Introduction
Attending annual photo exhibition that was held few months ago provided an exhilarating experience. There is this particular photograph that grabbed attention of the viewers. This essay provides a detailed description and criticism of the photograph.
The photograph shows a woman taking a photo. She is sitting on the floor of an empty apartment. The woman is likely to be in her twenties and she is dressed casually. Judging from the cameras she has, it seems she is a professional photographer.
Her dress code makes one to make an assumption that it is probably during summer. This is made evident by the bright light outside the building. If she had worn some warm cloths, it would have been suggested otherwise.
The photograph has a figure and ground with the young woman being figure and the building being ground. In this picture, the foreground is where the woman is seated and the background depicts transparent window of the apartment
The photograph was likely taken in a broad daylight since outside the apartment to be well lit by sunlight. One is tempted to think that the time this photo was taken was either in the afternoon of early evening. To an alert eye, the young woman seems to be taking a photo of a viewer who is also sitting just in front of her.
This is a typical example of a photograph with shallow depth of field control. This is because the main subject of interest (the woman taking photograph) is enhanced by discarding other elements (the building) out of focus. Therefore the viewer of this photo can only pay attention to the main object, that is, the young woman. The person being photographed must have been stationary and that gives a vivid reason as to why the lady chose that posture.
The photo must have been taken in a lively mood in a hyper environment. The enthusiasm of the young woman is pronounced by the fact that she has several cameras. It seems she was shooting in a relaxed environment as it is evident from her not wearing shoes. The general perception created in this photo is that of invitation to a photo shoot. Presence of numerous cameras indicates that many photos will be taken, may be outside the apartment.
Gestalt theory
The principle of proximity is well illustrated in this photo. The elements in this picture which includes figure, background and light are at close proximity hence these elements appears as one photograph. There is also similarity principle because three cameras being used by the young lady appear to be similar. There is also similarity in the skin color of the lady, floor and the dress. These elements also combine almost perfectly to form the image. There is also principle of continuity by the fact that the linear elements in the photo have kinetic inertia of some sort and are visible in the same direction and with same motion. The floor is seen as continuing in a straight direction. Continuity in the photograph helps in forming image by developing groups of a simple order (RMIT18).
Lighting in this photo provides a rough estimate of distance between her and the background. It is possible to conclude that she was seated near glass walls of apartment. What a captivating picture.
Works Cited
RMIT. Photography: An introduction. 2008. Web.