Freeman Patterson Workshop

Exercise 2, walk out door, 7 step radius, etc. etc.

2005-08-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

These photos are half of the ones i took out my back door. It was a more challenging exercise for me because my back yard isn't all that intrinsicly beautiful, so I had to look for more interesting subjects, angles, etc. But I've always enjoyed shooting ordinary objects in an unusual way that makes them stand out.

These photos were taken on two different days because I ran out of time the first time I went out. My white balance setting was set wrong, so some of them I had to color correct, and they didn't come out perfectly. But I'm pretty happy with the results.

Thanks for any comments, especially if you could let me know which one(s) you like and why, if any.

Process for Exercise 1

2005-08-04T10:12:00.002-07:00

As was pointed out to me, I need to explain how I came to the shots I took, what I learned, all that good stuff.

The first shot of the river was taken hand-held, shooting down into a stream. I had kind of a general idea of what i wanted, to capture the colors and feel of the stream, but no specific plan or approach. So I hand-held the shot and adjusted my settings to have a slower shutter speed, about 1/4 second I think.

The second shot is of a flower growing through a fence. I loved the colors and vertical lines of the fence, and the unusualness of the flower coming through. To me it was a very clear example of breaking the rule of keeping the subject in focus. But compared to the shots I took where the flower is in focus, it's certainly not as good.

The final shot was one that had three levels: the reeds in front, the wheat in the middle, and the grass in the back. What intrigued me was that the wheat, because of its contrast to the reeds & grass, was a clear subject, while the reeds being in focus in front would create strong lines to guide the eye through the photo.

No progress on next exercises yet, but hope to shoot this weekend.

Exercise 1

2005-08-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

The part of the book that stood out to me was talking about things that block us from seeing, and how even our camera can do that. I realize that sometimes when I'm out shooting, the camera prevents me from seeing, because I'm immediately jumping in to take photos rather than seeing and enjoying what's before me.

Here are the photos I took for breaking rules

Starting Up

2005-07-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

Just getting this running. I've taken some pictures, and when I get a chance I'll post them. I'm also beginning reading through the book, haven't gotten too far yet.