Composition/Photography

Not having a fancy camera or much of an eye for photography, I decided to force the composition elements I wanted to achieve, and then photograph them rather than searching out examples I could photograph.

I decided for one picture I would heavily emphasize the rule of thirds. I didn't do this by actually taking a picture applying the rule, but by finding a picture that created the thirds. This makes three distinct columns from door, pantry, and wall, but also three distinct rows created by the shelves. What this picture showed me is that 'business' drew attention in the photo. The middle column, by itself, is uninteresting, but when it is framed by two very simple, empty columns it suddenly generates a buzz to draw the eye.

I wanted to also create a radially symmetric shot. I was debating how this would best be created, because I thought there really aren't a lot of radically symmetric subjects around me worth photographing, other than flowers. So I thought of other ways something could be made radially symmetric, and I came up with light. Portraits, specifically, came to mind as they use lighting to create a center focus on a face, and then the light dims evenly as it radiates out from that center. So I created a shot that accented the radial symmetry of a spotlight by shining a light through a glass cup half-filled with water.

My final picture was intended to create some symmetry by filling a glass with oil and vinegar to create a lens that would give a photo two distinct colors, but it came out boring. Instead I stumbled across an asymmetrical balance by shining a light through my glass. The actual glass was focused and clear, while the competing shadow glass came out much larger but faded and indistinct. The mirrored but less concrete image gave me what I considered a more interesting balance that the competing color lenses.