Assignment 1 - the theory and practice of contrasts

Well, after two months of work on the course, it was time to submit my photographs for the first assignment. In the end, I chose a mixture of photographs taken before the course with the remainder (the majority) being from the last few weeks. Obviously, those pre-dating the start of the course were not taken to illustrate 'contrasts' but I felt that they had merit for this exercise.

All the photos were taken with my Canon DSLR (1000D), nearly all with the 18 - 55mm Canon lens (unless otherwise stated). As it happened, I used a tripod for only one of the shots although I recognise that some would have been improved by its use.

Hard / Soft

'Hard' ( f/8, 1/125s, ISO 200, 18 - 55 @32mm) was taken in Patagonia, Chile on Lago Gray in bright, sunny conditions. I was attracted to the colours of the rock formation and the horizontal gouges where the glacier ice, and the rocks that it contained, moved past the rock face. This demonstrates that the word 'hard' is relative. Nowadays, of course, the glacier has receded, thus revealing the rock face. I decided on a tight shot to accentuate the texture of the rock face.

'Soft' (f/11, 1/250s, ISO 200, 18 - 55 @ 55mm) was shot in the Ecological Park in Buenos Aires on a hot sunny morning in (their) autumn. This is land reclaimed from the River Plate and there were many of these grasses waving gently in the breeze. I decided to crop the original shot to focus on the softness of the grass.

Rounded / Diagonal

The 'rounded' shot ( f/11, 1/320s, ISO 200, 18-55@ 27mm) was taken on a bright day in a park in Buenos Aires and shows a beautiful metal structure in the shape of a tulip. The amazing thing, though, was that the flower sculpture opened in daylight and closed at night like a real flower. With the shape of the sculpture, I decided to crop to a square frame and I think that this works well.

The 'Diagonal' photo (f/13, 1/320s, ISO 200, 18-55@ 27mm) was taken in the coastal town of Valparaiso in Chile on a sunny afternoon and shows a collection of telephone and power lines which make attractive diagonals within the frame. This was a very colourful district of Valparaiso with many of the buildings brightly painted, the tradition being that the fishermen painted their houses with the paint left over from their boats.

Pointed / blunt

The 'pointed' shot (f/3.5, 1/320s, ISO 400, Tamron 18 - 270 @ 20mm) shows a number of kayaks in their storage racks in the old fishing port (now more of a water-sports port) of Sancti Petri, Cádiz). I was attracted by the bright colours as well as the interesting shapes. The original shot was cropped to achieve this composition and it was not an easy task as I was trying not to chop of too many of the kayaks 'noses'. It was a right sunny day but the plastic cover over the kayaks helped to diffuse the light.

The 'Blunt' composition (f/5, 1/100s, ISO 100, 18 - 55 @ 39mm), for which I used a tripod and remote control, shows a lump hammer (a 'blunt instrument'), two blunt pencils and a pencil sharpener. I took the photograph outside on a sunny morning but in the shade. The objects were placed on a black material background and photographed from above. I didn't use flash but this might have helped with the illumination?

Many / Few

I took the 'Many' shot (f/14, 1/160s, ISO 400 18-55@ 55mm) on a hazy, windy day at the gitanos (gypsy) market in Chiclana de la Frontera. Most of the merchandise is not of the highest quality and I thought that this was epitomised by this pile of cheap shoes. The colours were very attractive but it was difficult in the processing to avoid the white shoes having too much glare. The original photo was cropped to emphasise the jumble of shoes.

To illustrate 'Few', as a contrast to the jumble of shoes above, I came across these door-knockers, on the same day, in the centre of Chiclana itself. (f/4.5, 1/400s, ISO 400 18-55@ 27mm). I didn't want to take a front-on shot as the shape of the shoes would have been lost and so I moved slightly to the side of the door frame The sun was almost directly overhead so the reflection from the wooden door was very strong. The original shot was taken in a vertical frame but I decided to crop the picture to make the door-knockers more prominent, which I think was the right decision.

Black / White

The black bench ( f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO 400, 18-55 @ 37mm) which I used to illustrate 'black', is in the Arenal Square (Plaza de Arenal) in Jerez de la Frontera. The photograph was taken at about 2pm in the heat of a hot, sunny day, which accounts for the very strong shadows cast by the bench and the nearby tree. It seemed to me a very striking object in that light when set against the almost white tiled ground. The original photo was cropped slightly to include all of the bench (slightly off-centre) and its shadow whilst retaining the tree and its shadow.

In contrast, I decided on a tight close-up of a white wooden bench to illustrate 'White'. (f/5, 1/4000s, ISO 400, 18-55 @ 43mm). I liked the fact that the bench was not new, so that the wood appears distressed and the wooden pieces are not parallel. However, in the midday sun in Jerez, it appeared very inviting!

Sweet / Sour

The photograph of two 'media-lunas' that is used to illustrate 'Sweet', was taken in a cafe in Buenos Aires. (f/5.6, 1/5s, ISO 200, 18-55 @ 48mm). I have to admit that this was taken very much as a holiday snap to remind us of our favourite Buenos Aires breakfast (we were non meat eaters in a city full of carnivores!) but I think that it captures the essence of 'sweet' very well. I used the camera flash to light the shot.

The photo of the two lemons in a friends garden, one ripe, the other still green, was used to illustrate 'Sour'. ( F/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 100, 18-55 @55mm). I was attracted to the two lemons side by side, on the same branch, in different states of ripeness. To achieve the composition, I lay down and took the shot from below, against a background of a white awning. I was very pleased to capture the texture and markings on the lemons and the shallow depth of field achieved.The shot was not specifically taken for use in this assignment but it seemed an obvious choice.

Liquid / Solid

The photo to illustrate 'Liquid' is a close-up of a fountain in Jerez. (f/16, 1/640s, ISO 400, 18-55 @ 53mm). I like the different sprays of water and the colour of the foliage.

For 'Solid', I have used another shot from Lake Gray in Patagonia, this time that of a small iceflow. (f/14, 1/250s, ISO 200, 18-55 @ 49mm). The shot was taken from a boat and the iceflow is in the centre of the lake, with a background of the rocky shoreline. I liked this shot because if shows the lovely blue colour in the ice as well as some of the debris carried from the glacier. The original photo was cropped to produce this composition.

Large / Small

On the approaches to Jerez, there is a huge work depicting a group of people arriving for a festival on their horses and in their wagons. I chose part of this work, featuring the lead three horses, depicted as if they were about to leap a fence. (f/4.5, 1/2000s, ISO 400, 18-55 @ 36mm). From the angle chosen, the horses appeared even larger than they were and the shot seemed to illustrate 'Large' very well.

In contrast, I managed to take the small model horse and rider through the bars of a metal gate in an Andalucian courtyard in Jerez. (f/9, 1/13s, ISO 400, 18-55 @ 55mm). It wasn't an easy angle to shot but I liked the composition with the old wooden unit. I cropped the original photo to remove a wooden doorway on the left-hand side.

Straight / Curved

Finally, I chose as my photo contrasting two attributes (straight and curved), this shot taken on a slightly overcast day at the new railway station at Bahía Sur/San Fernando near Cádiz. (f/18, 1/640s, ISO 400, Tamron 18-270 @ 59mm). Being a new station, it has been built with very modern materials and this has allowed modern design features like the curved roof shown in the photo. The contrast with the straight lines of the overhead electricity cables and scaffolding appealed to me. Again, some cropping was done to achieve the final shot.

Conclusion

I am quite pleased with the photos chosen to illustrate the various contrasts as it was not an easy task, in some cases, to show these attributes. I have certainly had to think hard about composition and try to apply the lessons taught so far.

All the recent (i.e. non South America shots) were taken in Camera Raw and processed using the raw plug-in within Photoshop Elements 7. I am still wrestling with the subtleties of this but it has been fun so far!