Graphic Design

The mailboxes in this photo create an interesting depth. I love the variety in their shapes, sizes, and colors. I also like the composition as it moves your eye from one end of the photo to the other.

This weeks  favorite photo is the first photo  I have taken of my pet in its natural environment. I like the contast of the orange against the purple and the placement of the three main objects.

In this week’s photo I like the repetition of shape yet the repetition is also skewed.  I also like the texture of the background against the foreground.

I picked this photo as my favorite for this week because I thought the warm dynamic  lighting was interesting. I liked the simplicity of this photo with the  textures from the flower and the jar lid contrasting each other.

I chose this photo for  my favorite this week because I think the subject matter is interesting to look at. I love that the jar lid is sticking out of the middle of the same repetitious object. I think that because each blade of grass is so similar yet all have a variety and difference, makes this composition work well.

I like the composition of week four’s photo with big and small objects. I also love the color this photo has. I think the colors work well together with the different compliments: green and red, yellow and blue/purple.

Week 1: When I started taking these photos, my initial thought was to just take my doorknob places and photograph it in different environments. I quickly learned that this was most definitely NOT the solution! It was boring and predictable and I felt like I was missing the point of the assigment. I decided instead to, in a sense, get to know my object, or look at the anatomy. All of my photos are close-ups of all the different parts of the doorknob. You wouldn’t believe this, but a doorknob is actually a fascinating object!

Week 2: This is another close-up of my doorknob. The more time I spend with the doorknob and the more I look at it, the more there is to see and discover.  There are many different parts in a doorknob. This photo shows part of the underside of my doorknob.

Week 3: This week I decided to start experimenting with different backgrounds and lighting. I took this photo at night in a room with a red wall and the light source is a small lamp. I didn’t do anything special- all  that happened was the red of the wall was reflected on the metal of the doorknob. The circular lines keep your eye moving through the photo and it has a lot of texture. I think it turned out really interesting, and I love that you have no idea what it is you’re looking at!

Week 4: This week I decided to try some more experimenting with lighting. My previous photos were either darker or lit with natural light, and so I decided to try using a brighter light source. This gave the picture a different feel- the photos lit with natural light have cooler tones while a bright light source gave this photo a slightly warmer feel. Obviously week 3’s photo had a very warm feel because of the red background I used, but I wanted to try getting a warmer feel without using a background color.

Week 5: This week I played more with different colored backgrounds and lighting. I think the gold metal with the green background reflecting on it work well together. I also tried to find new angles on the doorknob, which was a little difficult to do without taking it apart. I wanted to get every possible angle I could before I started taking it apart, and I think this angle was different enough from the others to look somewhat new.

Week 6: After doing as much as I could with the doorknob the way it was, I started to take the doorknob apart, and I found a lot of interesting stuff about it. There are a lot of parts to a doorknob I never knew existed. In fact, a doorknob is a pretty complex object! In this photo I started to take screws out and partially removed the doorknob cover. I didn’t want to take the whole thing apart and then photograph the parts, but rather take it apart slowly and photograph the process.

Week 7: This week I did more with taking my doorknob apart. I think what I love most about my doorknob is the variety of textures. The more I took it apart the more texture I found. I think that texture is perhaps the strongest element of design in my photos. I’ve also tried to pay attention to the composition with the frame of the camera. In a lot of my photos I try to use the rule of thirds as much as possible in order to create a focal point. 

Week 8: This is the inside of the doorknob cover. I used a red background again for this photo. The dark post is a graphic directional element that leads to the focal point of the photo. Also, the outside circle almost traps the viewer’s eye in the photo. 

Week 9: More of the inside of the doorknob. I really like showing the inside workings of this doorknob. I like that the focal point is defined by the blur around it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 1: The softness that this photo offers really brings about a subtle mood to it. I feel that the composition of this photo is well placed because there is unity and variety with some of the circles being cut from the edge of the frame, and then some whole circles within the middle of the picture. The variety in color also adds interest to the photo; all in all I feel is one of my most successful pictures because of the texture of it, the composition, and the color.

Week 2: (Supposed to be turned right side up) Within this photo I feel that there are many qualities that make it a successful photo. From first glance it really captures you in from the uniqueness. Its well composed because there is a definite focal point but then there are benefactors around the focal point that move you throughout the whole picture. The color also adds interest, and the texture of the photo.

Week 3: Much deep emotion is portrayed through this photo. To me this photo feels like it gives off the emotion of complexity and uncertainty. The contrast between the black, black and the white, white gives this photo a dramatic look and brings attention and focus to the photo. I feel it is composed well because we have at the top with the mass amount of black but then on the bottom of the focal point are black lines that lead throughout the piece and back to the focal point. The texture and color contrast adds much interest to the photo; thereby, making it a successful photo.

week 4: With this week I wanted to experiment using the object in a creative way, rather than having the object in the photo. I used the screen to act as a stencil and inked over it which created a cool effect and look. I feel as though I was able to create a neat rhythm with the repetition of the tiny squares the screen had, and then there is some visual variety with the blobs of ink to be used as focal points. This week was a good way for me to experience and think outside the ’screen’ and use it as a source to create other interesting photos.

During the second shooting, the focus of my pictures were things that I found around my apartment. I tried to incorperate my pet with several different things I noticed in my front room. This here is my favorite from my second set of photos. I like this one because you can’t even really tell what the object is. The imagination could tell us that it could be several different things.

In the third group of pictures, I ventured outside of my apartment to put my pet in new surroundings. I tried putting several different things I found in it. My favorite one that I took was this one here. Again, I liked how the size appears to be unknown, because the size of the leaf is also unknown. Also, it is hard to quite make out a specific shape to it. Most of all though, I like the colors in the photograph and the composition of the piece.

In week four I decided to experiment with lighting. I took a lamp and put it at different angles to try to get different effects. This picture is my favorite of the set. I like it because how the bright light is coming in from the back and the shadows are in the front.

In this weeks photo shoot, I tried to look more towards concepts. I started taking a bunch of pictures depicting sensorship. I then took my focus to eyes. I’m not quite sure yet what I would do with eyes, I just found them interesting to find. This picture was my favorite just because of the subject matter. I like the fun simplistic feeling it gives.

In week six, I played around a little bit with just random things around my apartment. I tried to use my pet as an everyday object, as well as just pairing things together with my pet to make things look interesting. This picture is my favorite from this week because I was able to find a way to multiply my pet. I have started to get bored with my pet and so it was fun to see that I can have a while new world opened to me using mirrors.

During the next week for this assignment, I was starting to run dry on ideas of how to take pictures of my pet. I just looked around me for things that peaked my interest. I took simple objects that I come across and use everyday to pair with my pet. My favorite this week uses my pet in an everyday sense. I liked how it is not just my pet in the frame, but the elements around it correspond with the environment you would see it in.

For the eighth week with my pet, I decided to take things a little differently. I took my pet outside in the dark to get a different mood for the photos to try and find a concept in there. I also played a little bit with the motion of my object and took pictures with movement in them. I chose this photo as my favorite this week because I liked the shadow that was cast by the bicycle wheel. I think that showing the shadow, and not so much the actual wheel gives an abstractness to my pet that is not seen in many of my photos.

In taking this week’s photos, I focused more on a concept. I decided to go with the idea of eating disorders. Along with this, my photos were all taken with eating disorders in mind. The picture this week is my favorite because I like the colors, the composition, and the depth of field. I also think that the subject matter goes well with the concept of the brochure as well.

During this last week with my pet, I decided to be simple and just take photos at different angles. In the some the photos, the flash would go off and create an almost black backgrund. After making the backgroud completely black in Photoshop, I thought it gave a good mood to the concept of my brochure. I also really liked the simplicity image.

My pets are transparent plastic knives. I like taking pictures of them because they are see-through. Having see-through pets has been nice because I can take pictures of the knives and have the background show through the knives too.

Week 1: I chose this picture because I love the rhythm and the shape of the shadow. I like the details in the shadow–like the sparkle from the sun and the way it moves along the raised blocks. There is some nice contrast between the hard edges of the shadow and the softer edges of the cement.

Week 2: This was my favorite picture because the colors are pretty. I love the way the sun shines through the knives because the knives sparkle with lots of colors. I also like the depth of the picture. The composition allows the eye to travel from left to right and then back again.

Week 3: My choice for this week was harder to choose because I liked a few others from this shoot. I chose this one, though, because the having the knives in the water allows you to see through the knives and also through the reflections of the knives. I love the red leaf being partly under the knives because it adds depth and interest.

Week 4: I decided to experiement with how the sun shines through the knives this week. I chose this picture because I like the colors and textures. The pattern of light that came through the knife made really interesting designs on this sewer grate. I like the contrast of the organic shapes of the shadow and the geometric shapes and lines of the grate. I like taking pictures of just the shadows and reflections of the knives because they look more abstract. I want to keep experimenting with this to see what kind of light and shadow patterns the knives can make.

Week 5: I experimented with with shadows again this week. I wanted the shadows to be interesting shapes this time instead of just having interesting textures. I chose this picture because I like the way the shadows move along the metal. The contrast was nice but I wanted more so I really exaggerated the contrast in Photoshop. I like the subtle color with all the black and white.