Picture Perfect

Picture Perfect

Anyone can be a photographer these days with apps like Instagram and SnapChat.  Some people will take about 60 takes before finding that perfect selfie.  That is what it means to work the shot.  They take pictures of the same thing with different angles, crops, zooms and layouts until they are satisfied. That is what I did with this set of water fountains.  They suddenly became my muse and I did my best to work the heck out of them.  Using negative space, symmetry, layers, angles, framing, and lines, I tried to take everyday objects and give them artistic depth.

Negative Space

Probably my favorite, in this shot I focused on using the blank wall as negative space above the water fountains to completely limit distractions from the photo.  The reflection given off by the overhead light adds more to just a beige wall, adding a halo effect to the subjects.

Symmetry

Symmetry is used here with the bathroom doors and plaques, however the differing heights of the two fountains throws it off.  Plus, the bright purple plaques distract from the main subjects.

Layering

In this shot I took a close-up of the subjects and utilized their varying heights by switching the angle and layering them on top of each other.  It gave it a bit more depth than just the blank wall.

Angles

No one often looks at water fountains from a bird's eye view, so I took that angle and tried to give the shot a new perspective.  However, I found that it almost made the picture a little boring, because of the overflow of metallic chrome from the subjects.

Framing

For this take a tried to work with the idea of framing, so I stepped back and attempted to use the hallway as a rectangular frame on the fountains.  This is my least favorite take, however, because the mirror turns into a major distraction.

Lines

For this final shot I utilized the lines made by the floor tile to add some satisfactory architecture to the photo.  I gave the floor a bigger debut than the rest of the pictures in order to flaunt its precisely cut squares, and I like how the shadows underneath the fountains are more prominent.

  

It is often difficult to breathe life into normal objects, but it was fun to give them some paparazzi. While I do not think the photo got better through the more pictures I took, I do think it gave me more options to choose from if I ever needed to, for instance, create a PSA for folks to drink more H2O.