Digital Photography & Imaging / Week 2

30/9/2024 - 6/10/2024 (Week 2)
Daphne Lai Yu Cheng / 0366380
Digital Photography & Imaging / Bachelors of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Project 1 / Physical Collage Design & Digital Imaging

Group 1

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Week 2 (30/9/2024)

Lectures: 

Introduction to Composition

• Focal Point: Helps viewers; eyes naturally settle on the important pieces of a design first.

• Scale and Hierarchy: Often used to help communicate hierarchy by drawing attention towards and away from certain elements to signify their importance to the communication.

• Balance the Elements: Each element has a 'weight' to it. Smaller object might 'weigh' lesser than larger objects, heavily textured elements might 'weigh' more than flatly coloured elements.

• White Space: Known as "empty space" to balance up the main focus of a composition.

Rule of Thirds

• Process of dividing an image into thirds using 2 horizontal and 2 vertical lines.

• Positioning the most important elements of an image at the intersection points to produce a much more natural image.

Figure 1.1 Rule of Thirds

Golden Ratio

• Creating and appreciating a sense of beauty through harmony and proportion.

• Golden ratio provides a sense of artistry.

 Figure 1.2 Golden Ratio

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Tutorial:

Design Elements Collage

Project 1: Physical Collage Design

For this task, we were to develop a theme/idea by layering images with design principles, as well as the fundamental of composition. The theme I decided to go with is music as it is one of my favourite hobbies.

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Practical:

Step 1:

• I explored and cut out interesting graphics and design elements from old magazines or any printed materials.

Figure 2.1 Cutouts of Design Elements (5/10/2024)

Step 2:

• Find an interesting background for the cutouts of design elements.

• Start on compositing the design elements and play around with the compositions.

Figure 2.2 My Compositions (5/10/2024)

Step 3:

• Glue the composition that you are satisfied with onto the background.

• Scan the final composition and submit in Google Classroom.

• Document the process in your e-portfolio.

Figure 2.3 Final Composition (7/10/2024)

After receiving feedbacks from Mr Fauzi, he said to proceed with #3 and helped me out with rearrangements for one of the elements, 'Ode', to be moved a little higher.

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Reflection:

This week's lecture taught us about design composition. In my opinion, composition plays a significant role in artworks because it directs viewers' attention and shows how a good composition can effectively convey a story.

Working on this first project was interesting and fun, as the physical collage reminded me of the arts and crafts activities I did in high school. Additionally, I searched for collage ideas on Pinterest to further improve and enhance my physical collage. From Pinterest and my peers' works, I got to see different compositions and perspectives in the collages. Personally, I’ve always enjoyed thinking about the deeper meanings or backstories behind artwork, so each collage I saw conveyed a different meaning or story through its composition.