Today is a very rainy, bleak day in my part of the world. I took this earlier after buying E an umbrella. Of course he wanted to go and stand in the rain. The Mum in me wanted to say no it’s too cold and wet, you will catch a cold etc, etc, but I remember how exciting it was under an umbrella in the rain as a child and so I said OK. I had researched the other day about framing in photography because I didn’t feel like I understood it. That was probably because I had read the concept name and no explanation?! So when I took this I felt like it did what is was supposed to do. The yellow umbrella helps to draw the eye to the subject (E) and is balanced out by the yellow stool at the bottom. I suspect otherwise all you would see would be the umbrella. The green plants frame and lead the eye back. I think the blue boots are balanced by the blue tones in the fence behind. I am happy enought that I understand the concept.
I am moving on to number 3.
E loves his yellow umbrella and I love the lesson it taught me about framing
I just noticed this too. I like it. Not sure how it will turn out, it has been heavily cropped from an iPhone image?!
Point 3 is Simplify. Simple is best. Remove anything that doesn’t help you tell the story. I have added this here because as it happens the above image is a good example. I cropped out the rest to simplify it because it looked better that way. Here is the original.
I wanted to share a link to a site I read today about composition here. It was simple, concise and had beautifully composed photos.
Although my subject matter will obviously be different, I can only hope that I will be able to take photos that good one day. Make that hope and practise! No one ever improves by wishing and then doing nothing.
Still experimenting, this time with leading the eye around using shape and colour.
The first photo uses the trunk of the tree to lead down to the leaves and circle then up through the scattered leaves to the bit that shouldn’t be there at the top. I tried cropping it but couldn’t work out why I didn’t like it as much with the brown bit at the top gone. Then I realized it was because it finishes off the circuit. Unfortunately it makes it weird so it is a photo conundrum. Oh dear.
The second shot I took because it ‘felt good’. I noticed that W’s socks with the orange toy drew attention then my eye wandered down the yellow quilt edge to the car toy. From there the same blue in the socks completed the circuit. The colours (blue, yellow and orange) were a classic split complementary combination. The vibrancy really helps make an otherwise ordinary shot interesting.
I love colour. July will be the start of my Colour Photo Series. July will be – Red.
Well I am still in ‘trying to get attention to my subject’ mode. I have this photo I took. The framing thing I need MUCH more practise with! I like the concept of looking at gender difference just by seeing the way the 2 kids sit at the table. O was neat and ate nicely. E was wriggling and on the go! But the frame isn’t great and I tried making it B&W but E’s legs were too dark 😦 Might have a play with filters later for fun.
Also looked at “get in closer”. I like doing that with plants particularly because there is so much that is there we don’t see at a glance, but it’s hard to get a toddler to let you do that. After much reasoning I got him to stay still for half a second- just long enough to take this. I love it, but I am his Mum haha.
I just decided to check what the photography tips for composition Number 2 was (see below) – it can be found here in this list.
2. Draw attention to the subject. This can be done by simply getting closer, by using selective focus, by using color, by lighting just the subject, by framing the subject in a doorway or window, etc.
and I had taken a photo this morning after a windy night that fits the rule pretty well, so I have added it as my first No 2 composition photo.
A beautiful mess after the storm.
This Maple leaf stood out to me when I went out to get some photos of the front yard completely covered with leaves from the Cedar tree. We don’t own a Maple tree. I have no idea where it came from, but it ended up nestled amongst the begonias and certainly stood out as not belonging to our garden if nothing else!
E loves the bath. He also loves my attention, but hates being photographed (I think its just a toddler thing). So when I asked him to look at the camera the only way he would do it was with the flannel in his mouth to ruin the photo. At least he is thinking.
Well it DOES tell a story!
I am happy enough to move on to composition point 2. I will have a play when I get some time and see how I go.
During this session I asked E to splash for me. “Am I allowed to do big splashes Mum?” “Just this once E” Look of amazement followed by excitement. This is the result.
There is something very satisfying about capturing water Matrix style, floating around in space.
I think I like this photo mainly because I have captured the water in a way that is so fleeting. I feel like I have outwitted it. I wonder if that is behind the recent fascination with the style of photpgraphy that aims to capture things mid-flight, stream etc?
The first point given in the list of points about composition in photography was,
‘1. Be clear on your subject. What story are you trying to tell with the photo?’
I decided to start with what I know…sort of. This is my son W. He is clearly the subject. I wanted to take a photo that spoke about the experience of babies. They are always put somewhere to watch or be entertained by others. I often wonder about his experience of life and what he thinks about watching and waiting. He never likes to be left passive for long. He is a participator and I am sure he will be more satisfied when he has more control over his actions.
I am not sure it is necessarily a good photo, but I am learning.
I am going to be upfront. I have NO IDEA about anything in photography! I have discovered I like it and it challenges my brain. When this happens to me I like to get better at whatever has inspired me. How to go about that??
Well, although I could be wrong, I have an inkling that composition goes a large way to making an awesome photo and so far I have been taking photos going purely on what “feels right”. As a result I am sure that many of the photos I am taking are similar in style (albeight immature) and I want to expand my thinking.
In the same way that the May Photo Challenge forced me to take photos of things other than my kids, I have found a website here that has a list of 25 composition tips for photography and I am going to work my way through them. They won’t be one a day this time, just when I get to the next one as I am also doing my June clothing mash-up challenge and that will take much of my “spare” time. (with 2 kids under 3 that is a bit of a joke anyway!) I am… expanding my mind.
If anyone can explain how this fits with the picture, hats off to you… I have no idea!
An interesting side effect of developing an interest in photography has been my inability to look at the world normally anymore! Driving along the road the other day I kept seeing composition possibilities and colour combinations. I found myself wanting to stop every 2 minutes to take another photo. My mind flashed to the scene in Terminator where Arnie walks into the bar looking for clothing and his eye scan thing ran through mass amounts of data as his eye passed over every object in the room. I found it really distracting and a bit of a sensory overload. I think I am going to have to limit thinking in this way to times when I am specifically out to take photgraphs. It made me wonder if all photographers are walking around with a Terminator in their head?
Learning the Light 