Assignment 2: Positioning, Light and Point of View

Here you find the second assignment of the Pure Photo Workshop. This week Mariska de Groot will give us a new view on photography with her assignment.

Please post the photos of this assignment on your blog on May 18th and don't forget to give all the other participants feedback on their photos.
Have fun!

Assignment 2: For this weeks assignment, I would like you to think about positioning, light and point of view.

Step 1: Choose an object (something nice always works, a flower in an little vase, a piece of fruit or a toy of some kind) to take a series of photos from. You could also practice on a kid or pet, but they mostly are less patient than flowers or fruits ;-) I chose my Swedish Dalarna horse to show you some examples.

Step 2: Choose a spot to take your photos. Ideally, you can move around your object (somewhat) freely, and you can move your object away from and towards light (a window would be perfect).

Step 3: Get your camera ready :)

Now you are all set to try the following series and see what happens!

Close and far: how close can you get? What happens to the photos as you move further away from your object? Is there any distortion caused by the lens(es) you choose? As you move farther away, there will probably be more distraction in your images. How do you like that?

High and low: what happens if you photograph your object from above? On eye level? And from below? You can also try this with kids or adult friends or family members (as an extra to this assignment)

Light: try different angles; your object in direct light, in a 90 degree angle, or with the light behind your object. What happens? How do the pictures change? If you have a chance, try the difference between sun and shadow, and/or sun and cloudy weather.  Or even try what de difference is between daylight and artificial light (lamps at night time).

Click on the image to zoom in.

What to share:

• So, now you’ve tried these different things: what have you seen? What do you like about the pics, what don’t you like? Explain! I’m curious to see if you all agree on what you’ve experienced.
• Now combine several things into 2 ‘don’t like it like this’ photos and 2 or 3 ‘really like it like this’ photos! Do so (use your flower or fruit again, or try a kid or friend for now!), and explain what you chose and why (eg. I like my object in half shadow on a sunny day from above and close up, because… )

We’ve now done this at home, but all these things also apply to all kinds of photography. If you take a look at my website, you’ll see that I use all kinds of different angles, and come across all kinds of light situations. It’s cool to know what you can do, and what you like, it helps you develop your own views and even your own style (about which you already learned from Britt!)

Mariska de Groot – Grotografie - Groningen