Composing My Frame

Because this picture has so many different shapes and lines in it, and isn't the most jaw dropping photo of all time, I'm going to break it down. What you are looking at in this picture is one of the many views you can get from being on the second floor of the Holland building at Dixie State University. In this photo, the Rule of Thirds is applied in showing the two most important parts of the picture, number one being the person closest to the bottom wearing shorts and a tan jacket and number two, directly above him near the top is the last bit of the stairs that creates the thought of " I wonder where that leads too?" At the same time this concept is using both diagonal lines, and vectors. The diagonal lines create a z axis in the railings going down and the strong floating stairway going up to help your eyes follow through the picture, eventually all leading back to the walking man. The man creates a sense of movement or motion, other wise known as the motion vector. This will continue to lead your eye through the photo. In this given photo, his motion jumps to the railing, and moves up toward the camera, from there it can continue straight up to the diagonal stairs line, or over to the windows and up the prominent beam.

Not only do I hate shaving but I hate advertisements that don't make sense, yes it makes sense what GLIDE is drawing lines too and associating this zucchini with, but how in the world are we supposed to know its a razor for men ad by the green vegetable and miniature sun at the end of it?



Starting out with the focus on contrast, the fuchsia/pink color that is set at the background provides contrast enough to distinguish a difference on top of the background because of the shadow but not enough to make you feel part of the advertisement. Along with the contrast comes texture, being related to this, it makes things look very flat.
Originally I thought that this was a cucumber because of the size it represented.  The orientation of the vegetable in this picture makes it look smaller than it is supposed to be. After looking at it longer I decided it was supposed to be a zucchini.
The big yellow thing at the top of the zucchini looks like a sun, This probably is misrepresented in what the creator was trying to do by just gaining attention to the inside of the shape.
All in all, this advertisement makes me feel anxiously angry inside with no harmony felt. The color is not a pleasing or relaxing, and on top of that, for a men's facial razor advertisement why would I want to think of male genitalia in the process of shopping for my face? GLIDE missed the bus on the design award


Schick on the other hand knows how to relate to the consumer. The contrast of texture from the light coming through the windows of the old classic car and the lights and dark's in color create the contrast that brings harmony to the advertisement making one feel relaxed and comfortable. Under that photo shopped beard is a beautiful woman that her bright curled hair creates energy by using diagonal and vertical lines throughout. Unlike GLIDE, Schick displays a problem, and creates a solution to it. Having the model on the left side with her arm up creates a feeling of position and orientation that makes it feel like you're in the car with her. This ad capitalizes on the Law of Closure and lets our mind continue the picture.




Another thing noticed in the design process of this ad is that these are two things that men love. CARS and WOMEN. When they are added together the likelihood of a man buying this product is far greater when he can relate and or be attracted to the ad.

If its not obvious by my previous post, let it be known that my element is within the outdoors. I've always been fascinated by big game like mule deer and elk, but since moving to St. George a couple years ago, I've been especially intrigued with the southern Utah Deer. This photograph was taken by my friend Jason Wittwer and with his permission I am using it. When I initially saw this photo in an album with a few others he took, this one stood out to me more than any of the others. Maybe its because there is two beautiful creatures standing there looking at you, or maybe it is because of good photography and design of the picture. Either way this photograph exudes the 3 key aspects of contrast, harmony, and balance that we discussed in class.

The element of contrast is presented in the texture of the blurred foreground and background of the plants against the antlers and bodies of these deer. The dotty texture of the hair makes it feel and look like you can see each individual hair following the contours of the body. The whites and grays (highlights and shadows) bring about a gloomy cold day where you can almost feel the temperature by looking at the picture. The contrast not only brings about the cold and the gloomy feel but you can tell that these animals are very much alive and almost what these deer are thinking by how they are positioned, the buck on the right looks more curious as to figuring out whether the photographer is a threat or not while the one on the left looks pissed because his feeding was interrupted. These bucks compliment each other bringing harmony into the picture bringing the sense of peace and serenity for me. Because this brings harmony for me, it delves into my psychological aspects and makes me happy. The interesting thing about this photograph is that it is perfectly balanced. If you look at the bigger buck on the right which is a four point compared to the smaller three point on the left his body is much smaller in width because he is facing us more direct. But even though the buck on the left has a smaller rack, his body is elongated horizontally making his body look bigger. The same could be said with their necks, they are in balance as one. The one on the left is out stretched more vertical while the one on the left looks as if he only had turned his head.

Two of the Gestalt principals that I would like to focus attention on is that of the Law of Continuity and the Law of Closure:

The Law of Continuity comes into perspective when we start looking at the lines in the picture. For me this happens in the antlers. When we look at the antlers we can see a main beam (the first one closest to us when looking directly at it) with other points branching off of it. It shows the smoothest path, and that the lines are going in the path of least resistance.

The Law of Closure comes into effect when "objects grouped together are seen as a whole".  In the picture we cant see the deer's lower halves, but know that they have legs and are whole. This is what is happening when our brains complete and fill in the "missing information".

My Visceral Response

This is a photo that I took a little over 5 years ago fishing on the Red River around 6 a.m. right at the border of Texas and Arkansas. After taking this photo it immediately gave me a feeling and thought of, "Wow! This is probably one of the best pictures I've ever taken!" I have never given it much thought other than how the fog and the lighting seemed to be over lapping at the perfect time, but after hearing designer Richard Seymour described the effects of stupefying, I would say this is what was and is felt when I look at this photo.

To me, this picture is very calming. I was in my element and feel this way when I am in nature. I feel that there are some places where you know and can feel that few people have ever set foot, or maybe even no one has ever been there, but you. This was one of those places for me. To give more thought to this photo than I have in the past, I would say that from a design point of view the heavy presence of Horizontal Lines gives the photo a calming look, low and relaxed energy flows through this photo with few Vertical Lines.

The fog hovering above the water softens the light of the sunrise and gives the photo a texture I can almost feel just by looking at it. The Intensity and Values of the different colors go from an almost pure black in the hat and collar to almost pure whites in the sun and reflections in the water. There are many reasons that this photo can create a visceral response and I have just but touched on some of the features that effect myself.

So even though this spot was almost a complete loss from a fishing perspective, it made up for in the memories and feelings this photo holds for me.