Composition Photographs

For this assignment there was a specific focus on four aspects of composition: natural framing, balance, leading lines, and texture. Though there are multiple definitions for each of these aspects, these are the four we used.


Natural Framing: when something in the picture frames the subject so as to focus the person who is looking at it. This photograph is of two guards that were sitting on a motorbike under a tree while on break.

Balance: having more than one subject of equal importance in the photograph. For this composition aspect, I originally used a photo of my dad holding a cat, but the cat was out of focus. I chose another photo for the assignment, but I took the first print home and gave it to my dad for his birthday.

Leading Lines: a picture with lines, either naturally or created, that lead to the subject. This photograph is of a guard outside of my apartment. I took it because I saw how the sidewalk, the line of trees, and the wall all lead to him.

Texture: either it is a photograph of a pattern, or the picture has no main subject. This photograph is of a banyan tree in the park. I liked the look of the trunk so I took a picture.

I took a camera home for the first time to do this project ad went out to KLCC to take most of the pictures. I think the biggest problem was getting pictures of people who would stay still and that it was really bright outside. To help with that, I used the lollipop tool when I was printing to let certain parts of the pictures have more exposure time than others so that the really bright areas could be more clear without the darker areas being to dark. I used this technique specifically on my natural framing photo because while the trees are in shadow, the building wall in the background is very light, so just let the center have a much longer exposure than the rest. It also came in handy during my leading lines picture because a lot of the photo is in bright light.

The Pinhole Camera

We had an entire class period several weeks ago where we learned how to actually make a pinhole camera out of a can of coffee beans and then did a print as a class. I thought that we would then have a class to make our own, but instead we just used one that had already been made to make our own picture. So naturally, I wait until the last day to actually take the picture.

When I did finally take the picture, I set it up right outside of our photography classroom on two thick books. My friend positioned herself, set the timer for 5 minutes, and then I quickly sat next to her. And continued to sit next to her for the next 5 minutes, without moving.

When the timer went off, I quickly covered the pinhole and went into the dark room. Only there could I take it out. It went through the entire developing process, and when it was finished, I had my negative:

To make the "positive", I put a piece of photo paper shiny side up and the negative face down on top. The light was on for 13 seconds and this is what I got. I am actually surprised that I'm not too blurry because I had thought I moved too much. The thing I really like these pinhole photographs is the way the wall looks curved when it is actually flat.

My First Print

I actually missed the first time we went out around the school and took pictures. I came in during my free period to take pictures, and with such a broad subject, I had a hard time deciding what to photograph. It also happened to be the first time I had ever shot with a film camera, so it was somewhat nerve-racking. The weather wasn't ideal either. It was about to rain and the clouds had blocked the sun, so it very dark in the hallways.

Despite all of that, I went out and took some photos. Once the film had been processed and dried, I had to make my contact sheet and my first print. Several of my pictures turned out to be too dark or blurry, but a couple turned out. These are all my pictures:

I chose a picture of turtles to print because there was a lot of light where I photographed them and I liked the subject, rather than just a picture of a hallway or something like that. It took an entire class period and then some to actually get this picture to turn out. The water and area where the turtles are sitting is dark and the turtles themselves are dark, so I had to take that into consideration. To bring out the water and rocks, I used the lollipop tool and covered these areas for just a few seconds. This is my final print:

The Developing Process

To start off my photography blog, I'm going to write about the steps of developing a print in a dark room. In our particular dark room, the chemicals sit in plastic containers in the middle of the room with the enlargers on either side. The red light is from the Safety Light, which is there so that we can see without exposing the photo paper.

Once the photo paper has been exposed under the enlarger, we move it into the developer. It has to be pushed down so it is completely submerged. One way to evenly spread the developer is to gently lift the container and then set it back down, thus creating small waves. The paper has to sit in the developer for 2-3 minutes. Personally, I think that this is the best part of the entire process, when I can watch my picture form in the developer. Sometimes it is too dark, or too light, but every time I fell proud that I was able to make that print happen.

After those 2-3 minutes, we lift the paper using the tongs out and drop it into the stop bath. Make sure not to contaminate the tongs by bringing them into contact with the stop bath. The picture sits in the stop bath for about 30 seconds. Though this is a short period of time, it is important because it stops the photo from developing.

After the stop bath is the fixer. The picture is safe to take out after one minute, where it can be dropped into the lower rinse, then brought outside to look at. If you are happy with it, you can put it back into the fixer for 5 minutes to keep it. If you aren't happy with it, you can just throw it away.

After those 5 minutes, the paper goes into the lower rinse. The picture can be in the lower rinse for as long as it needs to be without hurting it. Once the upper rinse is empty, the pictures can be moved there. The important thing is that they must be in there for 5 minutes completely undisturbed. So if someone drops another picture in after other pictures have started, the 5 minutes must start again.

Once the 5 minutes have passed undisturbed, they can be put through the dryer. It is very important that only one picture is put through at a time so that they don't get caught. Make sure that the picture is face up. If the picture comes out of the dryer and it is still sticky, do not put it back in again. Just leave it out and it will dry. Don't stack sticky prints, or they will stick together. If all goes well then your print is done!