Mini Art School #3

Design Basics Index

Photo Cropping Exercise

For this exercise, I used the Design Basics Index guidelines to crop photos, thus changing the eye movement, mood, or subject of the picture.  Using inspiration from this week's readings in DIY Media, I ventured to Flickr and explored this week's 'most interesting pictures.'  Even though a lot of the pictures on that website that are considered 'most interesting' have already been cropped or artistically modified, I did what I could to find images that I could work with.  The photos below are professional and therefore beautifully done; I did run into some roadblocks when downloading the images.  Some of the images that I wanted to use had downloading disabled by the owner, so I had to be sure 1. to find images that downloading was allowed, and 2. to credit the owners of the pictures properly.  Credit is given to the owners in the captions underneath the original photo, along with a link to their flickr.com page.

Below is a video of all the images together.  Specific descriptions of the photos and why I chose to crop the way I did are below the video.

1.

Copyright Vivienne Gucwa 2011

The original image is of a street in Chinatown, NYC.  The images in the photo are very specific to that neighborhood, and the tonal color of red exemplifies that this picture was taken in Chinatown.  By cropping the photo to show just the young man standing against the brick wall and by toning down the red in the photo, I think that I made the images more transient- this photo could have been taken anywhere.  

------------------------------------------------------

2.

Copyright Vivienne Gucwa 2011

In the original image, the eye is drawn to the negative space of the sky right above the bridge.  By cropping the sky from the top of the photo, I changed the focal point and supported the bridge as the primary focus, which also serves to equally divide the sky above the bridge from the water and streets below. 

:

------------------------------------------------------

3.

Copyright Vivienne Gucwa 2011

 The original picture of this street in the village (NYC) has a specific color palette reminiscent of early fall.  My eye was drawn to the sun shining through the trees and onto the building, so I cropped the photo to focus only on that.  The red leaves in the bottom left corner dissect the picture diagonally, which I really liked.

------------------------------------------------------

4.

Copyright Little Miss Shabby

The original image  has a very specific grid and frame to it; showcasing a variety of quilt squares.  I chose to crop out one of the quilt squares and change the color of it slightly (from a bright pink to a hue more antique y).  I also added a frame; the original picture had a frame built into the layout of the squares, and I liked how it forced the eye to look at the group of images as a single item.  I mimicked this design element to reinforce the idea that the two flowers are one unit. 

------------------------------------------------------

5.

Copyright Still Plays with Dolls 2011

I love this picture - it is so quirky!  When I looked at the original picture, it was very obvious that it was a doll.  My eyes were immediately drawn to the doll's large white eyes, so I decided to focus on those for my crop.  I also changed the color and used selective black and white to humanize the doll's face.  By taking away the very specific doll characteristics, I was able to create an image where the viewer creates the personality behind the eyes - not the other way around.

------------------------------------------------------

6.

Copyright rebecca anne. 2011

I liked this photo because of the two different subjects - the woman and the elephant.  For me, it was difficult to tell what the picture was for (fashion, maybe? the ASPCA? who knows!), so I decided to simplify the image by cutting out the elephant.  Originally, I intended on cropping out the woman and focusing on the elephant, but when I did that it was clear that the picture had been doctored - the skin on the elephant did not look right.  I chose to crop the picture so that the woman was offcenter, looking towards the sky.  The picture is obviously not balanced, but the negative space that the woman is looking could be filled with whatever the audience imagines. Really, what is she thinking about?  Why does she have a cat on her shoulder?  The blank space allows the audience to process and ponder this, without feeling overwhelmed.

Design Basics Index - Theme Exercise

Book Cover: Flirting with the Bully

I chose this activity because I like the idea of creating a book cover with a theme.  The theme of bullying is very specific, and I tried to capture a target audience (young girls and their parents) with these covers.  I utilized feminine colors, but contrasted them with a black and white background.  This created a sense of despair and loneliness (the empty hallway) that I hope will resonate with the target demographic.

This first book cover used a pinkish red for the word flirting, and the orange in the word bully captured the urgency of the situation.  I chose to make the word 'bully' reflective so that the audience would see themselves through the word.

The second book cover I created is a little different, because instead of the empty hallway as a background, I used the image to fill the text.  Again, I used a shade of pink to capture and identify the target demographic, but this time I made the pink a bit bolder.  I chose to use the same font for all of the words, but modified the size to justify the space. The depth of the hallway guides the eye 'into the book,' enticing the audience to open and read.