Assignments: Simple shapes and lines

Nikolai

OK, here's the deal: some of us never learned how to shoot. I mean - not that many people here took a single photography class. And now, with the families and full time jobs, chances of taking one are as fat as me becoming next US president (hint: I was not born in US:-).
Recently one of my colleagues acquired a DSLR and he's eager to learn. So we kinda started a little Photography 101 class. And then I thought - hey, maybe somebody else would be interested, too...
So, here we are, starting an online photography class. No lectures (yet), but practice, practice and practice. No prizes, no penalties. The only awards you'll be getting is that you'll notice that the quality of your shots will - hopefully - improve.
We start with weekly assignments. We'll specify the "theme" and all you have to do is go out and shoot (sometimes you don't even have to go out, just shoot:-). Once again, there will be no As or Fs, no awards or disqualifications. Simply put the theme to the back burner of your mind and have your camera with you.

Now, without further ado - this week's (and our class' first) assignment:
Simple Shapes and Lines.
Circles, triangles, squares - any basic geometrical shape will do.
Recommendations: try to avoid "rectangles", such as buildings or window panes. However, a nice closeup of the USB connector will definitely do:-)

Try to post your findings as replies to this thread. There is no expiration date, but next week we'll have another theme, so I suggest you start working on your shapes and lines now:-)

Rules, index, etc.

Nikolai

Nik's Shapes and Lines
01: IMG_6269: Angled lines and a circle:



02: IMG_6270: Multiple circles, hexagons and triangles:



03: IMG_6271: Circumferences:



04: IMG_6273: Circles and pentagon:



05: IMG_6275: Diagonal line:



06: IMG_6276: Circles and triangles:



07: IMG_6277: Lines and angles:

Antonio Correia

Nikolai,

This is a terrific ideia. (I assume terrific is fantastic, good).
I'm in. :
Wait and see...
Regards.

Antonio Correia

Nikolai

Antonio,
Great, welcome to the class!!!

Since we're all learning, a few suggestions:

1. No need for such a detailed EXIF data, it just bloats the post
2. Sea shells like yours feature a rather complicated mathematical object called "logarithmic spiral". And we're specifically looking for very basic objects.
3. At this point our goal is not to have a different treatment of the same subject, however good it is , but rather, find different subjects, for which we need to be actively looking in different places...
   No rush, we have the whole week!

So, do you think you can find a few more basic shapes?

Obrigado!

Antonio Correia

The so called rather complicated mathematical object called "logarithmic spiral" are composed of basic elements.

Nikolai let me ask you as you are in the position of teacher and you do know very much of this:
- Do you have any degree in this matter ?
- Have you been to a school of photography ?

Nikolai

Antonio,

Antonio Correia wrote:

The so called rather complicated mathematical object called "logarithmic spiral" are composed of basic elements.

Nikolai let me ask you as you are in the position of teacher and you do know very much of this:
- Do you have any degree in this matter ?
- Have you been to a school of photography ?

Since you've asked:
* I have been teaching various aspects of applied mathematics (probability theory, gas and hydro dynamics, systems of partial differential equations, functional analysis, etc.) and computer science at one of the top soviet universities for 13+ years as an associate professor. I had my Ph.D. ready when USSR fell down, teaching didn't pay much and I had to provide for the family, so I switched to computer programming...
* No, I haven't. Otherwise I'd charge for the lessons...

And, for the record, logarithmic spiral is *not* "composed of basic elements", just as a circumference is not composed from segments of a straight line... :

HTH

Cheers!

Antonio Correia

Nikolai wrote:

Since you've asked:
* I have been teaching various aspects of applied mathematics (probability theory, gas and hydro dynamics, systems of partial differential equations, functional analysis, etc.) and computer science at one of the top soviet universities for 13+ years as an associate professor. I had my Ph.D. ready when USSR fell down, teaching didn't pay much and I had to provide for the family, so I switched to computer programming...
* No, I haven't. Otherwise I'd charge for the lessons...

And, for the record, logarithmic spiral is *not* "composed of basic elements", just as a circumference is not composed from segments of a straight line... :

HTH

Cheers!

I really am impressed.

So, I dare say, you are much more inteligent than myself. No kidding.

I do have more photos preparing...

Nikolai

Antonio,

Antonio Correia wrote:

I really am impressed.

So, I dare say, you are much more inteligent than myself. No kidding.

I do have more photos preparing...

I don't think we need to go in IQ contest here. We're all gifted, simply in different areas. I happended to be a math nerd (in my past, at least), which hopefully didn't make me a bad guy :

Anyways, I got another sample for this week's class from my todays trip to a bamboo forest:

Lines:



Cheers!

Antonio Correia

Nikolai,
It isn't very sharp is it ?
Then, this pic stands for lines, right ?

Antonio Correia

Antonio Correia

lines

Antonio Correia

Antonio Correia

more lines

Antonio Correia

Antonio Correia

Nikolai

Lines

Antonio Correia wrote:

Nikolai,
It isn't very sharp is it ?
Then, this pic stands for lines, right ?

It's a dark bamboo forest, I shot 50mm f/1.8 wide open at a close distance, so DOF is rather shallow. However, as you rightly guessed , I was shooting for the lines impression, not trying to get everything in focus.. :
Cheers!

Nikolai

Nice collection
lines, angles, lines and circles!
Good going! I'm curios to see what else you will get untill this week is over:-)

Antonio Correia

Nikolai wrote:

lines, angles, lines and circles!
Good going! I'm curios to see what else you will get untill this week is over:-)

Not much !
I have something to do from time to time ... :
Like these ?
http://antoniocorreia.smugmug.com/gallery/1587711/2/86355893

Nikolai

This would do great..
http://antoniocorreia.smugmug.com/gallery/1587711/3/86095475

for circles/spheres... if it was taken during the assignment timeframe - and with the assignment in mind

Antonio Correia

My 1973 Revox

juliejules

I'm in
I am always trying to improve my technique, so I'll try to particpate as time permits.

Here is the first thing I saw that struck me as simple geometric shapes. Here are 2 photos of my PODS container.

SpeshulEd

Awesome idea! I'm always looking for more stuff to focus on... here's some that I already have on smugmug:





I'll have to keep an eye out for more when I go shooting at night.

Nikolai

Nice lines, JJ!

juliejules wrote:

I am always trying to improve my technique, so I'll try to particpate as time permits.

Here is the first thing I saw that struck me as simple geometric shapes. Here are 2 photos of my PODS container.

Let's see if you can get more of some other shapes:-)

Nikolai

Welcome Ed!

SpeshulEd wrote:

Awesome idea! I'm always looking for more stuff to focus on... here's some that I already have on smugmug:

I'll have to keep an eye out for more when I go shooting at night.

Nice lines and angles! Now let's get some fresh ones!

juliejules

Triangles
I took this one earlier this summer. These are poppets, which are used to hold up sailboats on land.

Nikolai

Pretty neat

juliejules wrote:

I took this one earlier this summer. These are poppets, which are used to hold up sailboats on land.

In a general spirit of the assignment, I'd suggest sopme cropping so nothing except those triangles shows.
And, of course, a fresh version is always the goal

Antonio Correia

Nikolai,

As expected, a brilliant ideia this one ...

I don't have a picture today.

Tomorrow I'll be shooting in the church.
Regards

Haystack

I will play,

Nikolai

Thanks, Antonio!

Antonio Correia wrote:

Nikolai,
As expected, a brilliant ideia this one ...

:

Antonio Correia wrote:

I don't have a picture today.

No worries, we have the rest of the week:-)

Antonio Correia wrote:

Tomorrow I'll be shooting in the church.
Regards

Good luck with that, hope everything will go as planned and you'll end up with some nice dramatic shots.
Saude!

Nikolai

Welcome, Haystack!

Haystack wrote:

I will play,

I can see the lines of the rows, and little cylinders of the hay
Now, let's get something more prominently geometric