Principles of Design in Photography

Examples of Design Principles in Photography

Take the following pictures using the Principles of Design:


Texture - Take a Close-up pic to capture rough, smooth, cracked, bumpy, etc








Variety - Take a picture with an interesting/different mix of objects







Unity/Harmony - Take a picture with a group of similar objects or values 








Repetition - Rythm







Proportion - Scale - Use differences in size to create a composition









Emphasis - Focal point - Use Shallow depth of Field






Movement - Use Freeze Action or Motion Blur






Balance - Symmetrical and Asymmetrical

Perspective and Point of View in Photographs

Today we will talk about Perspective. 

When taking pictures, don't just shoot at Eye level. Take a look at the examples at the site below.

http://digital-photography-school.com/perspective-photography-dont-just-stand-move-feet/

Capture 2 Images of each of the following perspectives and post them to your blog:

Birds eye Perspective

Bugs eye

Eye Level

Horizontal Leading Lines

Vertical Leading Lines

Diagonal Leading Lines
Curves

Combination of 2 of the various perspectives.

Make sure to label each picture.

Here is a good example from a previous class. 

Composing Your Photograph Using the Rule of Thirds

Today you will take pictures using the Rule of Thirds. You will need to post 3-5 examples of the Rule of Thirds to your blog. For each example write an explanation of how the rule of thirds was used in each picture.

The rule of thirds is probably the most often referenced photography rule of composition.  It is all about subject placement within the frame.

Imagine that your picture space is divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically, like a tic tac toe grid.

The photography rule of thirds tells us to align our subject with one of the points where those lines cross. That means our subject is one third of the way “into” the picture space – from either the top or bottom, and from either the left or right. And that means it’s not in the middle.



Here is an example of the rule of thirds for a landscape photo. The focus is on the land area rather than the sky so the bottom two-thirds of the photograph are filled with land and the top third is sky.

Here are additional links explaining and demonstrating the Rule of thirds.
http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds
http://learnprophotography.com/rule-of-thirds
http://www.ultimate-photo-tips.com/photography-rule-of-thirds.html

http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/rule-of-thirds

Aperture - Depth of Field Excercise

Today you will experiment with capturing both shallow and deep Depth of Field.

Post your examples to your blog demonstrating both shallow and extended Depth of Field.

You should have 2 examples of both deep and shallow depth of Field.

 follow the format below for each picture:

This pic was shot at ISO 400, Shutter Speed 1/125, aperture f5.6. 
The DoF is very shallow:

This pic was shot at ISO 1600, Shutter Speed 1/60, Aperture f32. 
it has an extended Depth of Field.

Aperture - The AMOUNT of light let into the camera

Aperture is the opening in the lens that controls the AMOUNT of light that you allow to enter the camera. 

It is measured in a thing we call the F number.



As you decrease the size of the Aperture you increase the amount of the picture that is in focus. This is called Depth of field.

Watch the following video for a good explanation of how Aperture works. We'll began using different F Stops and doing Depth of Field exercises later in class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUbjkMm_v-A


Depth of Field is the amount of the image that is in sharp focus

Here is the a link that describes how and when to use Aperture Priority

Here's link that descibes how to take better pictures using Aperture Priority.

Use the Nikons to experiment with Depth of Field around the building. Take pictures with both Shallow and Deep Depth of Field. We'll post them next class.

Shutter Speed Exercise - Post to your blog

In 3 correctly exposed (not underexposed or overexposed) capture an example of the following:

• Freezing Action
• Motion Blur
• Tracking 

Label each picture with the shutter speed and ISO you used. 


See the examples below.....

Freezing Action
Shutter Speed 1/1250 seconds
ISO 3200

Motion Blur
Shutter speed 1.6 seconds
ISO 100

Tracking
Shutter Speed 1/3 seconds
ISO 400

Shutter Speed - Capturing Motion - Freezing Action

The next Fundamental of Exposure we will explore is Shutter Speed.

Shutter Speed is - The amount of TIME you let light into the camera.

Shutter Speed is measured in seconds or fractions of a second.

For example:

1" = 1 second

1/2 = 1 half second

1/125 = 1 one hundred twenty-fifth of a second

A Shutter Speed of 1 second is considered SLOW, and as it moves into fractions of a second, such as 1/125, the Shutter Speed is described as FAST.

By changing shutter speeds you not only control how long light enters the camera but also how motion is captured in your image. You can Freeze the movement of your subject, Show Motion Blur, or Track your subject.

Here is an example of how shutter speed shows motion blur or freezes action.

Use the Thumb dial to set the Shutter Speed. In the screen below, the Shutter Speed is set at 1/60, or one sixtieth of a second. 1/60 is basically a dividing line between slow and fast shutter speeds.

Follow this link for a description of how shutter speed works.

We will now have a hands-on practice session and I will demonstrate how to change the Shutter Speed on the Nikon DSLRs.

Next you will practice taking

Today we will use various shutter speeds to:
1. Freeze motion (fast shutter speed of 1/125 or higher)
2. Create a Motion Blur (Shutter speed around 1/15 or slower)
3. Tracking - Panning (Shutter Speed about 1/60)