Creative project…

Make a single subject poster image.

 

"3 chords and the truth" © Richard Evans Photography

 

I was practicing recently with my 50mm prime, exploring the depth of field blur and decided to take a range of images from a single subject that could be combined to make a composite image. The idea was that I could shoot several views of a subject where a lot of the image was blurred and out of focus, but combined as a group, you get more detail than from a single image.

 

My youngest daughter has recently become enthusiastic about playing the guitar and we’d bought her the Fender telecaster for Christmas, so it made a great subject for this project, with plenty of detail and chromed metal to provide twinkling highlights. I decided to make up a poster montage study for her.

The idea is to take a selection of images, from all angles, and by shooting with the aperture wide open, the depth of field is kept very small, rendering out all the background detail as a creamy blur. Put together as a set, you get an in-depth study of your selected subject, revealing detail that would be overlooked. And it’s great fun to do!

Why not have a go yourself? Select a subject – it can literally be anything – and shoot off 30 or 40 images from all angles. Once the images are processed, the composite image can be made up in word if that’s the easiest option – I made mine up full size in photoshop CS5, so the file is massive, but any software that lets you combine pictures will work.

Another great project would be to pick a colour pallet and shoot a selection of images that stick within that – say all blue or all yellow. You could make up a similar composite of different items that are all the same colour.

Why not give it a go – it’s great practice and can produce really creative results!

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