Portfolio Entry Six

This image has a strong feel of separation of light and dark, with the deep grey of the background and light white of the table contrasting one another. The visible centre of the bowl stands out as the white contrasts the backdrop, letting the viewer focus start on the bowl then work its way down the stack of plates. The stack itself is somewhat confusingly done, perhaps due to poorly defined lines or a confusing perspective; this could have been easily avoidable by not having the plates stacked one on top of the other when arranging the items for the image. 

There are some positive points however that could be made about this image too; the use of highlights and shadows to create the curved and reflective feel of the crockery works well, as well as the impression of reflection on two of the plates where we can see the dark reflection of the items on top of them.  The shadow on the table, while further confusing the image does compliment work well against the white table, the shadow also succeeds in accurately portraying the height of the stack as the shadow fades to the left. It should also be noted that the horizontal edge of the table and the bottom plates in the stack also roughly follow the rule of thirds.

Portfolio Entry Five

Another charcoal image, this time more detailed, with a stronger impression of shadow and a better understanding of light than previous images. The image has been composed with the main focal item, the pumpkin, placed centrally. The pumpkin is made focal by being large and highlighted, with edges falling along vertical thirds of the image and the implied bottom of the pumpkin resting along a horizontal third. Shadow plays a role throughout the image, the fruits leave shadows on the ground, but also on one another such as on the apples. You can see that the main light source from the right makes the pumpkin leave a sharp well defined shadow on the orange to the far left, but also more general lighting sources leaves the orange in front casting a shadow onto the pumpkin as well as the pumpkin leaving a shadow on it. The pumpkin also causes faint shadows on the apples to the other side of it.  Though the fruit on the left of the image are smaller and few than those on the right, the dark shadows balance it out acting like another item in the arrangement. As well as that the far left orange is spaced away from the group slightly to avoid the image feeling to heavily leaning right. 

Portfolio Entry Four

In this image the balloon gives the impression of form through the curved lines of the charcoal and the highlights, which also shows the reflective nature of the balloon. The objects are arranged so that the teapot is left casting a shadow onto the balloon as well as on the table. You can see the contours on the drapery covering the table itself, which falls off the edge of the table as well of down the edge of the risen box underneath the drapery, behind the shoe. Where the shoe overlays the balloon it is not entirely clear what is going on, the shadow of the background and dark coloured edge of the shoe in the foreground create an unpleasant confusion in the centre of the image. The dark background balance out the lighter areas of the picture, there is also an overall feel of diagonal divide, from the bottom left to the top right. The diagonal of the edge of the table and edge of the risen box as well as the diagonal of the balloon cause this. The diagonal halves contrast, with the dark general softness of the top-left and the brightness and detail of the bottom-right. The box under the drapery doesn’t sit perpendicular to the table which isn’t portrayed pleasantly.

Portfolio Entry Three

The first thing you see in the image is the contrast between the dark and light sections. The dark surrounds and pulls focus into the centre of the image, then the focus moves to the small cylinder. Despite being small the cylinder becomes a focal point due to a combination of lying on a rule of thirds intersection and being the only 3D shape not obscured by another shape, it’s also being extruded away from the rest of the table thus contrasting with the surrounding dark background. The eye always seems to return to the cylinder but another area of interest is the triangular cone shape, (that appears as a pyramid due to its shadow) is also a focal point, especially at its point where it extrudes and the darkness frames it.

 There is a stronger sense of thirds in the image; the shadow on the cone, the edge of the cube and the drapery fold fall on one of the vertical axis. The other vertical axis for a third is also followed but not so accurately by the edge of the cylinder and the fold. Horizontally it is clear that the ground takes up one third of the image, with the bulk of the table’s chaos in the central third and the top third kept fairly simple.

Portfolio Entry Two

The image is composed so that the negative space in the top right area balances out the activity in the rest of the picture particularly balancing out the opposing corner. One focal point of the image is the sphere on the table; the eye is draw to this not simply because it is the clearest, simplest item in the image, but because it falls on an intersection along the rule of thirds. The image loosely follows this rule with the platform under the drapery creating a horizontal at a third and the corner of the platform also following along a vertical as made clear by the negative space between the two shapes on the table.

From the main focal point of the sphere, the eye then moves to the highlights on the dark cone shape, following it along then following the contours of the folds down and off the table. From there the eye drifts into the shadow following it off the page. Once the eye comes back to focus on the image it returns to the cylinder, perhaps choosing to follow its highlight down the draper on the other side. This path of eye movement across the diagonal bottom left of the page is what makes the top right negative space contrast so necessary to keep the balance.

Portfolio Entry One

This image primarily explores the form of objects with lines down the contours as well as shading over top. The dark shading on the largest vase helps give a good sense of depth between itself and the vase in front of it. The arrangement of the items works in that the largest vase is balanced by the far left vase, with the skull assisting in the balance by bringing the eye down its surface diagonally pointing towards the left vase, which combined with the positioning of the vases gives the entire image a diagonal sense to it, with the eye shifting from the largest vase (a focal point of the image due to its size and simple shape, standing out amongst the objects) the eye travels down to the shaded area then follows the skull contours to the far left vase. Because of this set up the bottom right cup becomes important in anchoring the image and providing some perspective with regards to where the surface of the table is. The cup itself is arguably orphaned as it doesn’t touch any other objects; on the other hand the diagonal that cuts across the largest vase also cuts across the cup, although a better sense of drapery might improve the image composition.