Photography Article August Photography Book Club: week 4|Photography Artist Statement

It's the fourth and final week of the  August Photography Book Club and our study of Freeman Patterson's Photography and the Art of Seeing. I know this is a busy time for many of us, but I hope you will still read and participate as you are able. Catch up by reading any of the following or just jump right in from here.

• Overview about the Book Club
• Summary and exercises from week 1
• Reflections and photographs from week 1
• Summary and exercises from week 2
• Summary and exercises from week 3

If you don't have access to a copy of the book, you can still join in by participating in the exercises and reflections below. If you do have the book, you'll have a lot more material to draw upon and work with.

Exploring the impact of shutter speed by panning while shooting. Panning Experiment by Archaeofrog on Flickr.

To see more what others have been coming up with, take a look at the photographs on the Flickr group page or taggedbookclub-seeing1,bookclub-seeing2, or bookclub-seeing3.

Week 4 will awareness on the closing sections within the e book: Elements of Visual Design: Color, Principles of Visual Design, Working with Visual Design, and Photography and the Art of Seeing.SBelow, I've provided a few quotations that struck me from these sections and a few tips for physical activities. (All web page numbers seek advice from the 2011 version, and I've kept his Canadian spellings when quoting.)

Elements of Visual Design: shade

This section continues the discussion of tone from remaining time and adds the detail of shade and the relationship among coloration and emotional response. Patterson continues to emphasise the manner of identifying a motive for an photo, choosing a subject matter to express that topic, and now, thinking about the position and length of the color(s). He also discusses how shade can express time or concord, and the way colorings are regularly perceived in relation to the alternative colours present.

"There is no 'accurate' way to render the colours on this photo, but some methods will result in more effective expression than others. Let your technique be decided by means of what needs to be expressed in place of by way of technical dreams inclusive of a search for coloration harmony" (pg. 114).

He indicates an workout in self-assessment: "examine a number of your antique images. Try to determine the elements of visible design that have stimulated you the most" (pg. A hundred and fifteen). Then, venture your self to try some thing special: a series of monochromatic pictures focusing on tones or of black-and-white pictures or of muted, monochromatic color or ...

Monochromatic take on snow. (This is actually a color image.) Winter Monochrome by Archaeofrog on Flickr

Principles of and Working with Visual Design

Patterson offers a idea of visual layout centered on two primary standards ? Simplicity and dynamics (anxiety) ? And five secondary ideas ? Dominance, stability, share, sample and rhythm, and deformation (or distortion). He explains in short about each of those fundamental and minor standards, a few methods to attain them, and some ways to change and control them.

About tension: "Our regular visual enjoy is dynamic, because the anxiety among the colours, shapes, sizes, and locations of things maintains our eyes continuously shifting. Photographers manage tension by using the way they stability items within the picture space" (pg. 119).

You can discover deformation by means of experimenting with how one-of-a-kind lenses (and/or distinctive focal lengths) impact the attitude of the final image. Choose a topic be counted and image it with a wide perspective lens, making sure the problem occupies a good sized part of the photo. Now, zoom out to 50 mm (or switch lenses) and again up out of your difficulty until it occupies roughly the same part of the picture. Take every other image. (I endorse shooting in aperture precedence mode to preserve your aperture the equal in all pix.) Now zoom out to 100 mm, continue to again up and recompose, and shoot again. Continue zooming out and backing up till you have reached your longest zoom. Take some time to examine and evaluate your pics. How have the images changed as compared to each other? How has your situation turn out to be extra or much less deformed? Do you've got a favourite of the series and why?

Branches or other natural objects can create a 'frame' within your photograph that focuses the eye and emphasizes your subject. Milford Sound, New Zealand by Archaeofrog on Flickr

Patterson also suggests several guidelines to consider when applying the principles of visual design to a given situation. He asks us as photographers to consider the center of interest, the base, whether to fill the picture space, how and when to use a frame or a window, when to use a lack of perspective to our advantage, when to consider 'amputating' your subject, why we should concern ourselves only with 'appropriate color,' a reminder to consider exposure, and the importance of symbolism. Each of these topics could be the subject of a photographic exploration. Choose one (or more) to focus in on and see how it influences your photography. The series of photographs that follows this section offers additional ideas about some of these principles and guidelines.

Photography and the Art of Seeing

The closing section in the book is greater an utility than a summary of all of the points presented all through. Patterson stocks his personal stories with taking part in a number of the equal challenges he has offered his students and his readers. (In the 2011 version this consists of spending an afternoon photographing a white plastic chair and gambling with light in glassware, at the same time as the earliest variants encompass a study of a gravel quarry.) Find a similar object or concern or situation and notice what you can give you, now that you have this e-book and its training in thoughts.

Multiple Ways to Join the Book Club

Want to participate? Post a remark with your mind or a hyperlink to a photo you've got taken for the Book Club and a proof of ways the book stimulated your image. Or, you may submit images and make a contribution to the discussion by becoming a member of the Photography Book Club Group on Flickr.

Parting phrases for the week: "Having made hundreds of compositions with the aid of the stop of the afternoon, I realized that I had in reality handiest started. That frequently occurs whilst you play ? One aspect definitely ends in some other. There's no better manner to research. That's why we are all youngsters first" (pg. 147).