Assignment 3 - Colour

In this assignment I will try and show my command of colour in my photography by finding and using different colours in deliberate relationships.

Along with the coursework I used some advice from my tutor to have a look at the work of Martin Parr in particular for this assignment. I was already aware of his work, especially his controversial The Last Resort series and various examples in Magnum. I have to admit that after working through the course work and hopefully now having a better understanding of colours and their relationships, I looked at his images completely differently from when I first saw them.

Martin Parr - Magnum (1997)

In the above image Martin Parr manages to give an example of the three primary colours which all naturally contrast each other. But he has managed to put them together harmoniously, with the rich highly saturated red being flooded by the lesser saturated yellow of the fantastic Mohican and the pale blue sky in the background. You would think that with such an interesting foreground the mid and background would be irrelevant, but by cropping out the face of the punk and then with such an eye catching red you find yourself exploring the mid ground followed then by pale blue sky in the background finishing back at the bright golden yellow of the hair. With so little in the way of subjects in the frame it is now apparent to me why this image has always caught my attention, and that is the wonderful manipulation of colour that brings harmony to what would generally be classed as far balanced if it were based on its subject alone.

Along with the course notes and exercises I stumbled across an excellent youtube tutorial that really helped me to understand better how to think about harmony in colours in an image. The practical explanation of weights on a spin top like colour wheel trying to balance on its central pivot, really helped my understanding of their relationship so much better than before. So, many thanks to Artist Scott Naismith for this and his other online tutorials;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOVXP6ILtrM&feature=share&list=FL2XfsFEQ5SJVEdryLsTBdEA

Although Scott is an artist and his example is of a CMY colour wheel the principal of the harmony and balance are universal and helped me enormously in understanding that it was not always about just finding a wall of colour next to another colour with nothing more in the shot to get harmony and balance in an image.

So in order to try and show my command in colours and their relationships I have to present 16 photographs of both found and arranged situation, 4 for each relationship.


Colour Harmony Through Complimentary Colours


Complimentary Colours - Colours that face each other across the circle of the colour wheel

Martin Parr - Life's a Beach

This an example I found of Martin Parr, where he managed to harmonise blue and orange almost textbook in ratio 1:2, (even the suggested triangles made by each arm reinforce the multiple), but as he does so brilliantly in such a different way, having a very saturated and overly tanned orange lady lie on her bright blue towel. I really like how the deeper blue of the lady's eye covers which are so central, makes them the original focal point before the background of the towel pulls everything in the image towards you including the lady herself.

Man Walking Away

Diagram of colour

Here I found similar colours but in a totally different situation to Martin Parr above. I tried to use the correct suggested ratio of 1:2 but with the blue being slightly greater I feel it took the similar colour of yellow in the fencing to just push this towards harmony. The dead colours of black and grey help to create that little bit of separation to create a balanced relationship. For the image as a whole, I like how the man walking away is unconventionally on the left and walking out of the frame along with the blue slats going in that direction whereas the slats of the orange wall are pulling in the opposite direction. So in a strange sort of way with the central subjects being very stationary the image seems to be trying to pull apart but inadvertently bringing it all together in harmony (Or maybe thats just me).

Working Progress

Diagram of colour

This is one of my arranged (still-life) creations. With having very little time just now in my family and work life it only seemed appropriate to take my studying to work and use the surrounding environment to try and produce some images. As a freight train driver, I used the abundant wild flowers that litter the lineside to arrange this small still life in my cab, on the circuit board drop down shelf while I was stopped for a few minutes. I tried to arrange the flowers in such a way to have the the recommended 1:3 ratio of purple to yellow. The neutral colours of black and grey in the background assist in highlighting the interesting combination of the mechanical/electrical equipment and the natural floral arrangement of wild flowers. I consciously tried to centralise the top yellow flower by using a f2.8 small depth of field and cropping to a square. I felt this was the most prominent and glorious flower that deserved its place in an otherwise confusing bunch of flowers.

Brushes

Diagram of colour

Red and green should never be seen but when in ratio of 1:1 they can be quite complimentary and harmonious. Here I placed my kids tooth brushes together and captured them side by side in front of a window letting in bright daylight. They compliment each other well and create a unique spot of colour in an otherwise unsaturated background. Their similar brightness helps to balance their relationship in a satisfying and harmonious way.

Sunset in Reverse

Diagram of colour

I managed to capture a section of one of the many beautiful sunsets we have been lucky to witness this year, in the wing mirror of my locomotive. The rich blue of the evening sky has the wonderfully warm golden orange/yellow sunlit clouds speckled across it. By focusing in the mirror the background is thrown out of focus but still carries the same colours in a harmonious relationship.

Harmony Through Similar Colours

Similar Colours - Colours near to each other in the colour wheel, as in cool or warm range of colours.

Martin Parr - The Last Resort

I have to say, I don't think Martin Parr does harmony with similar colours. If it's not contrasting/complimentary then he doesn't seem too interested. But, here I feel there is little contrast or complimentary colours, just harmony in their similarity. This image feels much more neutral in colour compared to anything else he is renowned for producing but his content is fascinating. We are left with no distractions to explore the intensity in the faces and actions of the costumers of this Brighton chip shop.

 Blue Umbrella

Diagram of colour

For me this scene of the umbrella and the pier building was almost enough of an example of harmony of blues and greens, but when the passing gentleman with his similar blue t-shirt and hat came into shot it immediately became a definite for one of my illustrations of harmony through similar colours. With all  representations of the blues and green being so alike it seemed I just had to find a way to put them all together in some sort of harmonious image. I managed to get behind the vendors umbrella of many colours of the rainbow and fortunately positioned myself in such a way as to show the colours I desired to correspond with the pier building and crystal clear Santa Monica blue sky. The man just happened to come into shot, which I was initially peeved at until I quickly realised he was dressed in similar colours to my initial subjects. Bingo! I cropped the image to square ratio in an attempt to try and emphasise the structured triangles within the frame which helps rotate the viewer around the image.

Yellow Shade

Diagram of colour

I like this photo but just wish there could have been some guests sitting at the tables of this californian ranch to make it far more interesting, but beggars can't be choosers. There are the similar colours of green and yellow, which are almost 50/50 in this image apart from the slightly more neutral slate greys at the bottom of the image to break it up. The curve of the tables and pergola help to enchant the eye around the corner to ponder what lies beyond. Upside down umbrellas will always create question and as I stated I only wish I was there at the time of it being busier and more vibrant.

Working Lunch

Diagram of colour

It might be possible to start to realise the running theme of content. If it's not family event orientated then it will most definitely be work related. This is the situation I find myself in with 2 children under 5 where usually my wife an I pass on the door step between work and being a parent. Although for clarity I wouldn't have it any other way. So here again I have an arranged situation set up during some down time at my place of work. This time being the remainder of my lunch and the required work clotting as a backdrop. There is harmony in the similar colours but I also tried to maintain some structure by framing the banana and orange within the reflectors of the clothing and the gloves along the top.

Connected

Diagram of colour

This is the interior of a small shunting locomotive which has been used for over 50 years with its electrical and circuit boxes all connected by thick cables. These connections are balanced with the diagonal relationship of the similar colours of the orange box and the red fire extinguisher, which I feel creates a well balanced image.

Colour Contrast Through Contrasting Colours

Contrasting Colours - Colours spaced about a third of the way round the colour wheel.

Martin Parr - The Last Resort

For me finding and capturing contrasting colours in a fantastically eye-catching way is what Martin Parr does extremely well. Here he has the rich red paint of the bench and post contrasting with the blue of the clear sky. The blue area has the women in the shot wearing similar coloured clothes to the sky blue whereas in the shelter with the red paint, there is an orange glow from a late evening summer sun bringing that area all together. It creates two distinct sections to the image separated by their contrasting main colours but with red-blue being so contrasting their is also the faint orange of the sun which helps bring the whole image together by being similar to the red and a complimentary colour to the blue.

Garden Party

Diagram of colour

For my first image I used this scene of a garden restaurant which had yellow and red contrasting umbrellas. I cropped to a wider more panoramic view to highlight the horizontal stripes effect of the colours. Although contrasting colours as these are, I felt the image did have an element of harmony brought about with the greenery between the lines of colour from the umbrellas. There is also more red in this image than yellow but with the green being similar to yellow in the colour wheel I felt they both helped to balance the amount of red that dominates the fore and middle ground of the scene.

Yellow Brick Wall

Diagram of colour

This second image show the contrasting colours yellow and blue. Blue being from the much colder range than the warm yellow adds to the stark contrast of this shot. The hard rugged texture of the wall with its jarring edges to the individual bricks heightens the sense of contrast when we look up into the smooth clear blue sky. This was taken at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and these majestic walls make up the entire structure of the museum becoming somewhat of a large piece of art in them selves, a wonderful place to visit.

Purple Line

Diagram of colour

Here again I am back to the railway and this time a line side scene where those wonderful purple wild flowers line the verges. I used the natural perspective of the railway line to try and create some movement in this image. I find that the purple dominates this scene with my eye constantly being pulled back towards it as it stands out from it's contrasting green surroundings, overall an eye-catching though unsettled image.

Red Lamps

Diagram of colour

This photo of continental tail lamps lined up show the clear contrast between red and yellow. The surrounding greys help to emphasise this and with there being so many straight horizontal lines the circular red discs aid this further. I feel it has a harmonious side to it though, perhaps with the single vertical line acting like a balance scale.

Colour Accent Using Any Of The Above

Colour Accent - One small area of colour that sits against a much larger background of another colour as a spot or accent.

Martin Parr - China (Magnum Photos)

Here Martin parr uses the cold white/greys and a very pale blue to suggest one pale colour with a spot or accent of highly saturated red. the accent demands attention as your eye works its way around the image exploring the miniature Manhattan skyline in China. To me it helps give the feeling of the lady in red being a tour guide to the other less vibrantly dressed tourists.

Short Straw

Diagram of colour

This image is an accent of purple on green, two contrasting colours. Smothered by green wooden panels the purple straw takes your attention especially its bright highlights. The detail of the wood gives  interest to the shot and the relationship of green and purple gives a strong contrast that allows the straw to be very prominent.

Hot Purple

Diagram of colour

Again using my work environment, I made a small bunch of flowers for this still-life from some more wild flowers and placed them on my cabs hot plate. I liked the circular frame and chose a square crop to highlight it, with the randomness of the flowers contrasting these standard shapes. The spot of colour here is purple again but this time surrounded by a complimentary yellow. Obviously the ratio of harmony in their relationship is all wrong but with the neutrality of the background isolates the flowers and the central position of the purple accent demands attention before the remainder of the yellow flowers are explored.

Two Spots of Red

Diagram of colour

Using the blue of the sky I positioned this signal to give two small accents of red. Although there are two spots and not the usual one for this accent, I feel their close proximity means it acts as one. As with the Short Straw image the relationship between blue and red creates contrast that makes both colours stand out and make this an eye-catchig image.

Over and Above

Diagram of colour

This was taken from a high vantage point, looking down on a family. I was attracted to the strong red of the boys t-shirt against the green grass that surrounded him. The should never be seen red and green means their relationship serves to intensify each colour.

Conclusion

A truly eye opening assignment and the whole section of Colour was something I had never studied or understood in any way. I feel I have learned a lot, I hope to continue learning and I know I will constantly be conscious of colour relationships in my every day life and particular my photography. It has become apparent that my whole perspective of what I see has changed dramatically since beginning this course. As with The Frame and Elements of Design I look at situations totally differently now and see a little more each time, hopefully over time this will become apparent in my photography and be better for it because I can rarely just look at something without trying to find shapes or a viewpoint and now how the colours work with each other.

I printed these cards to carry with me for this assignment along with the colour wheel just to help remind we what to look for and also just to reinforce there relationship groups. I will continue to carry these in my bag so that I will continue to try and learn to look for the balance and harmony they can bring to my images. I feel this is something I need to continue to work on until it becomes second nature.

I have tried to show my command of colour in my photography, being able to find and use colours in deliberate relationships. I hope this has come across in these images of both arranged and found situations taken around my day to day life.

Part 3 - Ex 4 - Colours into Tones in Black & White

This exercise was all about showing that understanding colour in black and white photography gives a powerful tonal control, allowing emphasis of certain objects while suppressing others.

Because I was using digital images I had only to take one shot of an arrange still life with 4 objects coloured red, blue, yellow and green with a mid grey card or as I chose to do, have a mid grey background. I then converted the colour image in lightroom to black & white, firstly neutral with all B&W Mix colour channels at zero to represent no filters, then with the B&W red channel at +100 to represent a red filter, then similarly adjusting each channel to represent blue, yellow and green filters then note the tonal changes that occurred in the image.

Original Colour Image

As can be seen, I used a grey top as a background, a banana, pepper, lettuce and pieces of lego to represent the relative colours and light the scene with window light and a reflector to fill in some shadows.

No Filter

With no filter all the colours have their own tonal value with only yellow at a similar brightness to the mid tone grey and the others all darker.

Red Filter

With the red filter it has a dramatic effect on the red pepper, brightening it to a similar tone as the the grey background and with the distinctive shape of the banana and knowing they are all generally yellow, the now similarly toned pepper makes the mind presume it is either an orange or yellow pepper where as in the image with no filter it was possible to imagine a red or green pepper from its tone.

Blue Filter

Here with a blue filter we find it is the blue lego pieces that now change in tone, appearing brighter than the mid grey background. Suggesting again they could have been original a bright colour like yellow or orange.

Green Filter

This time it is the lettuce that has been brightened with the application of the green filter. Now a similar tone to the grey background which in turn throws a question mark over the viewers perception of its original colour.

Yellow Filter

The yellow filter has dramatic effect on the banana now a very bright object almost burnt out. It now stands out from all the other objects which remain either mid toned or dark. 

Now understanding that a filter will allow that particular colours' light through and brighten it this has been a very worthwhile exercise, where I found out some of the effects that can be applied to black & white images by altering the colour channels to create different tones for individual objects. It was noted that the mid grey background remained exactly the same throughout the set of images.

Part 3 - Colour - Exercise 3 - Colour Relationships

This exercise was in two parts. The first being to produce one photograph of each complimentary pair of colours (opposites in the colour wheel) to the following ratios:

Red - Green 1:1
Orange - Blue 1:2
Yellow - Violet 1:3

These ratios were first suggested by German poet/playwright J.W. Von Goethe and given to help help harmonise the complimentary colours by balancing the relative brightness of each Hue.

Red/Green 1:1

This image has the 1:1 ratio for red and green and I tried to introduce a mirror image setup, just the kids on the chairs had other ideas. Red and green should never be seen is a well known saying but in an image with these ratios in particular it can be seen the do fall into a complimentary category bringing harmony to one another.

Orange/Blue 1:2

Blue and orange I feel are quite common especially in shop fronts and sales, probably with the brightness of the orange becoming more striking when placed next to the pure blue with this ratio of 1:2.

Yellow/Violet 1:3

I used a close up of an old football which conveniently had yellow and violet as decoration. With a tight crop I tried to get the ratio of 1:3 giving the bright yellow some harmony in the dark violet appearing in a generally satisfying way.


The second part of the exercise was to show 3 photos that show two or more combinations of colours that appeal to me, and the idea being to prove that there is no single correctness to complimentary colours.

Image 1

Here in image 1 I found these colourful rows of nail polish in a local stall. I chose it because I wanted to study the effect of putting so many colours together in some kind of order. With yellow being the only one omitted, all the hue's of the colour wheel are are represented, mostly all on the second row. This row demands the main attention with a dynamic feeling to it, leaving the rest of the rows to fall in behind much more peacefully. I felt the 4 rows could possibly represent the 1:3 ratio that yellow and violet needs to create harmony, with the colourful 2nd row representing the omitted bright yellow and the other 3 weaker rows representing the darker violet.

Image 2

Image 2 is again many combinations of colour. The rows of trainers have many colours and some individual shoes also have their own mini combination of intensely saturated Hues. This certainly create an imbalance in the image. With so much going on, from the many colours to the different direction of the pairs then to the uneven pairing of two right shoes and no left shoe in any of the display, there is a very hectic and energetic feel creating uneasiness and only manages to throw the eye all over the image, never resting anywhere. This could arguably be useful in the promotion of sports footwear suggest activeness and motion.

Image 3

Image 3 is in complete contrast to image 2, with a much more balanced scene. For a start the four main Hues are softer with weaker saturation and all slightly bright. Blue and orange being the only pairing that can be described as complimentary I thought it would be interesting to study this combination of four colour is this mainly neutral setting. The definite lines of the roof structure do bring an order to the image, with the darker tones of the shadows at the bottom of the shot and brighter areas of the defused light from the skylights at the top the is a controlled balance. I feel the harmonious combination of colours just help to complete the balance of the whole image and just get enough edginess from the non complimentary pairs to make bring it alive enough to make it interesting.

Again another interesting exercise where I had to explore more colours around my environment and forced to think about their relationship to one another in their surroundings. Something I have never done before and must admit I am enjoying learning more from each exercise. It seems there is good  reason to understand the complimentary pairings along with the harmonious ratios but there is also nothing set in stone and like many elements of photography, rules are not definite. Each image and photograph has its own story to tell and knowing how to use these rules to tell it is what learning is all about.

Part 3 - Colour - Exercise 2 - Primary & Secondary Colours

Above is a graphic of a colour wheel taken from the internet. The colour wheel shows the 3 primary colours, Red, Blue and Yellow as well as the 3 secondary colours Green, Orange and Purple.

In this exercise I have taken 6 photographs of a scene that individually feature or are dominated by one single colour from the colour wheel.

Each image is taken at the cameras correctly exposed setting then another 2 shots were taken, one stopped up the other stopped down. Where this couldn't be down at the point of capture, I recreated the under and over exposure in lightroom.

Primary Colours

 Red

Stopped up

Correct Exposure

Stopped Down

Here I took a photograph of a row of red training shoes in a shop, lit with spot lights from above. I only took one shot and stopped up/down in lightroom. The correct exposure made with the cameras meter shows a deep red fabric with intense saturation and slightly dark in brightness but when stopped up the red becomes pure and bright. Under exposing the image created a much deeper and overly saturated red almost beginning to darken to black in the shadow areas. For me the stopped up image best matches the red in the colour wheel.

Blue

Stopped Down

Correctly Exposed

Stopped Up

I found this stain glass window in the Museum of Modern Art in Glasgow. I liked how the light coming in threw a nice blue light around the room. I took 3 separate photos, the correctly expose at 1/40s f8 and stopped down to f11 then stopped up to f5.6. I'm going to go with the lighter stopped up image as the one more like the colour wheel blue with both the darker images making the blue in the bottom windows too dark and going towards black in the stopped down image.

Yellow

Stopped Down

Correctly Exposed

Stopped Up

I used bananas for yellow and used Lightroom to under and over expose. With daylight coming in from the right, there is a slight highlight across the top of the bananas which gets washed out when the exposure is stopped up. But I feel it is this image that matches the yellows best to the colour wheel delivering a good, bright and pure yellow.

Secondary Colours

Orange

Stopped Up 

Correctly Exposed

Stopped Down

This mural found in Glasgow's city centre has a predominant orange Hue with the figures in a neutral grey. The saturation is weak in the under exposed image and slightly dark, the correctly exposed is dull with average brightness and the overexposed giving generally the most intense and bright orange which I feel is similar to the colour wheel, although as with all the images there is a differing light to dark exposure running left to right, this was due to the light coming in from the main road lighting this arched close where mural was found. So the left hand side of the overexposed image does have an area of pure and very bright orange, but I feel the majority of the image has an orange similar to the colour wheel.

Green

Stopped Down

Correctly Exposed

Stopped Up

For green I found a kids garden spade. Here I feel the overexposed is rather unsaturated and fairly bright, the correct exposure saturated and average brightness and feel the underexposed to be the closest to the colour wheel green with intense saturation and slightly dark. 

Purple/Violet

Stopped Up

Correctly Exposed

Stopped Down

This sculpture was used to capture purple, three shots were taken at f5.6 f8 and f11 all 1/30s. For me the correctly exposed image is the most like the colour wheel purple with a saturated and dark colour surface. I have to presume though, that with my metering system on average for the whole image that with the white background the camera has done what it always does with white and underexposing it as it tries to find the medium grey. So I am presuming that the correctly exposed labelled image is probably 1 stop underexposed, meaning the closest to the colour wheel is technically the stopped down labelled 'correctly exposed' here.

In conclusion to this exercise I admit it has alerted my attention to colours that are all around me but have been largely ignored on my part. An enjoyable exercise that opened my eyes to the many kinds of colours that build up our world both indoors and out.

Assignment 2 - Elements of Design, My Tutors Comments

Feedback on assignment

Your work shows good imagination and creativity in picking up on the

influence of Andrea Michele Landini’s 'Magic Trip'. It would have been worth

while quoting the book using the harvard reference system - a guide to this

can be found on the OCA’s website. Other than this I think that this is a great

approach to the brief presenting images that are a novel and refreshing theme

to illustrate the brief.

There’s a balance to be struck between meeting the brief to illustrate the topic

and creating an interesting image that falls into the theme. Quite where and

how you strike the balance is up to you; however, some of your images have

the balance favouring the theme and placing illustrating the brief second.

In some instances, I feel that your foreknowledge of the scene colours your

description and interpretation of the image. Others, who don’t have this

knowledge, perhaps don’t see or recognise the elements in the image that

you see. For example, your image of two points. Of itself this wouldn’t matter

but I suggest that your foreknowledge distracts you from other possibilities for

the image.

In this case your distinct and irregular shape image - I find recognising the

road sign hard if not impossible. This doesn’t matter; but I suggest that the

images as you have it contains several shapes and as such may be

distracting. I suggest a tighter crop to simplify the image and concentrate

attention more on the fulfillment on the brief.

I particularly like your introduction of elements of the car to the image that lifts

the image out of the ordinary interpretation of the brief. Your creativity is ably

demonstrated. An example of this is your illustration of diagonal - window

washer.

A couple of suggestions on this image: the placement of the screen wash

nozzle - you have it very close to the top of the frame; would it be better to

place this on the top left third intersection? Another suggestion to strengthen

the notion of lifting the image out of the ordinary might be to sprinkle water

droplets on to the bonnet of the car. Just thoughts to add to an already good

image.

There are one or two images that might be improved technically. A couple of

them seem to have suspect focus.

Examples of this are where you have dust or other ‘specs’ on the car body.

See the image ‘flying high’ where the specs are blurred and compare this to

the narrow lines image where the specs are sharp. Y0our ‘U-turn’ image also

seems to be unsharp. The actual handle rather than the reflections should I

feel be sharp.

Suggestions/thoughts on the images are as follows:

Single point - good image that works well. The fence posts in the top right of

frame are perhaps a little distracting in terms of moving attention away from

the post box. Suggestion: move the camera view to put the post box top right

of frame.

Two Points - good image that fits the theme but not convinced about ‘two

points’ there is a strong diagonal which makes for a good composition but

there are several ‘points’ along it.

Several Points - Yes a good image but the several points are fairly uniform

and the dark area on the left of frame is perhaps distracting - how about

rotating the image and cropping it to lessen its impact:

Your second image (signs of the tree) I feel is the better of the two. I

particularly like the rippling of the paint work on the right of frame as this keys

the viewer into the two scenes in the image - the reflection and the actuality of

the car body work.

Horizontal and Vertical Lines - As you say a simple shot that mets the brief

and the theme but it is perhaps a little ordinary. I wonder if an increase

contrast might help - see what you think:

Diagonal - A good shot again - I’ve already commented about the positioning

of the nozzle.

Curves - Yes a great image - I particularly like the contrast between the

straight blurred lines in the top half of the frame and the curve of the handle in

the bottom half. That you only include part of the handle also works well

leaving the viewer to extrapolate this ‘missing’ aspect.

Distinct Shape - I’ve already commented on this one. I like the ‘sharp’ dust

specs that again give the viewer the two aspects: the actual car panel and the

abstract shape.

Triangle - Both good shots. I prefer the first one: it’s sharp and shows the

triangles well while keeping within the theme of the set of images. THe

second image I feel while has the triangle of the two ‘blobs’ of the signs and

the edge of the handle, it suffers from the distraction of the cars at the bottom

of the frame. Also I feel it would benefit from having the specs on the right of

the frame sharp as this would be in keeping with ‘Distinct shape’.

Rhythm - Yes a good image but this is one image that I feel you have the

balance between theme and brief wrong. Yes the eye can be thought to

bobble across the tops of the trees moving from left to right, but I think that

there are too many other distraction in the image that are concerned with the

theme. There are better images (in terms of meeting the brief) amoung your

images on your blog exercise for rhythm; but I realise that they don’t fall in

with the theme.

Like the notion of “a pinch of salt” as an illustration of the topic. The focus

tends to be on the van but as this is recognisably little it also fits the bill.

Would try for a squarer crop and not use rounded corners.

Pattern - Another good image that shows your good observation and

creativity. It makes a good interesting and well composed image. But consider

the brief - pattern... this supposes a repeating (probably single) pattern that

extends beyond the edges of the frame. In your image the main pattern is the

squares of the carport but thees are then dominated by the strong diagonal

midway up the frame and then further dissipated towards the top of the frame

by the other shapes/objects and colours.

I’m not saying your image is wrong or bad just alerting you to where your

pursuit of the theme is overwhelming the brief.

Part 3 - Colour - Exercise 1 - Strength of Colour

For this first exercise of this section 'Colour', I took a photography of an object of a definite colour and filled the frame with it. Firstly taking an averagely metered shot then a further 4 shots, 2 stopping half a stop down at a time then 2 stopping half a stop up at a time from the original.

The 5 images are shown below and my noted comments on the difference in colour of each are shown below the images.

f4 1/40sec

f4.5 1/40sec

f5.6 1/40sec

f6.3 1/40sec

f8 1/40sec

I took shots of a blue face cloth in soft light. The original average metered image was taken at f5.6 and I worked from there to get the other images. 

Apart from the obvious difference in exposure I feel the darker images have more strength than the brighter shots. There seems more intensity to the darker images whereas the brighter ones are weak and pale in comparison. There is a feeling of the colour being drained out of the brighter images, and unintentionally the fact this is a picture of a cloth it might be possible to imagine blue paint is being added to a white cloth and as more is added the more like the darker images it becomes. If the cloth was then to be rinsed out then as the paint runs out and leaves a weakly stained cloth the more like the brighter images it would become.

This is my answer and views of the differences of the colour in these shots.