NYIP Unit 2 Photo Project
Finally!! I am ready to submit my second assignment for the New York Institute of Photography course. For some reason, this one has been a real struggle for more than four months. I acknowledged in a previous post that one of the assignments was to frame a given subject for emphasis and while I understand the concept intellectually, I have trouble finding examples I like. Nevertheless, I have been looking for opportunities to complete the assignment while pondering why it seemed so difficult. I guess I wanted it to be perfect, but I am starting to realize that any given image, even a really good one, is merely an approximation of what the mind's eye conceives. I imagine even really good photographers often revisit a "photographic concept" in search of just the right capture; it sounds really good to me, anyway!
I had procrastinated so long, I finally decided that I was going to find photographs that fit the lesson criteria and move on. Even then, I was having trouble with choosing just the "right" images, and so I sought objective help: Thanks to Bill and Cassie Gilmore and Christine Miller, my courage bolstered by a glass of Bill's really fine wine, I chose the following three photographs to illustrate the NYIP Unit 2 lesson objectives.
Photo 1: Emphasize the subject using size and off center "rule of thirds" placement. My beautiful model is Ms Kassandra Metos, a terrific young woman and an extremely talented artist that I predict will one day become a famous painter. To me she has hauntingly lovely eyes highlighted by striking Greek features. She is a natural model. This backlit portrait was shot with a soft bounce flash (SB600) using my Nikon D7000 mounted with a Nikor 85mm Micro that doubles as a terrific portrait lens. Settings were f5, 1/250, ISO 200 at a distance of one meter. Processing in Photoshop involved a little warming by increasing the white balance temperature, softening of the skin with a gentle blur, and sharpening the eyes and mouth. More of her photos can be seen on my website.
Photo 2: Use framing to emphasize the subject. I had a hard time getting away from the idea that this had to be an actual frame! But I caught this reflection walking by the swimming pool during our December trip to Los Cabos, Mexico. I liked the intensity of the reflected colors, "framed" by the outline of the pool. I flipped it so the buildings and trees were right side up and to my eye, this gave the photograph a certain "what's going on here" kind of visual appeal. This was shot with my Nikon D7000 and 18-200 Nikor zoom set at 18mm; f8, 1/160, ISO 200. To be honest, I am still not sure what I think about this photograph, but the committee seemed to like it!
Photo 3: Use leading lines to bring attention to the subject. I have seen images that use this technique quite explicitly and I must say I prefer a more subtle approach. In this case, however, nature just handed it to me on a silver platter! This fellow was standing on the edge of the surf in the early morning sun. What struck me most was that he posed there for a good 10 minutes just letting me snap away. Again using the D7000/18-200, with the zoom all the way out at 200mm, I focused on his eye (f8, 1/500, ISO 400) from six meters. While I was initially intrigued with all the detail in his beak, later I noticed how there were naturally occurring leading lines going to his eye, which is when I belatedly realized he was looking right at me as if to say, "Hurry up and take the damn picture, sonny!" Shortly after that, Mr Pelican flew off for a fish breakfast. Post processing in Photoshop was relatively minor and involved increasing a little exposure in the shadows to bring out more feather detail and then sharpening with "Smart Sharpen."