This week I had a host of volunteers ready to help me photograph my assignment. I have found that when you train your dogs that little morsels fall from your camera, once you pull out your equipment, they all come running--looking for a job.
It wasn't an easy job this week. My brain decided it had been taxed enough last week, and I was in a particularly uncreative mood. Then I passed our Do It Center and saw the adirondack chairs out front all ready for summer yard festivities, and realized we had some of these chairs, and that they might help me with this week's lesson.
Patterns create rhythm in a photograph. I needed to create a pattern, then, I needed to throw an unexpected break in the pattern. Yep. That's the assignment. Look for patterns, then look for breaks in the pattern. A break will strengthen the photo. Our eye gets used to seeing a pattern repeated more than a few times. A break in the pattern can make a photo more interesting.
It wasn't an easy job this week. My brain decided it had been taxed enough last week, and I was in a particularly uncreative mood. Then I passed our Do It Center and saw the adirondack chairs out front all ready for summer yard festivities, and realized we had some of these chairs, and that they might help me with this week's lesson.
Patterns create rhythm in a photograph. I needed to create a pattern, then, I needed to throw an unexpected break in the pattern. Yep. That's the assignment. Look for patterns, then look for breaks in the pattern. A break will strengthen the photo. Our eye gets used to seeing a pattern repeated more than a few times. A break in the pattern can make a photo more interesting.
Billie was my first candidate/volunteer. She is my break in the pattern of four chairs. I did a distance photo, because at the time of day when I worked on patterns, the shadows cast under the chairs also formed a pattern.
I also experimented with the photo below to see if a break in a pattern would keep the eye focused on a certain subject, even when the background was pretty populated with "stuff." Since Moe saw Billie get her treat for helping, he immediately came over to help. I decided to allow him to break the pattern in a different way. Even with the fence and woodland behind him (again, a distance shot), your eye should move to Moe.
I also experimented with the photo below to see if a break in a pattern would keep the eye focused on a certain subject, even when the background was pretty populated with "stuff." Since Moe saw Billie get her treat for helping, he immediately came over to help. I decided to allow him to break the pattern in a different way. Even with the fence and woodland behind him (again, a distance shot), your eye should move to Moe.
I used a 35mm f/1.8 lens. No chairs were harmed in the making of these photos.
Now if I can get some volunteers to help clean up those leaves from the Fall, I promise to bake you a treat. The dogs have already told me they are not going to help me with that project.
To see what patterns were created and broken this week by other blog circle participants, start here with Susannah Maynard, Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay area.
Now if I can get some volunteers to help clean up those leaves from the Fall, I promise to bake you a treat. The dogs have already told me they are not going to help me with that project.
To see what patterns were created and broken this week by other blog circle participants, start here with Susannah Maynard, Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay area.
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