Week 9 DLS exercises: stylin'

Congratulations! As of today you are experts in deconstructing images. You know what the Law of Reciprocity is, you know several elements you can use to add interest to your composition, you know what grain, DOF, and backlit look like. With this vocabulary and your technical knowledge, you are going to be asked to take your photography to the next level, which involves recognizing the elements in pictures which you LIKE or DISLIKE so that you can begin incorporating them into your shooting. This is the first step in developing your own style, which will be the focus of the next several weeks of exercises.

Below are several pictures. Click on them to view them slightly larger. Where is the light coming from? What kind of textures are present? Symmetry, balance, colour? Using the terminology you now have, I would like each of you to choose one image and write a technical critique of it. This is my written permission for you to copy the watermarked images and post it AS IS on your own blog and break it on down; we will be using them for next week's exercises, too. Remember this isn't about hurting feelings, it's being a detective to see HOW an image was created so you can either recreate the effect, or avoid it.

After, I want you to create a similar image, incorporating your own ideas (subjective-based likes and dislikes) and using your mad (technical objective-based) skills to set up your shot in terms of composition, lighting, etc. Clues to how you will approach making your image one you LIKE (subjective) will be based on your objective analysis. Things like, "I would have done ~this~ differently," or, "I think this is an effective use of DOF" will provide you with your guidelines.

EXAMPLE:

This image above incorporates shallow DOF (objective). There is symmetry (objective) with the oranges, the chairs in the background, and the shadows/reflections (objective) on the table. The colours are muted (objective) and the lighting allows all the texture (objective) on the surface of the orange to be seen. I do not particularly like (subjective) this image as it isn't very interesting.

The image below also shows symmetry and illustrates the texture (objective) of the orange, but the DOF is either too shallow (objective), the focal point was inaccurately selected (objective) or the image was taken inside the minimal focussing distance (objective) as the tops of the oranges are blurred with the focal plane (objective) landing somewhere about halfway down the orange. While the first image is technically a better picture as is because the lighting, DOF, and other elements are more masterful (objective), I prefer the image below (subjective) as I find the blackness of the chairs detract so much from the image above by competing with the oranges, which was eliminated by changing my perspective (objective) in the image below.

If I were to attempt the image below again, I would still use a shallow DOF, but would ensure the tops of the oranges were in crisp focus. I would also have considered moving the oranges to a position where the shadows on the table were as symmetrical as the oranges themselves, and made sure the cropping was even on both sides.

Now that I have given you an example, it's YOUR turn!!!

If you want to start challenging yourself in Photoshop/Elements/Picasa, below are two examples of before and after pictures. This is your written permission to copy these images for the purpose of working on exercises.

The image below illustrates colour correction for combination flourescent/tungsten lighting at a swimming pool. Do the same using either Picasa or PS/Elements

The image below will help you practice making B&W conversions. Make your converted B&W image have good tonal range, preserving all the details in the petals of the flower and creating deep shadows and crisp highlights.

Have a great week, all!!!