Saturday 5 September 2009

Project 22 - curves

These are all pretty self-explanatory: curves. Depending on the length of the curve depends on where your eye goes. Working in black and white does tend to emphasise the shape rather than get distracted by colours.
This is inside the lighthouse at Dungeness... And so is this ... but it's part of the light-making mechanism (despite working with engineers that doesn't make me one!)
The "correct camera distortion" filter was essential for avoiding the effect of upwards perspective at the Brighton pavilion.


I'm a bit unsure about this one... curved, yes, but the angle doesn't necessarily work...

Project 21 - diagonals

Now that I have got to grips with diagonals they are everywhere! It's an interesting challenge because the camera sees things so differently to what you expect to see. As in the case of the railings below, intellectually I know that it's straight, but it's only really straight if you look at it "straight on", unsurprisingly, so I have to keep looking at this image "literally".
Other things are more clearly diagonal, like the masts and the steps below.



Project 20 - horizontal and vertical lines

Vertical lines
Depending on the angle you take verticals I note they do have a tendency to become diagonal, and even use of the Straighten tool doesn't really sort this out. Certainly when viewed through the medium of photography, there are fewer vertical lines than you might think!



Horizontal lines
The Straighten tool is essential here too!




This was an interesting and satisfying exercise in focusing on a particular element almost to abstraction; indeed those that are more or less abstract rather than representational meet the criteria where the line is the first thing the viewer would notice.

Project 19 - multiple points

I'm just preparing to attempt to climb Kilimanjaro and wanted to use this project to show some of the essential bits of kit - the carpet isn't quite suitable but then I wasn't sure what would make good background, though maybe grass would have been a bit more appropriate.
While I was doing this exercise the radio announced that Roman Abramovitch was just on his way up as well with 130-odd porters. It's going to be very crowded and packed with the rich and famous, though suspect it will be a very levelling experience! Anyway...

Boots. The most important items. Cheating slightly in that there is a pair, but just including one would make no sense. Water bottle. Also important, particularly at altitude. Makes a sort of triangle.
Citronella oil to keep the mosquitos at bay at lower altitudes and help prevent malaria. Sets up an implied line between the two bottles and therefore a diagonal sense of direction.


Moved things around a little with the addition of the hat. Also essential at altitude. Creates another diagonal and the boots now facing inwards to the other items make them more involved.

Woolly socks... these do rather spoil the line.

But the addition of the Tanzania guidebook evens things out a little and starts an anti-clockwise viewpoint, particularly with the hat and bottle - the strength of these colours having quite an impact.

But the introduction of the dioralyte (in case of tummy bugs) just off to the side introduces an unresolved tension between the items, partly I think due to its comparatively small size. It is no longer a cohesive group.

By again reorganising and keeping similarly coloured items together, and using the tassles on the hat to link between the reds and the blues this makes a more satisfying image. The size and shape of the emergency trail mix reflects the book as well, helping provide top to bottom cohesion as well as side to side.