Thank you so much, Naj. :) Nico, fortunately the brain goes through these thoughts so swiftly. What took only moments to think with what was virtually no effort took a long time to type onto the page. So, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, the picture only shows the results of the thoughts, not the process. ;) ~ Lonnit
Beautiful. Lonnit, there is so much good stuff happening here I would have to write a post almost as long as yours to cover it all! Your processing skills have gained even more depth and it's like you have a new pallet to add to your mix. -Najinsky
Thanks for the time and trouble to write the detailed commentary. Just amazing how much in a photograph there is to think about and to analyze... and delighted that you do not think about these things too much. LOL!! :-) Regards Nico
Thank you, Nico. I will confess that there is good reason why this is the most layered; this image was taken with the intent of layering in mind at the time it was shot. I'd even forgotten about the challenge at the moment and was layering because of a Hanson Fong seminar I went to a few weeks ago. The other two images just happened to fit the challenge theme, although I will admit that the bench shot is pushing it. ;) So, this is prominent because it was intended.
As for the tilt, that was net even a conscious thing. I often tilt because that's just me, my style, I do it without thought at times, and at other times it is intentional. In this instance, I was arranging the best composition for my beautiful model and this was the necessary angle for what was in my viewfinder. I compose without regard for angle. If I find a horizon or such to be merely slightly off I will recompose to either straighten it, or as you have noted in my rules, to smash it to smitherines.
Here the cone also breaks the rules. One would normally not want a bright orange object detracting from the subject. Here though, it is used to draw the eye back to the subjects face because we want to read the image from left to right. Once we follow her legs down to her cute little bare feet, we would normally follow that line to run right out of the frame. The orange cone is powerful enough to keep our eye from going to far, therefore anchoring us back to the left side of the image. I desaturated it enough to not become the main focus, yet left it saturated enough to become a useful anchor. Had the cone not been there, I would have simply flipped the image horizontally, as I had done in the image of her running, so that her legs would become the leading line that directs the viewer to her body then up to her face. Why did I not flip it anyone for stronger compostion? Had I flipped it, the cone would then have become the main focal point. One would have been swept too swiftly across the image snapping immediately to the cone. We want to do the left to right sweep. Her face would not have been powerful enough to compete with the cone, so we'd anchor on the cone. Here, in the existing composition, our desire to scan left to right helps to pull us off the cone and want to explore the next object, her face. Additionally, her skin tones have been saturated with warmer, more orangey tones to again pull from the cone. But do I think about these things? No, oh no, not me! LOL! ;) ~ Lonnit
Super Lonnit. My favourite of the three... and in my opinion also the most "layered" one perhaps. It reminds me of your comment to me many moons ago (OK, not THAT many, in case if makes us both feel old!) that if one wants to break the rules, it is better to smash them than to just break them slightly... or something along such lines. Your tilt here is a good example. Compliments and regards Nico
