Minimalism and the Rubik's Cube

coldclimb

Ok, a whole week of thinking, and this is all I got. I MIGHT enter it just for fun, but I WOULD like some critique. Shooting specifically for a theme is always hard for me... I can never think of what to do.

By the way, did you know that it's completely impossible to solve a rubik's cube entirely like this, with the center cubes wrong? That frustrated me to no end, since it ruined all my plans.:rofl Or maybe I should have rotated the cubes differently...

wxwax

Here's my take, cc.

Good composition, nice energy from the right third placement and the cut off cube.

The colors work well - green, blue and yella are classic.

The subject matter is kinda ordinary.

The lighting doesn't do anything to change that - it's flat and harsh.

The big shadow is one thing that makes it not-so-minimalistic.

The background material's kinda busy too.

Not a bad idea. A lot of experience and practice with light and production value would make a huge difference to the execution of the shot.

Tim Kirkwood

wxwax wrote:

Here's my take, cc.

Good composition, nice energy from the right third placement and the cut off cube.

The colors work well - green, blue and yella are classic.

The subject matter is kinda ordinary.

The lighting doesn't do anything to change that - it's flat and harsh.

The big shadow is one thing that makes it not-so-minimalistic.

The background material's kinda busy too.

Not a bad idea. A lot of experience and practice with light and production value would make a huge difference to the execution of the shot.

Well put.....Nice idea just needs a little work.


Tim

ginger_55

Yeah, there are some people here who can tell you how to do that. I am not one of them.

I would take it outside on a cloudy day and hope. I have not tried that yet, but it would be my best try. I don't do lights.

ginger

digital faerie

Tim Kirkwood wrote:

Well put.....Nice idea just needs a little work.


Tim

gotta agree on that one. this idea is definitely worth reshooting!

joechiu

I agree with wxwax -- the first thing I noticed is the background -- the texture pulls you away from the cube, and it looks messy. If the lines were nice and neat, maybe it won't feel that way.

As for the shadow, this challenge has been extremely difficult for people entering "object against a solid background" type image... I think for the cube, I would definitely try reshooting the picture with the light placed on the other side... or shoot the non-shadowed side by moving the camera to the left!

The other thing I would recommend is to find a cleaner cube -- there's a piece of lint at the rightmost corner of the green square, and the frayed edges of the color squares interrupt what would otherwise be clean lines that criss-cross the cube.

All in all, I like the idea, and I would like to see it again with the shadow gone, and the background straightened.

Angelo

I agree with everyone else; this is a great idea that just needs a little tweaking.

Good job!