Rule of Thirds

In this photo the left top intersection aligns with her eye which pulls the focus to her eyes and face, and her ear is on the right third which pulls attention to her ears and earrings.

 

For this one the subject is Ryan and his head is on the top right intersection of the photo, the left intersection lines up with the left vertical line, which adds to the feeling of isolation.

In this one the mini library and the car line up with the two bottom intersections which draws attention to them Also the roof of the porch lines up with the top third which draws attention to the house.

The rule of thirds is a way to draw attention and utilize design. Humans are hardwired to find thirds pleasing so photos with subjects aligned with thirds look more artistic and pleasing to look at. An image that uses the rule of thirds will look much more natural and comfortable to the viewer.

Static and Dynamic Compositions

Dynamic Portrait

Dynamic Architecture

Dynamic Landscape

To create dynamic composition I looked for long diagonal guiding lines to draw attention to certain parts of the photo and intersecting lines to create make the photo look out of place, unsettling, or hectic. In my first photo the diagonal sign combines with the subjects place on different steps to give the photo eye flow, levels, and lines. The photo of architecture works very well for this assignment because there are many parallel lines that are diagonal to others, and there is one large line in the upper left that takes up dominance in the photo, creating harmony and unity. I took the last photo at west cliff during a wave break. The edge of the cliff makes a good connection between the energy of the wave and wharf in the background, and the diagonal horizon adds to the energy created by the wave. A fast shutter speed helped me achieve a crisp wave making the photo look even more realistic and giving power to the wave.

Static Portrait 

Static Architecture

Static Landscape

For my static images I looked for good interactions between horizontal and vertical. For my portrait example I used the  horizontal steps to contrast the fact that the subjects were vertical from each other, and used the placement of one above the other to show good proximity. In my picture of static architecture I liked the way that the vertical posts led up into the overhang to create a box shape around the porch as emphasis for the door and bench. My last image was my favorite because the single horizontal fallen tree showed a lot of contrast to the to the vertical trees and the variety creates a really nice juxtaposition.

(Essay not finished)

Portfolio Cover

Portraits

Butterfly

Split

Short

Broad

Rembrandt

Loop

Experimental

Principles of Exposure: ISO and Noise

ISO example:

The three elements of exposure are aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Exposure is the amount of light aloud into the camera when a photo is taken. Every element effects exposure similarly but are used to control different aspects of the picture.

Aperture is the width of the iris of the camera and changes the size of the slice of a photo that is in focus. A low aperture, which means a wide iris, makes a photo lighter, and makes the slice that's in focus smaller which makes a photo look a bit artsier. Shutter speed is how long the camera exposes the light for. A fast shutter speed will be darker because the light isn't exposed as long, but it will also make a moving subject look more crisp. Lastly, ISO mostly just effects the light of a photo, with a higher ISO making a lighter photo, however if the ISO is too high your photo will become a bit grainier.

All of these elements effect exposure and it's important to know what each one does. When you want to be able to adjust something like aperture and make it lower for a thinner focus, you need to know to change shutter speed slower or ISO lower to adjust the lighting.

Example of wide aperture:

Example of small aperture:

Example of fast shutter speed:

Example of slow shutter speed: