Category: Composition

For the prompt of geometry, I chose to photograph this building on the streets of Japan because of its modern architecture that includes lots of geometric shapes and sharp lines. The angle I shot this image at emphasizes the strong lines present on the sides of the building. I further emphasized the lines and geometric shapes by increasing contrast using curves in Photoshop. I also used the rule of thirds to align the corner of the building in a place that draws the viewer’s attention immediately to said corner.

This shot of the Tokyo Tower is composed with a low angle, looking up from beneath the tower. I used this specific angle because it creates a more interesting shape to look at and draws the viewer’s eyes gradually to the top of the tower. This perspective also allows for more detail to be seen in the structure of the base, drawing more attention to the architectural design of this famous landmark.

I incorporated negative space into a photograph by using the sky as a background behind a drone carrying a package. The simplicity of the background emphasizes the main focal point, the drone. The tops of the trees frame the bottom of the drone, illustrating the drone’s height and leading the viewer’s eyes to it. This image came from the in-person research I did for my documentary project where I photographed the drone delivery company, Matternet, based out of Mountain View, California.

The subject in this portrait is center aligned to demonstrate the concept of loneliness. The photo is framed with a lot of negative space, making the subject look isolated. I edited the exposure to brighten the subject and darken the background in order to further the feeling of loneliness, as the contrast between the subject and the background is increased.

To illustrate a holiday tradition that my family has, I took a photograph of one of our wrapped Christmas presents. A simple holiday tradition in my family has always been to open wrapped Christmas presents on Christmas morning. For this prompt, I decided to photograph a present that was wrapped in a way creating balance. The bell in the top left corner and the sticker in the bottom right create balance due to their similar red color and positioning. The addition of the gold ribbons adds to the asymmetrical balanced composition. Overall, the photograph is composed in a way that draws attention through the usage of balance.

In this image, I photographed subtle symmetry in a natural landscape. While exploring the Baylands Nature Preserve, I was originally looking for perfect symmetry using the reflections of the environment in the water. However, I quickly found that exact symmetry is not as interesting to look at as subtle symmetry, which is noticeable but doesn’t take away from the composition itself. This photo has implications of both translational symmetry as it depicts four repeated trees, and reflectional symmetry because the left and right sides of the photo are mirror images of each other.