The picture captures a fairly even depth of field to attempt to get most of the scene in focus.


This next one I used the macro-focus feature to get a close-up on the keys on my laptop. The idea here was to use an interesting balance of variety and unity, between the different icons and the similar shapes (respectively).


Starting to use higher contrast here. I shut off any and all room lights and let only the computer's backlight illuminate the photo. It has a good sense of depth here, causing the lights to appear to be farther away.


Going for a darker image here. Again, using minimal lighting to create a dramatic composition. Also, there is somewhat of a narrative here, the light from the port seems to be flooding into the circular disk below.


Establishing a short depth of field here, mainly to accentuate the subject in the foreground. I also started to use dramatic lighting using a flashlight to, once again, exaggerate the subject matter.

Here I started using some unusual lighting to change the colors of the objects. I took advantage of the reflective quality of the metal in the keyboard and turned it red with the help of colored lights. The contrast between light and dark that normally appears in the previous photos was accentuated by the warm and cool tones. Also, the macro-focus again caused the depth of field to close down, leaving some of the lights from my gadgets on the other side of my desk in a soft blur.