assignment 6. composition

reflection

This was a fun and challenging assignment. I approached it by thinking of places I have been wanting to shoot in, taking photos in that area while trying to keep the various composition principles in mind, loading the photos to my computer to assess the number and quality of images I had for each principle, then wash, rinse, repeat. In the end I did four separate photo shoots in completely different parts of Boston and the surrounding area, with the last two being targeted to trying to find horizon somewhere in a city. (Sadly, I feel horizon is my weakest area from this image set. I say sadly because I’m from the Midwest — I love and miss the horizon and am actually going to be out there next weekend so you can be sure I’ll be working on more horizon shots.)

I liked how this assignment started with principles that were sort of building blocks. There were many times I was taking a photo that I thought would illustrate leading lines or some later principle and would realize I was forgetting to use the rule of thirds. Or that I was forgetting to try different viewpoints. I am getting better (mostly) at remember to change my ISO back right away and to pay attention to the settings, and I am getting more and more comfortable using the Manual mode instead of automatically switching back to the comfort zone of the P mode. I learned that reviewing images on the camera is deceptive and that things that look one step underexposed on the camera are usually right on when you view them on a computer screen. 

The principles I had to work harder to capture were the ones that involved simplicity and minimalism: foreground and background; horizon; and isolation. For foreground and background, I started with a lot of images that showed depth but also had a lot of clutter rather than a few distinct focal points at various distances. Even the image I eventually chose has more clutter than I’d like. For horizon, I was never able to capture a clean view of land or water meeting sky so I ended up treating the Boston skyline as if it were a horizon. For isolation, I was trying to avoid shooting a New England church spire or some such against the sky, which seemed a little stereotypical, but in the end something against the sky communicated the principle best. (Though I have a shot in mind I didn’t have time to try that would require a tripod and some trial and error. Perhaps for my final portfolio…)

Based on the areas where I had to work harder to get shots that I was happy with, or at least willing to accept, there are some things I should keep in mind in future shoots: How could I simplify this shot? Where is there clutter here that I could avoid?