Pottery

Pottery

December 26, 2011. Pottery. Taken at Market to Market in St Augustine, Florida.

I don't talk a lot about technique typically, but I realize that I probably should. Here's a little background behind some personal composition projects that I've been working on during my photo walks, and how several of them came together on this shot.

First is textures. I love textures, and the Spanish pottery, concrete, and trees in this one had plenty. I set f/8.0 to try to capture those textures with a good depth of field even though it was dark. I knew that ISO noise would be acceptable due to the subject matter, so I set it to ISO 1600 with a 1/15 second shutter speed, hand-held.

Second is lights fading away towards infinity. This one had a bunch of those, so I was good there, too.

Third is sectioning off the photo by depth. This one had a light foreground, a dark middle, and a light background thanks to the open door at the end of the room. Lots of parallel lines gracefully intersecting near corners and thirds are also a plus, as was the way that the pots in the foreground continue the composition off of the frame. I like when little elements are left to the viewer's mind to complete.

The fourth was a very pleasant accident. After taking the first shot (not shown), a tourist walked into the doorway wearing dark clothes. I've been working on shooting light subjects on dark backgrounds and dark subjects on light backgrounds. I'm also partial to people entering, leaving, or viewed through doorways since it seems rich in symbolic potential.

The subject cooperated by not moving very fast, the second shot was clicked, and the result is seen above.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/15. f/8.0. ISO 1600. LR 2.