5 - Assignment #7: Composition - Rule of Thirds and Leading Lines

The rule of thirds is a composition technique used to make the picture less boring. I took a bunch of photos of things that I found appealing and I pasted the rule of thirds on top, and cropped it to fit the lines.

I absolutely love reflections, nature, and the sky; that is why I chose these pictures. I noticed that by putting the focus on the cross sections of the thirds, more of the image can be seen, while the focus is still.. well, in focus. In the case of the bridge and the flowers, you start at the focus and your eye branches along the rest, giving you a full sense of the picture. The other photos were more simplistic in nature, but the rule of thirds makes it a bit more eyecatching and a lot more appealing.

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Leading lines are lines that one can follow to drag their eyes around the picture. These lines aid the focus of the picture and it's a pretty cool composition technique, in my opinion.

It was hard to find things that I liked that were led to by lines, so I did what I could to keep the stuff tied to my interests. The first pic has so many lines; it was the first leading lines picture that I took. It looks kind of bad since there's absolutely no focus but that's because of all the lines(the log, the railings, the top of the little shack, etc.). The next two pictures have the focus as the pigeon and the blue structure, and they're lead up by lines that are on the floor and the stairs. This last picture is one that I like, even though the leading rope stops between the wheels. The plant also leads up to the wheel, so I think it adds a nice contrast to it(man made stuff + plant).

I did 4 for both since I had so many pictures that I liked and I couldn't decide..

4 - Assignment # 6: White Balance + Creative White Balance

AWB, Sunny, Cloudy

AWB, Tungsten, Fluorescent

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Indoors: Sunny, Cloudy
Outside: Tungsten, Fluorescent

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For this assignment we had to take picture on various camera modes. The modes had to match the corresponding areas; sunny + cloudy mode for outside, and tungsten + fluorescent mode for inside. The first image in both pictures is on auto white balance mode, for comparative purposes. I chose a cup because D'alice kept denying my soymilk and random items that weren't very white, but it's a cute cup with teddy bears on it so it's okay.

I have noticed that the sunny mode somewhat tones the image down and changes the overall hue, probably because the sunlight would make it far too bright. The cloudy mode most likely brightens up the image, for a reason opposite what was stated above. Cloudy mode adds a fall-like colour and it's kind of warm-ish, and it is my favourite out of the three images. Though I like the third, the most natural white colour of the cup comes from the sunny mode.

The tungsten mode, a mode for candlelight/lamplight, tones the lighter colours of the image down. It makes the white seem more realistic, compared to the yellow-ish tone of the AWB mode. The last image of the three is in the fluorescent mode; this mode is very unappealing for me because of the over-saturation of the blue. It totally kills the real look of the scene and it makes me feel like the mode is trying too hard to look cool. My opinion might have been skewed by the fact that I was indoors and I used natural light, but in this scene I feel like it is hideous and out of place.

Creative White Balance:
The last image is for the Creative White Balance assignment. In the first two images, I used the sunny and cloudy mode indoors, and for the last two, I used tungsten and fluorescent outside. For the first two, the added hue is much more noticeable; these colours stand out far too much, but they add a warm/ highly tinted colour to the white and destroys the natural colours. The next two images are much more natural looking, at least compared to the first two. The tungsten mode actually looks like the true white, and the fluorescent mode looks like a cloudy/dark day.

3 - Assignment #5: Exposure Composition Assignment

I took a picture of a whiteboard cleaning thingy on a keyboard (black on black). I've noticed that at EV 2- and EV 1- the black colours mix together, creating a rather unappealing look. The darker images are more clear at around EV 0 or EV +1, but EV +2 is far too light and it washes out the darker colours. For a dark on dark picture, I'd personally use EV 0 because it keeps the dark colours vibrant and the different objects are completely distinguishable.

In this picture I put my favourite soymilk against a white cupboard drawer (white on white). For the light on light comparison, I realized that EV +2 is blinding, and it washes out the colours yet again. (like the dark colours) But even with the "washed out" look it looks quite "holy", as if the soymilk is descending from the heavens. Although EV +1 looks pretty cool, I really like the "dark" look of EV 1-. (EV 2- is way too dark)

I believe that there's no actual set EV value for dark or light pictures; It seems that it's a matter of preference and it is based on the scene you are taking.(EV 2+ for  bright/glowing effects and contrast, EV 2- for scary/hidden things or EV 1- dark/light contrast if there is something light among darkness)