Irisabel Soto

December 15^th, 2010

B7 Photography Techniques Essay

There’s more to photography instead of trying to decide if the flash is needed. There are many more aspects like the rule of thirds, working lines into your photograph, and also the importance of focal points. All of these are important when taking a picture. Make sure you have something occupying every box in the rule of thirds, make sure you have lines, implied or defined, and make sure the main focus of the picture is conveyed. Photography isn’t too hard it may seem so at first but when you learn the concepts you will learn to photograph like a professional!

The rule of thirds is a very simple and useful concept to use. This breaks your photo down into nine parts it also identifies four important parts that you should consider putting your focal point. If your points of interest are placed on the intersections of the lines or on the intersections then your photo will be balanced. This technique gives you four useful ‘lines’ that can be used to position your elements. Studies show that when you look at an image your eye goes to one of the intersection points in the rule of thirds and each of those points are called money shots.

Working lines into your photographs are very important. Lines can add dynamic impact to a photograph any kind of lines of course including vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. Vertical lines have the ability to convey different moods such as power and strength think of a building. The tallness represents power and strength. Horizontal lines create stability or rest in a photo like a table, the top of a table looks very stable, and also the most famous horizontal line the horizon. These horizontal lines should be located in the upper or lower third. The diagonal lines draws the eye of the viewer through a photo, it also adds a sense of action.

The importance of focal points is also very important. You should ask yourself what is the central point of interest? The focal point is when you look at an image and your eye will be directed right to that spot and it’ll be focused on it. Think of position where you want your focal point to be, the focus, the blur, the size, the color and shape. All these things are important when you think of your focal point. But you don’t want to confuse your viewer with too many focal points.

All these techniques are very important when photographing. They will help you become a better photographer because they are simple and easy to keep in mind and you will soon be able to catch all these aspects in one photo on one try. They make photos more balanced, equal, the main idea of your photo will come across and you will look like a professional photographer!

Symmetry & Asymmetry

- Symmetry in a photograph is when it's balanced on both sides. Where either the same things are on the same side if you split the photo in half, or the picture is balanced which means it looks even.

- Asymmetry, on the other hand, is the opposite of symmetry. Asymmetry is a photo that is not balanced at all, like if you split the photo in half then it would be uneven.

- I tried to convey these two concepts in my photographs. Photos 1, 5, and 6 show asymmetry and 2, 3, and 4 show symmetry. I think they are very simple examples of these concepts. But in photos 1, 5, and 6 there is an unbalance in them. And in photos 2, 3, and 4 I think if you were to fold them in half the would be pretty even and balanced.

- My biggest challenge with this assignment is to find things that are symmetrical. I think finding symmetry is harder then asymmetry.

- My biggest success with this assignment was taking photos that would be asymmetrical without knowing it. Asymmetry is again easier then symmetry.