For this assignment, I read through the key points, listened to the video links, and read through the linked articles. I found each of the key points very helpful because while I don’t have a camera (other then on my phone) I do enjoy taking pictures and having some helpful techniques to improve my small skills was a great asset in doing this assignment.
I took one of the tips from David duChemin’s ebook: 20 Ways to Make Better Photographs on changing perspective. David mentioned “If you want to show me something different, show it to me differently. One of the ways you can do this is to get out of the habit of shooting from eye height.” this caught my attention and I decided to see if I could try this on campus. I decided to pick Monroe Hall as my subject and at first, walked around the inside of the building looking up and looking down – what would be a good subject and at what angle should I take this photo were the questions in my head. It wasn’t till I saw the trees and columns outside of Monroe that I remembered David saying as well, “Diagonal lines lead the viewer’s eye through an image” and I decided they would be my subject.
I took several photos around these columns trying to find the right angle and a different perspective (added these to a Flickr abum). I took shots from the ground of just the trees (from the view of ant) but didn’t like the angle and the lighting wasn’t great from the building creating a shadow. I also took some shots standing looking straight up and then also putting the camera on the ledge of the columns above my head and taking a photo straight up.
I ended up getting some good photos just playing around, but the one I decided to share below was not only because it caught the base of the columns, but also because the angle of the columns takes you right up into the endless blue sky that is so serene. I also liked the fact that this photo isn’t perfect in having the background all-sky and your eye is also drawn to the green of the tree branch in the bottom right corner.
