The Pixels in Pete's World

Composition 2

A few other devices that photographers use to draw attention to their main subject is the use of Color, Contrast and Patterns

Color

A Chinese Opera singer’s bright and colorful costume draws your eyes to his face because his face is painted white and his eyes and eyebrows are exaggerated by makeup. There is no question that color is the key to this picture. This picture would not have the same impact if it were in Black and White.

Often the main subject is so striking that it is the one with the most striking color. It is very common for photographers to choose a background that is very muted or plain and set their subject with color against it.

Contrast

Contrast can be either in terms of bright and dark with little middle tones or even something that is HUGE versus something very small.

A Sumo wrestler takes on a child just for fun during a demonstration during Riverside’s Lunar Festival.

In the picture above, it is a contrast of physical size.

In the case of contrast involving bright and dark, then it is a case of how our eyes are naturally drawn to it like in Silhouettes.

A mis-timed jump can often add an element of luck making a composition like this silhouette more interesting. Note how striking a silhouette is. Your eyes are so naturally drawn to these figures in the air.
When I spied this young girl in the corner of my eye, I quickly recognized the moment and motioned to her mum that I wanted to get a picture of her daughter. She obliged and I quickly made this image without alerting her. The spontaneous moment was perfect because the light in the late evening window never looked better.

Patterns

Patterns occur everyone around us. We just need to look for them. Often photographers look for a repeating pattern and then they place their subject in the midst of that repeating pattern, breaking the rhythm. This method works very effectively because we can’t help but notice that something is out of order.

Late morning sun casts an interesting shadow that resembles beds on the side of a parking structure in downtown Riverside.

Go outside and look around especially in the early morning or late evening for objects that you can use for these three device of composition.

Shoot at least 5 pictures using Color, Contrast and Patterns.

Submit your proof sheet with all 15 pictures.

Then edit your best or favorite one for each of the 3 devices. Rename your files “your first name_family name initial_Color.jpg”, “your first name_family name initial_Contrast.jpg”, “your first name_family name initial_Patterns.jpg”.

Submit your work in Google Classroom under CLASSWORK> Composition 2