Assignment 1 : Contrasts

The pictures a below are copied/pasted from the blog:

http://leopin-socalcos.blogspot.com/

CONTRASTS: Few and many

Few:

Picture 5: Some friends meet after a long time.

40mm, f/32, 1.3 s, ISO 100

This picture was taken with a lot of time using a tripod and a circular
polarizer. I met some friends in a natural park (called Invernadeiro) in the
northwest of spain in summer. While some of them were cooking, I left
the wine bottles in the riverside to chill. I liked the light and I went back
running for my gear to take this picture.
 Many:

Picture 6. Mass production.

28mm, f/4.5, 1/15, ISO 800

This picture was taken in Madeira, in a shop where local wines were sold.
The light was coming from a window by the end of the corridor where the
bottles were stored. The camera was handheld, and the picture has been
slightly cropped. The BW was a matter of personal taste in the later
processing.
Contrasts: Weak and Strong

When I think about weak I think in men (or human) in general (funnily
enough we believe we are strong, though). I think particularly in aged
people and in babies (although they are weak for different reasons).

Weak:

Picture 1. Old man walking.

300mm, f/6.3, 1/500, ISO 125

I remember when I stopped the car in a busy road in India because I saw
this man. He was alone, walking very slowly. He was very skinny and
looked a little bit lost, as if he was going nowhere. He might represent
many concepts, but one of the first in the list would be weak. The day
was sunny and very hot.
Strong:

Picture 5: Strong.
80mm, f/5, 1/10, ISO 1250

This is most probably the strongest link in nature. The link of the mother
with her children. In this case, the supportive hand of the mother is the
strength that the child is seeking for. The picture was taken in a
restaurant, where I saw a child playing with his mother. After some shots,
I chose that one. It has been slightly cropped.
Contrasts: Liquid and Solid

Liquid:

Picture 2: Child swimming.

240mm, f/5.6, 1/5000, ISO 800

The focus was placed in the face of the child. I like the blue colour overall
and the hundreds of little water drops floating in the air. Unfortunately
there is a white spot close to the lower part of the frame that is burnt.
Although there was a lot of light (it was taken in a sunny day), the long
focal distance and the desired shutter speed (very fast) forced the ISO
value.
 Solid:

Pictures 6 and 7: Reflections on a motorbike engine.

85mm, f/8, 1/125, ISO 100

this is an example of a solid element providing also the property of light

reflection. Both the metal and the simplicity of lines (together with the
suggestive word 'motorbike engine') convey the idea of solid.

Contrasts: Straight and Curved.

I like a lot architecture photography, not only because of the nice (or not
so nice) buildings, but because the photographer has to think in terms of
lines, curves and proportions (and in light quality and quantity) and
choose carefully the vantage point.
Lines are in my view not so nice as curves. Nature is rich in curves and
poor in straight lines. this is known from a long time ago, and the
Parthenon in Athens, for example, does not have a single straight line.

Straight:
 Picture 1: Hotel building.
10mm, f/4, 1/50, ISO 320

Curved:

Pictures 3 : In the swimming pool.

22mm, f/11, 1/125, ISO 100

Taken in a sunny day. The position and arrangement was prepared (I

wanted to see the shadows as well). I did several trials. I was inspired by
a picture of Bryan Peterson (the one in the cover of his book Learning to
see creatively).

Contrasts: Soft and Hard.

I didn't work this contrast (requiring the suggestion of the tactile sense)
thoroughly. I have however a couple of pictures taken recently that more
or less transmit the idea of hard:

Picture 2: Power
120mm, f/9, 1/100, ISO 400

The picture was taken in a mall parking after a heavy rain. I liked the
drops of water in the black surface of the car. I had the idea of taking a
picture for the contrasting concepts of black and white, but when I saw it
in the computer screen I knew it had to go the hard.
 Soft:

Picture 4: Brothers.
135mm, f/7.1, 1/13, ISO 200

The two children (6 and 4 years old) were playing in a living room where I
was reading. There was a big window with a sliding door to go outside. I
told them that I was going to take a picture of them (I didn't mention the
feet), and I told them to stand next to the window in a particular place
(an imaginary line where I thought the light was optimal). Suddenly I saw
the feet like that, and I took the picture immediately.
 Contrasts: Large/Small

Large:

Picture 3. Cleaning time.

16mm, f/6.3, 1/125, ISO 3200

The picture was taken in a hotel in the US. This kind of vacuum cleaners
are not frequent in Spain (where I come from) or the Netherlands (where
I live), and I associate it with old american pictures (a 'retro' touch),
that's why I decided to go for the BW. Again the trick of perspective, with
short focal distance and proximity to the subject that looks larger than it
actually is. this picture also transmits the idea of a large corridor (large in
two dimensions, so to say) to which the vacuum cleaner also contributes
(when viewing the picture one can not avoid the idea of the cleaning job
to be carried). The light was not very intense, that's why the ISO value is
so high.

Small:

Picture 5. Arteries of a city.

14mm, f/8, 4 seg, ISO 200

This picture was taken in Singapore last year. It is a view of one of one of
the highways crossing the centre next to the emblematic wheel. It was
taken from one of the newest skyscrapers in the city, with a gorilla SLR
tripod clamped to the fence of a terrace. Because of the very high point
of view, the city appears to be small (looks almost like a toy city).
Contrasts: Moving/Still

The concept of movement might be expressed using at least two

different techniques: with a frozen image (fast shutter speed) of an
object in movement (I would add in a moment of unbalance that suggest
that movement is taking place) or with a blurred image (slow shutter
speed).
Moving:

Picture 6. Roller coaster loading zone.

10mm, f/5, 2,5 seg, ISO 100

The picture was taken in Disneyworld in the inside of the building where
the roller coaster was stopping. No tripod was available, so the camera
was set on top of the wooden fence that can be seen on the left. The
wagons are quite blurred because of the slow shutter speed, the people
waiting on the left of the frame are also slightly blurred.

Still:

Picture 11: Gas station.

10mm, f/14, 1/15, ISO 100

This is a case where both the lack of people/cars, and the gravity/weight
feeling provided by the perspective, contribute to the sense of stillness.
The monochrome conversion adds in my view a touch of oldness and
rustiness that I like.
Contrasts: Continuous and Intermittent

An intermittent thing might be intermittent in space and or time.

From my point of view intermittent in space is easier to photograph than
intermittent in time.
Intermittent:

Picture 1. Christmas in the city hall.

70mm, f/5, 1/8, ISO 200

The desks in the background provide intermittence, but the Christmas

tree is a clear hint to intermittence in time (every year, december). Many
natural events are intermittent (the seasons, the rain, the day followed
by night, the eclipses, etc...). The picture has been cropped to eliminate
some distracting elements.
 Continuous:

Picture 3. The endless road.

100mm, f/8, 1/125, ISO 100

The road provides a sense of continuity both after the last hill that can be
seen, and behind the viewer.
Photograph with contrast in one picture
 Picture 8. Fishing crane under the dock.
300mm, f/8, 1/100, ISO 200

The dock pillars and beams are straight and form straight lines that
create depth in the picture. In contrast, the S shaped body of the crane,
and the curves created by the sunlight in the pillars, that creates the
illusion that they are curved.