In the first image, I only used a small section of the faucet and tried to focus more on the drops coming out of it, and wanted the lighting to be soft. This image is about stopping something in time, and the way that the drops are literally frozen in the image shows that time has stopped. I constructed the scene by turning on the water and snapping shots at random times to see how each drop from the faucet looked. I first used slower shutter speeds, and then made them progressively faster, as well as using a flash. My goal for this image was to get the drops stopped on the way from the faucet to the sink. I once saw a blog with images of colored paint dropping into other colored paints, and really liked the images where the drops hadn't completely hit the other paint yet. It intrigued me and made me wonder how many different compositions you would be able to make with this idea.
In the second image, I was basing it off of a painting called "The Kiss". I tried to use similar lighting and composition, and framing, while changing what the subjects were wearing to make it more recent than the original painting. I constructed this scene by showing the subjects the painting and guiding them where to stand and what to do with their hands, arms, and legs. My goal for this image was to get the composition and lighting as close to the painting as possible, while changing the wardrobe to make it seem current. The artist that was shown as an example for taking a painting and making it into a photograph was what intrigued me about this particular assignment. I think my interpretation was a bit more literal than most of the photographs from that artist.
In the third image, I used the ballerina on the right side because I prefer when things are off-center, and I thought the deep red background helped to balance the almost white image of the ballerina. My image was about capturing the ballerina moving and making the blur part of the image to represent the beauty and fluidity of ballerinas when they dance. I had someone hold the string of the ornament and make it spin and I took pictures with a very low shutter speed. My goal for this image was to capture all movement the ballerina had in the 20 seconds that the shutter was open for. I have seen artists who go for the "blurry" look of a slow shutter speed, and like their images, I feel that my image is more like a painting, rather than an actual photograph.
Part 2: Others viewed my work as trying to play with different techniques in photography. In the first, trying to figure out a way to stop the drops in action, and also stop them in a way that would be interesting. I captured a lot of images, and most didn't turn out in a way that I liked, but the image that I actually chose captured an interesting composition of the drops I think. In the second image, I had to learn how to use a tripod and get the photograph to turn out the way I wanted. I have always had trouble capturing images of myself, but having another person made it easier because I could set the camera up while he was in front of it, and then get in with him before the photograph was actually taken. In the 3rd image I had to figure out how to keep the shutter open for a long time without making the image too bright because of the light coming in, and also work on keeping the camera steady while the ballerina spun, because I didn't use a tripod.
ReplyDeleteIn the first image, people said that they would have wanted a little less of the actual faucet, or that i should have tried to darken the faucet a bit. But they did seem to enjoy the depth of field. In the second image, people liked how I recreated the painting. Anyone that saw the original image said that I did a good job recreating the colors, lighting, and composition. A few people said they would have tried to make the overall image a bit lighter. In the third image, the only criticisms I heard were about the bottom of the pillow being in the image and it being a bit distracting, and that it might have been better without the chain that the ballerina was attached to.
For the first image, I think it would be cool to capture images of different things dripping, such as different textures or colors (like paint, or oil). For the second image, it would be interesting to find different paintings that were similar and try to recapture them all. For the third image, I might try the ballerina doing different things, like swinging in different ways or spinning in a different area of the image. I could even try to find different ballerinas and do the same type of thing.