Project 1a Results: The power of shape

Okay, so I got half the assignment done, shooting a silhouette. I picked two to share and review. Your thoughts on these images are welcome, and anything you have to say will be encouraging.

This is a church east of Hesston, KS. I drove out over lunch in a nearly-last-minute attempt to find something to shoot, so this is shot against a winter noon-day sun. Fortunately it's early January, so the sun wasn't too far overhead, though I did have to get in closer than I wanted.

I over-exposed the scene for a silhouette... I don't have any experience shooting them, and this was a white church with lots of ambient light even in the shade. So I tweaked it in post-processing.

Project thoughts: The point of this project was to start developing an eye for shape, and I find it interesting that I never saw the point on the tower until I downloaded the images. And while I knew that powerline was there, I mentally erased it and didn't think much of it... but it certainly stands out here.

This was the really-last-minute attempt, the branches of a downed tree on a side road near Beck's Farm (a peach orchard) south of Newton, KS, taken shortly after sunset... about 5:45. (Now my wife knows why I was late to dinner.) I got the exposure right on this one... no post-processing.

Project thoughts: This one is a little busy, but I kind of like it. There were less-busy shots in the set, but they were all kind of blah. There's a lot of texture to the branches that you don't really see in direct light. This project would have been easier to do in the spring, with sunflowers and the like in bloom.

I'll try to shoot the second half of the project (a non-silhouette in which shape is the dominant element) in the next couple of days. I don't have any really good ideas, though I'm thinking Exploration Place as a bit of a cop-out. (I could have shot the Keeper as my silhouette, but hasn't everyone shot the Keeper in silhouette by now?)