Composition with Craig

Forum 1: Composition

Working on this assignment, since I am not sure what I want to do for my photo story, I decided I wanted to photograph an everyday item, and decided to go with a lamp because the interesting element of light that I could play around with. My goal was to take an everyday item that we do not typically think of or pay much attention to and try to capture interesting photos of it using different composition techniques. These are five shots with five different elements that I was able to get.

Symmetry

For this shot, I used the subject of the photo (the lamp) as a the line of symmetry/midpoint breaking down the two sides of the photo. Both sides of the image mirror/mimic the opposite side. I also thought the light that the lamp put off on the table was a neat addition to the symmetry and made the photo stick out more. I had to turn the light on to keep the photo symmetric because with it turned off, the shadow of the lamp threw off the symmetry by only displaying on one side.

Negative Space  

For this shot, I was able to use the blank wall as negative space, emphasizing the lamp as the sole subject of the photo. I took a similar photo with the lamp turned on, but I thought the shadows created by the light actually added too much to the photo and took away from the lamp itself, so I went with this shot that eliminated all distractions.

Angle

This is my favorite of the shots I took. I love the way that the light looks from the top down view. This shot is interesting because it takes a look at the lamp from an angle we do not typically see. It also makes the actual way the light appears look way different, as there is almost a yellowish feel from this angle. 

Rule of Thirds

For this wider-angled shot, I followed the compositional concept of rule of thirds, placing the main subject of the photo, the lamp, in the right third of the photo. I used the grid lines on my phone's camera to line the shot up. I made the decision to keep the lamp turned on for this shot because I thought it brought emphasis to the lamp as a main subject while also keeping the table and chairs in the frame.

Layering 

I decided to use this shot for layering because of the sense of depth that is in the shot by putting the lower light of the lamp in the foreground with the upper light in the background. The layering of the lights gives a sense of the length between the two along the pole of the lamp. I think the shadow also does a good job of providing depth in regard to the distance between the wall and lamp.

Working the Shot

Something I really learned through this process was the importance of working the shot and trying photos from multiple angles and with different light settings. All five of my photos are of the same object in the same place, but none of them look the same. This goes to show that using different compositional elements and working your shot can give you vastly different results of the same object being photographed.