Work Diary - Shape

Evaluation 

In Thursday's session we were asked to go out and shoot the formal element shape. This proved to be one of my favourite formal elements to take a photo of as it meant I had to look for certain things with an interesting outline, as shape is portrayed through an object having an outline. Shape is found in practically everything just like the formal element line. It is obvious in nearly all of my straight images what the subject is because shape comes with a single object, which is what I was photographing. The only thing that  I found difficult was trying to take pictures of objects high up that had an interesting shape, as it was a challenge trying to steady the camera  before shooting.

This was one of my favourite photographs from the shoot where we took photo's portraying an object to have the formal element 'shape' through it's outline. I believe that the outline of this leaf is extremely effective contrasting against the dark background of other leaves. The bright yellow outline stands out and therefore illustrates this leaf as having a very precise shape. If this leaf had other leaves of a similar colour in the background the outline would be less evident making the photograph less effective.

This was a picture I took that didn't cover 'shape' very effectviely. The face of this 3D shape blends in with the background that it's sitting on. I therefore felt that the shape of this 3D object was deceiving because the outline wasn't as clear as it could be, and the outline is the main feauture when it comes to shape being portrayed. I therefore moved this object onto another background to improve it, and it ended up being included in my straight images. So this began as a bad example of the formal element shape, but I then improved it to create an excellent example of shape.

Progression

If I were to progress myself when taking pictures of shape I would perhaps use people's shadows  when the sun's shining on them as this would create their shadow as a silhouette which has an outline, therefore meaning that it also has a shape. I don't think that I'd focus on  random objects as these wouldn't have much meaning when in a portfolio together. Whereas with people's shadows they could make different shapes with their bodies to create intriguing outlines. Photographs that inspire me for this are illustrated below.