Connecting Essay - Shape

This is a shot that incorporates the formal element of shape that was taken by me.
Below is a shape based shot that I have found on the internet. I am unsure who took this photo.


These pictures bare similarities in some ways.

For example, they have been shot in similar ways. They have bee taken at a canted angle, and roughly the same angle. They also both use signs to present shape. However, my image was taken using landscape orientation, whereas the other image was taken using portrait orientation. My image has also been taken from a very close up perspective, meaning there is very little background in the image. This is different to the other image I found, which was taken from a far less close up perspective, and has a foreground, mid ground and background.

Although they both feature shape, they each use it in different ways. My image only incorporates one shape in very close up detail. It shows a square with rounded edges, however, some of the corners of the shape have been cropped out, making it an irregular shape. On the other hand, the image I found online to compare to has several uses of shape. Although it uses a road sign to create a rectangular shape, similar to mine, the picture has some shapes featured in the background and mid ground too. There are more four sided shapes shown on the zebra crossing on the floor in the mid ground, and some more displayed as windows on the buildings in the background.

They also both make use of other formal elements. For example, both contain some saturated colours.
My image incorporates lots of blue, with saturated shades of blue on both the sign and in the sky. Overall, I would say the other picture contains much more bright and saturated colours than mine. For example, the sign shown in the image is a saturated shade of green, which is more saturated than the blue on the sign in my image. The blue sky in my image is a muted shade of blue too, whereas the blue of the sky in the other image is very bright and saturated.

Shape - Work Diary

For shape, I did two photoshoots: one in the studio, one candid. For my candid shoot I mainly took images of shapes I found around the town, most of which where litter and other objects that had been thrown on the floor. Then, for my studio shoot, I got ones of my badges, which has a star shape on the front, and put a spotlight on it, then took images of it from different angles.

This is my favourite photo from my candid shoot. It shows a sign, which is a sort of rectangular shape with slightly rounded edges. I think the rounded edges add more interest to the rectangular shape and the fact I took the image at a diagonal angle gives the photo a dramatic quality, almost as if it rapidly zooming into the sign.

This is my least favourite photo from my candid shoot. I felt like it was better at showing pattern than shape. Although there was shape there, I prefer shape pictures to be a single shape on a mostly plain background, so that your attention is drawn to that shape. I think this image just doesn't draw your eye to the shape enough.

This is my favourite photo from my studio shoot. It shows both a circle and a star shape within a circle. It also casts an oval shaped shadow. I liked the object used, as i felt it was an object you would notice, and I also like the way it is lit so that the front of the badge is bright and clear, and a large shadow is cast.

This is my least favourite photo from my studio shoot. Although it does show shape, specifically a circle with a circle inside of it, I feel that the object used was very uninspiring, partly because it doesn't show any of the other formal elements in an interesting way. Also, the image contains a little bit of the background in the top right while it should have only shown the table, which I find to be an imperfection.

Overall, I think my candid photoshoot went very well because I focussed most of the pictures on a single shape, with a narrow depth of field, so that the background is defocussed, meaning attention is drawn to the shape. However, if I were to do this photoshoot again, I would probably try and get more regular shapes in my images, as the majority of mine were very irregular and complex.

Overall, I think my studio shoot went fairly well. I liked the badge as I felt it created an interesting shape that was not too irregular but not too regular. I also liked how to the light was positioned as it helped make sure the front of the badge, where the star shape was, had light on it. However, if I were to  do this photoshoot in, I would bring in more than one object, and make sure some of them are a bit larger so that I can put several objects together in one photo.

Shape - Straight Images (studio)

 I used the rule of thirds to capture this image of my badge. The badge is a circle and inside the badge is a star shape.

 I used the rule of thirds here too, however, i zoomed closer so that you can see the star shape closer up.

For this photo, I changed the angle at which i took the picture, meaning the circular badge looks more like an oval. In this image, you can also see the circular pin cover at the back of the badge.

 I took this from a birds' eye view perspective, meaning you can see the edges of the pin covers. You can also see edge of the trigger mechanism for undoing the badge, which creates a circle.

I also decided to get another object to take pictures of. This was another object which has circles in it. At each end, there is a circle and another circle inside. From this angle, the circle almost becomes an oval.

Shape - Contact Sheet (studio)

Shape - Image Bank

This image presents a circular shape at the top, and there is a circular pattern that gets larger as you approach the foreground.

This image shows several circles. The one that is noticed first is the one in foreground, and there are lots more shown in the mid ground and background.

The photograph above shows petals hanging from a branch. They present a heart shape, with a rounded, almost oval shape attached to the bottom of them. They are irregular shapes.

This is an image created by people's fingers. It creates the shape of a star, which is an irregular shape.

  This photo makes use of negative space to create an irregular shape. The shape has lots of corners.

Shape - Straight Images

This image shows a regular shape - it's a square, but it has rounded edges, meaning it varies from most squares. The round edges give it more of an interesting shape than a regular square.

 This image shows a very irregular shape; it has lots of curves and edges. The shape is incredibly complex.

 This image has a clear shape in it; on the front of the can is a circle and the hole in the top of the can is circular.

This image presents an irregular shape, which is the stone. The shape is almost an oval, but has lots of irregular curves and angles.

There are lots of regular shapes, mainly squares and rectangles. The switch box is rectangular and the switches on it are squares with slightly rounded edges.

Shape - Definition

Shape is defined as a formation of lines that join. They are two dimensional, unlike a form, which is a three dimensional shape. There are two types of shape. Firstly, there are Geometrical shapes, such as a square or a triangle, which have a set number of sides and set angles, each of which has a specific name. Also, there are irregular shapes, which can have any number of sides, and the angles are not pre-determined. These shapes do not have specific names. Below is a picture of some regular shapes, followed by a picture of some irregular shapes.

Shape - contact sheet