I Want to Go to Class with Cole

Cole Joseph is a self-taught professional photographer who teaches online photography classes at Cole’s Classroom (https://www.colesclassroom.com/). He has a lot of helpful information on his site as well as examples of photos taken by him and/or his photography team to demonstrate different rules of thumb for taking good pictures.

Vase of Sunflowers — Sunflowers with simple white vase against a blue wood fence

This simple, yet gorgeous, photo of sunflowers in a basic white vase against a blue wood background (possibly a fence) is one of the samples that Cole uses to demonstrate the Rule of Thirds. It can be found by entering “rule of thirds” in his website’s search bar, or by going directly to that webpage with this URL: https://www.colesclassroom.com/using-rule-thirds-photography/.

The vase and flowers sit off-center in a straight line up and down. They are just to the left of the left vertical “third” of the photo. The off-centered look of the vase mixed with the vibrant colors makes this photo very pleasing to the eye.

I took this picture of a pineapple that I intend to cut up and devour. It’s a good thing I’ve been too busy yet this week to do that. It was the perfect subject for my photo.

Just like the sunflower and vase, the pineapple is in the left third of the frame, following the Rule of Thirds.

Cole uses the idea of “leading lines” in this black and white picture of a lone couple who doesn’t seem to mind a walk on the boardwalk in the rain (https://www.colesclassroom.com/ultimate-guide-photography-composition/).

The lines of the wood planks, wood railings, and tops of the lamp posts all direct your eyes to the focal point of the picture, what appears to be two shadowed outlines walking either toward the camera or to the end of the pier. Who can be sure?

With the idea of creating a similar photo, I took the following picture at a park near my home where the parking lot is separated from the grassy soccer fields by a wide, wood bridge over a small creek.

Bridge over creek in black and white

Notice all the lines that lead your eyes down to the opposite end of the bridge which looks like it goes on forever, thanks to the angle from which the photo was taken. But, your eyes go where the lines take them.

Cole Joseph says, “Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appears [acceptably] sharp in an image.” The wedding ring in his photo commands so much attention that one might not notice that there is a background at all (https://www.colesclassroom.com/how-to-get-a-shallow-depth-of-field-to-your-photos/).

The shallow depth of field of this photo (the focused subject and the “blurry” background) showcases the subject, the wedding ring, even more. The viewer cannot even tell what backdrops the ring because it is intentionally very “out of focus.”

I did the best I could with my Samsung Galaxy J7 camera to imitate the depth of field rule of thumb in the following photo.

Although the background is not as “blurry” as the photo of the wedding ring, I was able to apply the same principle to this photo. The subjects are clear in the foreground. The background is a little out of focus.

This week’s homework was not only very informative, but it was FUN. I’ve never given much thought to how I take pictures, let alone actually taking pictures–my vacation photos are terrible. That is going to CHANGE!. When I came across the photos in Cole’s Classroom, I was immediately hooked. I had to literally pull myself away from all the engaging information and beautiful photography. But, I’ll go back. Basic membership in Cole’s Classroom is free. I enrolled.

These Designers Must LOVE Cheesecake!

This poster was created by members of the Leo Burnett Iberia Agency (Juan García-Escudero, Antonio De Federico, Héctor Losa, Roberto Luque, Gilberto Barros, and Pouline Atencio) on behalf of Fiat 500, a National Breast Cancer Awareness sponsor, to promote “a race for women, created by women” in 2012.

Fiat 500 Women's Race Ad — Designed by the Leo Burnett Iberia Agency

I added the gray framing to make the very pale pink poster a little easier to see.

The main typeface used is categorized as Script. It is easily identified because it looks as if it has been hand drawn.

The less dominant typeface is classified as a Sans serif. There are no serifs, no thick to thin transitions, and no stress in the letters.

The capital Sans serif contrasts well with the mixed-case Script. The fact that these two typefaces come from characteristics at opposite ends of the spectrum is one clear distinction–one has serifs and the other does not. The totally different structures of these two typefaces provide drastic contrasting features.

The Sans serif typeface is quite a bit smaller than the Script–size is one contrasting element.

The weight of the Script typeface is much heavier. There are thick/thin transitions that are missing from the Sans serif, also providing multiple levels of contrast.

The large, loud Script definitely commands the space—almost to the point of being too much. The elongated swirls, swoops, and decorative elements to some of the letters let us know it is definitely a women’s activity. The words are organized on the page in such a way as if to say, “Uh…whatever,” and that’s the exact message the print is trying to deliver. The less intimidating Sans serif does its job of telling the logistics nicely, yet unassumingly, while letting the Script steal this show. It’s a little too “sweet” for my personal taste. I am kind of picky about my cheesecake.

Expert Designers Break Your Heart

This advert was created on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Society and won “Best Charity Ad” at The Drum Chip Shop Awards in 2017, according to Daniel Wright, a writer for The Drum (https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2017/09/21/10-adverts-alzheimer-s-awareness-will-make-you-cry). Let’s see why it was chosen.

Alzheimer's Graphic — “Happy Valentine’s Day” designed by Tim Sutcliffe and Kim Martin

ALIGNMENT

The alignment in this design is very aesthetically pleasing. Both sentences on the image are left aligned–their left edges line up vertically. The top of the first sentence aligns horizontally with the subject’s chin. The right edge of the photo aligns with the Alzheimer’s Society logo beneath. The bottoms of said logo and the website address are also in alignment.

REPETITION

The font colors (circled in dark pink and light green) are one of the repeating elements in the advert, as is the font type, size, and bold character. The hearts (circled in yellow) on the Valentine’s Day card are, as well. There are repeating, complimentary shades and tints of blue throughout this piece. All of the colors have a specific purpose and will be discussed later in the blog.

PROXIMITY

Although the two sentences are very closely related to each other, they are not very close to one another on the page. In fact, there is quite a bit of white space (in green) between them. This is intentional. The physical space in the written words gives pause to really let the underlying message sink in. The plea from the Alzheimer’s Society is located close to the link where donations can be made AND to the sentence that really drives home the seriousness of the situation and the need for financial help. The spacial relationships in this ad are quite effective.

CONTRAST

Different font colors provide most of the contrast in this piece. What appears to be random spacing and the great deal amount of white space at the top contribute to that, as well.

COLOR

The colors, specifically the blue (designated as pink stars–yes, those are stars) and purple (green stars) may very well be the best silent message this graphic has to offer. According to the Alzheimer Association, “Purple is our signature color, combining the calm stability of blue and the passionate energy of red. Purple makes a statement about our Association and our supporters: we are strong and unrelenting in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease” (https://www.alz.org/about/our_story).

“In the rainbow, the color purple is the only color that is split into two shades: Indigo and Violet. These two purple shades represent chakras or energy points in the the head. Indigo is associated with intuition, perception and the higher mind. Violet is associated with the color of creativity and spirituality” (http://www.devinecolorcommercial.com/gretchens-blog/2016/4/19/why-purple-is-the-perfect-color-for-the-alzheimers-association).

Blue is the color of emotion, and this ad certainly wants to tug at our heartstrings.

CONCLUSION

By using clean alignment, different, yet appropriate, proximities, repeating white spaces and other elements, and colored and contrasting fonts, the advert looks very simple yet relatable. The underlying meaning suggested by the colors really adds the extra measure of emotion that ties it all together and makes it the award-winning piece that it is.