Creative Control and Art Direction

In studio photography there is a lot more to making a photograph than placing a subject in front of the camera and pressing the shutter button. The whole point of studio photography is that you can create the scene that you want, and to do this you need to control it creatively and direct the scene to how you want it to best convey a message.

Creative Control and Art Direction... of eggs.

This photograph says:

1. Broken
2. Clean Lines
3. Strong Colour

The photographer has achieved this by cracking the egg very carefully and positioning it so that the broken edges can be seen against the black background, as if the white surface was continued (on an infinity curve) the pale colour of the inside of the egg would be lost. The strong colours of the yellow yolk and the egg white can be seen distinguished as they would have a light source over them to brighten the colours effectively making the egg look rich. The plastic surface of this photograph also suggests an unnatural setting; the white surface could be a kitchen work top?

This photograph suggests:

1. Farm
2. Natural
3. Organic
4. Fresh

The obvious difference from the first photograph here is that the scene has gone from a simple white surface and black background to hay nest, suggesting that these eggs are freshly laid in a chicken coop on a farm. The soft light that is used to light the eggs gives a sense of quiet, and rest as the eggs lay in the nest, opposed to the harsher light of the cracked egg in the first example.

The background of studio photography is very important and normally would be considered something secondary to the photography but in the studio it sets the context; the scene of the story, to convey the message stronger.

In this photograph the background is very basic/simplistic and so creates a very pure/clean scene for the egg basket.

Remembering the 'Rule of thirds' makes for a better composition in a photograph. As humans we look for balance in images and using the 'rule of thirds' or symmetry will make the image more aesthetically pleasing to view. One of the most crucial medias for this to be used in is product advertising, as the whole idea is to make the audience desire the product, so making it look as appealing as possible is going to bring the most success.

This is an example of a magazine advert that uses symmetry and the 'rule of thirds' to make the picture more appealing! It keeps the audiences eyes on the advert for longer, hopefully making them subconsciously desire the product more and more.

Although this photograph of two differently sized eggs doesn't exactly follow the rule of thirds or use symmetry the balance of space in the picture is appealing.

The point of view in an image can be very effective to create weird and wonderful perspectives, exaggerating the truth, or even adding humour into an image such as this example of an egg being held up in front of a bald man, playing on the shape of his head.

Controlling the depth of field wisely can guide the viewer to where you want them to look first (normally the most important place) in the image. (The wider the aperture the shallower the depth of field).

Using different lens' can also change or perspective and make objects seem further appart (using a wide angle lens) or closer together (using a long lens to compress the relative distances).

If a photographer is working with a graphic designer perhaps for an advert considerations to where the designer wants text to go must be taken into account or the text will run over the subject in the image and will look very messy.

In this Image you can see that the photographer has left space top and bottom of the subject to allow for the graphic designer to add in text/logo etc.