assignment 1 - tutor comments

These are the comments on my first assignment on the course the art of photography the following comments are a  literal copy of the email i received from my tutor mr Russel Murray. I just added the photos from the original assignment for a better reference.

Open College of the Arts


Jorge Horacio Abreu

Art of Photography:  Photography 1

Assignment 1:  Contrasts.

This is a good start to the course, with a set of strong images and clear accompanying notes.  The image quality is good enough in this combined format for me to be able to assess the technical and creative elements of your work, although if you’re going to submit your work for assessment, you might want to look at alternative methods of presentation – PDF files etc.  I would be happy to receive the images and text in separate files.

You chose, for this assignment, to concentrate on studio-based images, which gives you a great deal of control, but does somewhat limit your subject matter. It would be worth considering for future assignments, varying the subject matter so that you have the opportunity to explore different approaches to photography.

Black and White

A strong contrasting pair, and both quite tricky to get right.  Shooting black and white subjects requires a good exposure balance to ensure detail across the dynamic range, and you achieve for the most part here.  Black works a bit better than white, where the exposure of the saucer to the left is beginning to be disappear into the background.  Perhaps a little more depth of field to define the subject would improve the shot.  With the Soya bottle, you capture the subtle details on the cap, the writing on the base, and the seam.  Perhaps both, as subjects, would benefit from some narrative context?

Hard and Soft

Again, close, soft lit images, which offer the opportunity to study detail, particularly texture and form.  For me, hard works better than soft, the form of nuts, pestle, and mortar are clearly defined with a good range of texture.  With soft, there is a focus issue, with the just a small part of the subject sharp, and the larger part of the image, the negative space, soft.  Maybe the dreamy feel could be produced with a selective blur? Perhaps it’s a matter of taste, but here, I would want a greater depth of field, and perhaps an adjustment to nudge down the exposure.  There is a nice contrast between the hard shape of the spoon and the jelly.

Large and Small

Not a bad pair of images, but I wonder if there is enough contrast here?  This can be one of the difficulties working with a limited range of subjects.  I get the idea, but the images are really very similar.  This is also because essentially you are limited for compositional variation – with tabletop subjects, unless you have a cyc’, almost everything is shot from just above the subject. The details are interesting, with the variation of nuts and cherries, which are both nicely captured with a good range of detail and true colour.  I think including the bottle, or a third element would have been a good opportunity to explore the variation in composition – but of a challenge.

Liquid and Solid

With liquid, you worked hard to get the right background, and it works very well, the softness, the colour all combine to enhance the nicely lit image of glass and water.  The detail is good, the focus range spot on.  One thing you might experiment with here, is cropping – try a composition without the bottle, just the stream of water coming from the top left.  With Hard, we enter surreal territory, and I like this image for that reason.  Maybe here, the ice would be better realized against a darker plate allowing you to capture more of the textural variation.  Look at the difficulty of trying to get a balanced exposure range in a shot like this.  Also, if the tablecloth was flatter, and maybe a few additional details of a set table, there would be a stronger narrative?

Many and Few

With Many, while the detail of the subject is strong, the soft white background below feels ‘blown out’ which is a distraction.  The colour and texture in both images is well captured, but with Few, I think it’s important with such a close shot, to get a better, depth of field.  If you look at the image, the eye is constantly drawn to the front of the subject – the strawberry that is out of focus, and the tips of the fingers.

Sharp and Blunt

This is an interesting contrasting pair, with the points of the knives meeting in sharp focus.  Here, in contrast to the strawberry shot, the soft focus diagonals to the corners of the image draw the eye to the focal point in the centre.  Similarly, with Blunt, the strong composition with the pencil across the diagonal, and the focus to the bottom left, draws the eye to the focal point.  There’s also a sense of lateral movement here through the blurring, and the simplicity of the colours all combines to make a strong image.

Rough and Smooth

One of the ways to deal with depth of field issues, rather than making the technical adjustment, and maintaining a narrow the focal plain, might be to explore the shape and cropping of the image.  The problem is the amount of negative space – that which is used to balance the composition. For example, with Rough, I would narrow the image and crop out two thirds of the out of focus area.  With Smooth, the eye is drawn away from the subject towards the right of frame and the edge of the plate.  As the photographer, you have to keep asking yourself not just ‘what do I want the viewer to look at’, but ‘how do I want then to look at it’?  Again the rendition, texture, colour and form are well captured in both images.

Sweet and Sour

A good contrasting pair, literal, but does the job.  Here, I have the same issues about the focus, and the focal plain.  The large area of soft focus cake to the back of the image, a distraction, and with the lemons, the soft focus to the left, which makes me feel as though something is obscuring my vision.  Perhaps both images would benefit in terms of composition and narrative, if they were being eaten – context is worth exploring.

Black and White (combined)

Back to the coffee cup and the Soya sauce bottle.  Bit of a random composition and pairing, although it gives you the opportunity to explore the dynamic range, and to see if you can capture the details in the light and dark areas, which I think you achieve through the reflective surfaces of both objects.  Back to the tabletop angle, just above the subject, which in this situation makes the possibilities of composition that much more problematic.

So, a good set of images, and unusually, an exercise in close, still life photography, which presents its own particular set of problems, both technical and creative.  I think you’ve done some good work here and demonstrated a good technical ability in this situation.  From a creative point of view, two points to close with.  I think, even in the exercises and images for the assignments, it’s important to take each shot as if it’s an image that you would submit for exhibition – an image that speaks for itself.  Also, if you are interested in this kind of photography, much used in product advertising, I’d study the images you see and look at their composition and the context, what, in addition to the main subject, contributes to the overall picture.