Blog Post #1: Where I Take a Bunch of (Artsy?) Pictures ෆ

Introduction

When this blog post was assigned, I knew that I wanted to photograph my wooden rifle that I spin for color guard. The only pictures that were ever taken of my rifles were when I spun them in shows, so I was excited to try and “work the shot” for something I loved.

Contrast
Contrast in photography is the visual ratio of different tones in an image. This difference is what creates the textures, highlights, shadows, colors and clarity in a photograph. (Skylum, para. 1) My rifle has both white & red tape wrapped all around its body. Green is red’s complementary (opposite) color, so I changed the string lights in my common room to a green color and turned the brightness all the way up. The red tape in the photograph still looks slightly red, but not as much as I hoped it to, which was disappointing.

Negative Space
I personally like close-up shots, but I realized that having that negative space in an image can make the image far more dramatic. (Bray, para. 12) In this shot, set my rifle on a step stool and against the wall and stood far away to take the picture. The glare from the lights was a bit distracting, but the muted color of the wall made the bright electric tape on the rifle stand out more.

Symmetry
The effective exploitation of symmetry and pattern can make for an extremely powerful shot. (Bray, para. 15) For this image, I laid two rifles next to each other on my bed, with the bolts (black metal part of the rifle) touching each other. The symmetry would be more apparent if I taped the other rifle completely, but I didn’t have any white electrical tape with me. I think the photo turned out well, but could’ve been better because of the tape.

Lines
Lines within an image are one of the most effective ways to enhance the drama through your shot. Horizontal and vertical lines add particularly strong structure to images. (Bray, para. 7) In this image, I used the red electrical tape as the main “lines” to focus on, and the white tape would be the secondary lines to focus on. The black strap on the bottom (or left in this picture) could also be considered a line.

Shapes

Strong shapes such as triangles and squares are easier to use to frame than circular shapes (Bray, para. 9) so I looked for shapes with strong angles. I took this image in Belk building, on the fourth floor right  outside my room. I really liked the repetition in the background of this photo and how it did not distract from the subject of the photo. It also did not have any distracting glare or lighting issues, like the negative space or contrast pictures.