My 52 Week Photography Challenge Week 6
Make the Ordinary Look Extraordinary
For week 6 of my 52 week photography challenge I am photographing ordinary objects in a way that makes them look extraordinary. This is one that will make you scratch your head a bit but it's really a lot of fun. To make the ordinary extraordinary I am using shallow depth-of-field, different perspectives and maybe leading lines to make my subject more interesting. There are all kinds of ways to do this using different kinds of lighting, shapes, textures, colors and combinations of light and shadow just to name a few. It's really limited only by your imagination and that's part of the fun as well as good practice. Let's have a look at what I found.
I began simply enough by picking up the camera and photographing things on my desk. Depth-of-field is one of my favorite ways to add interest to an image and draw attention to a subject so, of course, it's the first tool I tried. In the featured photo above photographing this watch from directly overhead might be rather boring but shot from a low angle and with a shallow depth-of-field to blur the surroundings make a much more interesting picture.
The new shoes. Can you tell I was struggling to find an interesting subject? Seriously though, I couldn't resist this one. These are my new Bates Footwear “Rush mid” athletic shoes. Though Bates Footwear is commonly known for their fine tactical boots made for the military and law enforcement, they do offer this one style athletic running shoe. Since I own two pair of Bates boots, and love them, when it came time to replace my old running shoes Bates is the first place I looked. The Rush is the only athletic style shoe Bates currently offers but I love mine. They are available as low or mid top and in a variety of colors. Mine fit perfectly, oh so comfy and with the grip I've come to love and expect from Bates. Ok, I've gushed enough.
Seriously though, Bates Footwear is awesome and I photographed mine from a low angle and down the side to emphasize the shape and texture. Once again a shallow depth-of-field does a nice job isolating those attractive shapes and textures as well as the lacing across the top. The low perspective also gives them a larger than life feel much as my expectations which Bates Footwear always manages to satisfy. Nope, I'm not sponsored. I just enjoy them that much.
My desk lamp. Another favorite. This is the Daylight Triple Bright lamp. It's available at several places but I picked this one up at DickBlick.com. I didn't know how badly I needed a desk lamp until I flipped the switch on this one. Really nice and it's those leading lines on the support arm that attracted my attention for a photograph. I don't like that if you didn't know what this was you might not know it was a desk lamp but with those leading lines I had to include it for this weeks photography challenge. In addition to the leading lines a shallow depth-of-field isolates the adjustment knob nicely.
One of my favorite books, and a classic of course, is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The colors and textures of the cover are really nice and captured well in this image. I like the leading lines of the book edges and left the corner a bit off center for a more dramatic effect. The authors name is intentionally centered in the far right square of the middle row if you imagine a rule-of-thirds grid over the image. By this time I was getting excited with some of these compositions and that's when I peeked out the window.
Down below the front of my car had a nice dusting of snow and I was reminded of an image seen somewhere in the last week where just a portion of the subject was isolated. I grabbed the camera bag and my parka and headed outside. This was starting to get somewhere, literally.
Kneeling low I composed this image with the bow tie slightly low and to the right of center to be sure the light dusting of snow wasn't lost to the viewer. It's a nice composition that will serve to always remind me of that car and winter in North Dakota. I was really starting to get into this project and walked across the street to check out the sports complex for simple compositions.
This image struck me as a sort of framing technique. Through the round hole in the sign post is framed a portion of the distant background. It's a simple and mundane view really but composing it this way and using the sign post to frame the scene turns this ordinary view into something more extraordinary. Shallow depth-of-field is there as well to draw attention to the main subject.
This simple project that started on my desk top was leading me all over the place. The sky was already overcast and while I was at the sports complex a foggy sort of light snow moved in changing the entire mood of the light. Wondering what images might be found at Keelboat Park I walked back to the car and drove several blocks to the Missouri River. Near the boat ramp ice and rocks were piled along the rivers edge. It could be a plain scene but in the moody light and cold air, pelted by ice pellets, I was captivated by those rocks and ice. They are my main subject so I shot from down low and across them to fill the foreground but careful not to let them overpower the bridge beyond. The composition turned out a really nice image and one with memories of photographing on this moody afternoon by the river. Very nice. All this from a photography project that began by picking up my camera to photograph a few items on my desktop at home.
Photographing to make the ordinary look extraordinary has been a really fun photography project for week 6 of my 52 week photography challenge. I've enjoyed photographing some common items to bring out their extraordinary beauty and I hope you've found some ideas and inspiration to apply in your own photography. As always, if you have questions or comments feel free to drop me an Email or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Thanks for reading!