Elements of design assignment 2: Two points

Image 5: Tulips amongst the vegetables

Lens 18-70mm at 25mm: Iso 125 f8 at 1/40th

Whilst in the gardens of Loseley House, near Guildford, I was attracted by the curious sight of some red tulips emerging above the leaves of a large rhubarb-like vegetable. In black and white however there was little contrast between the tulip petals and the leaf and the flowers were barely noticeable. In this case, therefore, I decided to keep a little colour in the tulip petals as an exception to the full black and white format of the other photographs.

I decided to include this photograph in this review, as this seems to be a relatively extreme example of two points which are far away from each other in the frame. As a result, the relationship between the points that is generally implied by inclusion together in a photograph seems relatively weak. Furthermore, this "distant relationship" seems to be accentuated by the way the flowers are angled away from each other.

This photograph is unlikely to be included in the final portfolio as the colour element is too different to the other images.

Image 6: Leaves with velvet surface

Lens 18-70mm at 60mm: Iso 800 f10 at 1/100th

Whilst in the temperate greenhouse at RHS Wisley, the velvety surface of the leaves of this bush caught my eye as I thought that the texture would suit black and white treatment.

The composition is quite symmetrical with the tops of the two stems virtually equidistant from the centre line. I feel that this suits this particular plant which is itself quite ordered and symmetrical. Pairs of leaves emerge at right angles to the leaves below.

The content of the picture does not seem monotonous as the eye is led around the frame viewing the leaves of various sizes and angles squeezed together. I feel that there is a feeling of harmony and partnership conveyed by this picture.

I decided to categorize this picture visually as one of two points as I felt that the light coloured top leaves are dominant visually in the frame. The outline shapes of the plants seem to be me to be less important.

Image 7: Two flowers

Canon Powershot 6-72 mm at 36mm: Iso 400 f3.5 at 1/320th

I photographed these flowers at Kew Gardens in the New Zealand section of the temperate greenhouse. I chose a viewpoint and zoom setting to place the dark area at the far end of the pond as a background as far as possible. I used the smallest aperture so that the pale violet flowers stand out.

I cropped out an area on the right hand side of the original frame as this contained some light spots in the background which were distracting and another bud and stem of little interest.

I chose not to crop the left hand side of the frame closer to the flowers. The off-centre placement of the flowers seems more interesting even though there are only blurred tones in the left hand side of the frame.