Colour relationships

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One photograph was taken for each combination of primary and secondary colours in the following proportions orange:blue 1:2,red:green 1:1 and yellow violet 1:3. As stated these combinations were not that easy to find and I had to crop the photographs to get closer to these proportions.

The top photographs of the church, the festival performer and the wheelbarrow all feature colour combinations that appeal to me. The photograph of the church featuring blue, red and yellow is probably technically imbalanced but I think it makes the photograph more striking. The photograph of the performer is also imbalanced featuring unusual colour combinations of red, yellow,pink and purple but I still think it works because of the tension of the imbalance of the colours.
I think the photograph of the wheelbarrow is much more subtle but I think the yellow accents in it work.

In conclusion this has been a useful exercise with regard to colour relationships. It has been interesting to learn that to make the most of colour combinations that it helps to take the brightness of the colour into consideration when determining ratios of colour in a photograph. However unbalanced colour ratios can sometimes provide a more interesting photograph.

Control the Strength of a colour

This exercise demonstrates how the strength of a colour is affected by changing exposure. These photographs were taken using a shutter speed of 1/125 and the following apertures:-f 3.60,4.00,5.00,6.3,7.10. The hue in the pictures remains the same but the brightness of the colour in the photographs has varied significantly with the changing exposures. As expected the more over exposed the shot is the lighter the colours appears and conversely the more under exposed the shot is the darker the colour appears. This was a useful reminder about how changing the exposure of a photograph can change the brightness of a colour.

Andy Goldsworthy Exhibition

I went to see Andy Goldworthy's exhibition in Haddington a couple of months ago. He is a renowned environmental artist who creates sculptures from brightly coloured flowers, icicles and leaves, mud and pine cones, snow, twigs and thorns.
He uses photographs to capture the essence of his work. He states "as with all my work, whether it's a leaf on a rock or ice on a rock I'm trying to get beneath the surface of things. Working the surface of a stone is an attempt to understand the internal energy of the stone".
The exhibition I saw of his work featured some of his classic photographs which included ice and leaf constructions. The photographs were very different from anything I have seen before and a fascinating insight into how nature can be manipulated to produce very unusual and stunning images whilst portraying the energy of nature.

Rhythm and Pattern

The first photograph conveys pattern. There is repetition to this image but the repetition is more assosiated with the area rather than the eye being lead in a certain direction by rhythm as in the second photograph. In a photograph with pattern the eye is encouraged to roam. As suggested I have choosen a pattern which fills the frame for this to be achieved.

The second photograph conveys rhythm. I have learnt that for a photograph to have rhythm it has to involve movement of the eye in a certain direction. There also needs to be a repetitive nature to the subject with the assumption that the repetition will continue beyond the frame. These things add strength to an image.

Three people in a group making a triangle

I spotted these three people on the beach in North Berwick. The photograph shows how a group of people's lines can create a trainagle.

Photographs of implied and real triangles

Real and Implied Triangles

These two photos of the end of a canoe were created by perspective looking downwards and looking upwards at the canoe.

I have learnt that a triangular shape is often used in photographs as triangles are common and are simple to construct or imply. They create an idea of activity and dynamism. Natural perspective particularly with wide angled lenses also makes them common and easy to create. Triangles with the apex at the bottom look less stable than the reverse. Both triangles are easy to obtain by pointing the camera downwards or upwards.

Implied triangles bring clarity and order to an image.