Next, I branched out to items I found around my office at work. My attention was on trying to deceive the eye from the actual item, hence the spring from my staple remover and looking through my sunglasses at my cat-strap. Getting these shots required patience in adjusting the camera, by pressing the shutter button slightly, to focus on the right piece.
Then, when I was able to get time outdoors, my wife and I took a hike up Putney Mountain where took the fern picture in the bottom right corner. I was aiming to have a single fern in the foreground with an obvious patch of ferns in the rear.
Finally, after selecting about 25 shots of what I gathered so far, I tried to take advantage of tonight's sunset. Oddly enough, about 15 of the pictures in this collage were actually taken today and I decided not to use about 99% of my other pictures. What I discovered was that natural light really added life to these pictures and those ones that were taken indoors just couldn't compete.
It was fun balancing the foreground and background; for instance, in a number of these shots my focus was largely on the background, though I purposely left it blurry. This was true for my wood pile, the ferns, and the leaf. I also attempted to break away from the "subject in the center" rule, as is shown in the hemlock (?) and flower pics.
I had a great time playing around and would love to hear everyone's feedback.
*** I've added some extra pics to flickr that either didn't make the final cut or were personal favorites. CHECK IT OUT HERE ***
9 comments:
Jay,
Nice collage. The two photos that jumped right out at me and oddly the two I liked the most even after looking at each one individually was the flower that fills the entire shot and the sunglass lens.
Hi Jay,
Did you purposely pick out some of the pics because the shapes were similiar to those in other pictures? I liked the wide variety and how they flow together! It does make it interesting in not having the main subject as the center point in the pic. Not sure if you know this or not, but it can make a difference psychologically where the main focus is, the main object on the left side of the image can make the viewer uncomfortable, uneasy, and on the right side comfortable and relaxed, the same if it is a person and the direction their face is angled toward. This trick is used in movies frequently to 'prepare' the viewer for what is next. :) Something you might want to try in regard to lighting - not sure if you have a hardware store near you - but this trick works great - get one of those aluminum shade clip lights (they are about 5 bucks I think - the kind they use in a wood working or auto shop) and I think it is GE that makes the Reveal Bulb (available in the grocery store). Give that a try instead of flash and clip it to a tripod. If you decide to give that a try, let me know if it works for you. I used these as make shift studio lights for filming, they work the same for photography. p.s. thanks for the reply on the discussion board.
Rachelle
Jay,
I love the way you mixed nature with the indoor shots. Both accordian shots are amazing. It took me a second to see what we were dealing with. I also love the staple remover and the tip of the pine branch. The color flow was smooth and exciting. Each picture works well on its own, and you did an excellent job composing the collage. It works great as its own entity. As far as my cameras fungus ability... I took the pictures just before dusk. It was still light out, but it was a softer warmer light. I was lucky because I was only armed with the built in flash, and it didn't wash the pictures out. Thanks for the comment as well as the great shots.
Travis
I agree that the variety in subjects worked out great for the collage. As cool as the sunglass picture is, I must say the berries are my favorite. I didn't notice the white specks on the berries until I looked at them a second time.
Jay I love your collage!! It is so much fun. It's like a game where you have to figure out what it is your looking at. I think I got most of them but I'm still trying to figure out what a couple of them are...like the black pegs/buttons...have no idea what that is. :) I really like the way you took a photo looking through your glasses.
Awesome pictures! I like that some of your pics are not something you would immediately think of - the staple spring, and if I'm not mistaking one of them is a tennis racquet? I chose the same layout for my collage and I think it gives it a little more focus on the pics.
I loved your collage, but mostly the pic after! The collage was so seasonal w/ the aster & fern w/brown edges. I liked your comment about everything your camera would focus on, I too tried many, many times,... it just wouldn.t work! Really nice! i am having computer problems, cant download picasa proper,..soon, Diana
Jay: There's so much to see and talk about in this post. My heritage on my mother's size is pure Polish...we love the polka and the accordion. A dear friend of mine when I taught at an elementary school in the 1990s played one and in all my adult life is the only person I met who did!
When I look at your collage I find these items that I can only describe as wire-y everywhere as thought that was your focus. Like the branches and the glasses frames and the fence. You did a great job AND you bring up a great point about centering items...which is in fact what most folks do naturally, but makes for a rather static photo. I'll discuss in more detail next week when we look at composition...
P.S. Nice blog header photo!
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