Commercial Photography

I thought about doing a pic of Lucky Charms for my post, but didn’t want to give myself or anyone nightmares…

I also wasn’t sure where I was going to find photos of advertisements – I get most of my information online, and don’t have cable.  Well, I came up here to Sturgeon Bay this weekend to visit my Dad and his wife, and guess what?  They had some magazines!

 

I looked through a couple of them, but kept coming back to one that was on the back of the Good Housekeeping March edition.  I finally decided that it didn’t matter how many more I looked through, I was going to do my blog about this pic.  First off, I am due for an upgrade to my iPhone 5s, and had just started researching the iPhone 6s.  Primarily because I had been thinking about switching to Samsung.  I am also thinking about waiting for the next version of the iPhone, but that could be a while.  

Photo credit only lists (Evan S.)

 

I use my phone as my camera.  I take quite a few photos – since having a good camera on a phone is so handy!  (Majority of my pics?  Yeah, my dog, Eva…)  The ones I took for my Animoto were taken on my iPhone.  

 

So, about the photo.  First of all, I like the ad campaign.  Its photos taken by users with their iPhones.  They may be staged, but it doesn’t matter; they’re still taken by everyday users.  This one in particular was kind of interesting.  The first thing I noticed was the archery target and arrows.  Since it’s “Shot on iPhone 6s”, I thought this was a great play on the word “Shot”.  I also really love the lighting coming in from the left and the gal is looking over there.  

One thing I noticed is that the rule of thirds is not applied to this photo.  In WSINYE, the authors talk about asymmetrical balance.  “Centered photos are goring.  Asymmetrical balance makes interesting shots, and using the rule of thirds is the quickest way to compose for asymmetry.  Imagine the shot as a 3x3 grid, then position the focal point on one of the resulting four gridlines.” (p. 138)  The subject of this photo is the woman sitting on the chair.  It’s dead center in the photo, and there’s no doubt she is the subject.  But I think it works.  Had she been looking right into the camera, or the lighting been different (soft, not harsh, etc.) it would have been boring.  But I don’t think it is.  I think it’s a good photo!

I’ve heard of the rule of thirds before, and I’ve noticed myself doing some of this.  I don’t usually take a picture with the subject in the center – because I think it’s boring!  I took a bunch of pics last summer of some flowers at the CSA I belong to.  I am allergic to flowers, and so instead of picking them and taking them home, I take pictures.  Here are two of them, one using the rule of thirds, one is centered.  I think both are okay, but the sunflower is better.

So, back to my decision.  Samsung or Apple?  Do any of you have an iPhone 6s or Samsung Galaxy 7?  Post some pics in the comments to show me what they look like…  :)