Entrance exam portfolio

The Golden Mean is one of the most classic rules of composition, used by great Greek sculptors as well as painters and architects of the Middle Ages. The proportional construction of the human body is in a relationship between parts of 1/3 to 2/3. When we divide a two-dimensional thing, we do it in such a way that the larger part is related to the smaller part as the whole is related to the larger part.(6.181 is to 3.819 as 10 is to 6.181)(p.21).

This is a photo I shot in the Badlands. I thought the main focal point of the picture should be centered, so I stood in front of the sign. According to my text, however, “…it is definitely wrong for a line to cut the picture in the middle…” apparently ever (p.37). I decided to employ the Golden Mean and at the same time eliminate the shadow from where my lens doesn’t open all the way. In cropping according to the Golden Mean, should I assume the line is the sign post or the wider sign itself? I chose the post since it is ‘background’ and the sign itself is what I attempted to capture.

We are conditioned to read left to right, so action beginning on the left and proceeding to the right follows our natural inclinations and seem “correct.” I started with the sign on the left because that seemed to be the way the rule would follow. Since the sign is a ‘call to action,’ it should begin where the eye is subconsciously drawn to the photo. It looked kinda flat and two dimensional, though, from that angle so I decided to defy the authority and put the sign on the right and allow the action to be leaving the image rather than enter and found out the sign was not the action in the photo at all.

 When the sign is on the right of the image, the ridge behind it cuts away like a doorway.  This is the feeling I was trying to capture: the sign was not an entrance to an other-world experience but a title. The viewer can imagine the edge of the ridge as a doorway and enter on the left, creating an action point and proceeding to the sign on the right to describe it.

The lines move diagonally upward towards the right, creating a natural eye-movement towards the sign in the right and mimicking the reason street signs and banner ads are typically on the right (37). We tend to look for confirmation to the right since traffic signs are on the right. When the internet became popular, design ads became crucial to the retail industry and their research told them to place their ads on the right side of the screen. People focus on their task, center screen or on the left, and subconsciously absorb the ads on the right the same way they absorb billboard ads while driving. The viewer of this photograph is now drawn into the doorway created by the ridge and absorbs the name of the trail in passing.  I was able to make a cool thing I saw into a good picture by following the rules of composition. I learned that what I thought was the main focal point of the image (the sign) was more of an accent and the ridge behind it is what entices a second glance. Ultimately I also went with b&w because the colors were a bit distracting from the overall feeling of curiosity and invitation I decided the image should convey.

By the same principle of lines and action beginning on the left, the above picture became the below with the help of photoshop’s flip on vertical axis. I liked the way the boardwalk entered the frame to entice the viewer into the Badlands.

The photo on the left was a lucky shot for me as a beginner. The clouds covered the sun in just such a way as to creat the shadows needed for good definition. The lines rise from the lower left hand corner to the Golden Mean above and to the right and the shadows effectively show off the Golden Mean.

I took this picture of myself because I liked the way the tree bark curled away from the trunk, similar to the way the wind blew my hair. I didn’t like the shadow created by my camera, however, so I cropped heavily. While reading the rules for lines, I decided to flip what was left of the photo after I cropped it to make the angle of the tree begin at the bottom left and rise to the right.

  

This photo demonstrates  repitition. I flipped the image so the rocks would begin on the left to demonstrate the rules outlined in the first three chapters of my text.  I later decided it looked sorta alien when upright and I liked the confusion it caused. My mentor said it reminded him of a totem pole. I'm reminded of the Sound Track, a featured component of Disney's Fantasia.

Stay tuned for more images on my quest to be a photographer!!!