Contrast, Balance, Harmony

Contrast, Balance, Harmony

Namibian Desert

This Photograph was taken by Bernard Pieterse, a 16 year old boy in South Africa

Contrast

This Photo has amazing contrast.  The deep richness of the blue sky verses the almost white glare of the suns reflection on the lake bed.  It's amazing to me how the tree in the foreground seems to 'pop out' in all three of the contrasting backgrounds.  The starkness of the shadow on the ground contrasting the desert floor is also nice.  The silkiness of the sky against the rough dryness of the ground is a nice contrasting texture.

Balance

The framing of the image balances the blue sky with the ground.  The orange of the sand becomes the balance point that hold the image together.  

Harmony

The trees are harmoniously balanced in the thirds of the image.  Harmony is also created by the dead space in the sky and the dead space on the ground both being filled by the same tree.  One with the tree branches and the other in shadow.

My Visceral Response

Although the image is just from one angle, my visceral response to the image is being surrounded by the wall of sand.  I see this a giant bowl of sand surrounded by miles of dunes.  I can feel the dryness of the tree and the overwhelming heat from the sun.  Beauty and danger coming together.

(Other great examples of Contrast, Balance, Harmony)

Buffalo Race

Chan Kwok Hung in Hong Kong

www.chankwokhung.com/

The Supreme Six 

Ed Conger a gathering of Bald Eagles in south Alaska

kencongerphotography.blogspot.com/

Zion Canyon Brewing Company

http://www.zioncanyonbrewingcompany.com/brewery-beer-legend.html

http://tonyislds.wix.com/zioncanyonbrewing#!home/mainPage

Zion National Park 

Visitor Study 

Summer and Fall 2006

73% of summer visitor groups and 63% of fall visitor groups stayed overnight away from home in the Zion National Park area

65% of summer visitor groups and 64% of fall visitor groups stated that Zion National Park was the primary reason for visiting the area

49% of summer visitors and 59% of fall visitors were in the 36-65 years age 

group

75% of total visitation to the park in the summer survey were from the U.S.

74% of summer visitors and 60% of fall visitors had not visited the park before 2000

79% of summer visitors and 62% of fall visitors visited the park for the first time since 2000

When asked how they obtained information about the park prior to their visit 52% said Friends/ Family/Word of Mouth.  45% National Park Website.

In the 2000 people surveyed 47 states and Washington DC were represented.

In Time

Production Designer: Alex McDowell

     His production Credits include The Crow, Minority Report, The Watchman, Fight Club and the upcoming Man of Steel.  In Minority Report he hired Monster Garage designer Ron Mendell, and sketch designer Herald Belker.  

     Ron Mendell's designs have been used in the Iron Man movies, Star Teck, G.I. Joe, Looper, G.I Joe, Pirates of the Caribbean, and upcoming Oblivion, Oz, and Saving Mr. Banks.

  In-Time had a $40 Million budget but the upcoming Oblivion movie slated for next summer has a $130 Million budget.

   

The cars were a perfect match for the movie since the type of cars are timeless.  

The car the our heros steal is a Lincoln Continental.  The police cars are '68 Dodge Chargers or '71 Plymouth Hemi Barracudas

 

The contrasting colors between the time zones.  All cold tones viruses warm tones.  

The Only vegetation in the whole movie and it comes at the end of the film.  Short grass and shrubs symbolizing the beginning of growth and change.

This screen shot is the crossing over scene.  The foreground is lit in the blues and grays, while in the background all vectors point to the warm tones or new world.

The lower half is warm and the top is cool.

Still Composition

There are a series of vectors within this image of my son.  The vectors help the viewer establish a hierarchy of salience on the page, leading the eye from one element to another.  His arms make an arrow pointing upward to his face, his eyes positioned in the prime thirds position.  The eyes are then draw down the arm to the log pole fence in a swiping arch to the people in the distance.  The end of the fence in the background then pointing as it were back to the face.

I took this shot in Marysville off State Route 89 on the way home from our fall break adventure.  Both vertical stacks of this old mining water drill are positioned in the thirds of the image. As well as horizontally across the top of the tank and along the axel of the front wheels. Several vectors help to present the image as a group of related elements which have an overall unity. The angle of the picture provides depth and an idea of what motion of the object would be like.

Its almost as if my daughter were poking her head into the frame of this shot, yet everything in the image points to her face.  Both the vertical stripes in her shirt and the three ATV trails all have converging vectors that culminate toward her smile.

Design Evaluation Presentations: Good Design Bad Design

Bad Design

2010 Cleaning Line Released by Colgate Palmolive Corp.

http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/HC/Products/HouseholdCleaners/Fabuloso

      This new Fabuloso product line by Colgate Palmolive looks delicious. The fruit and colored rainbow remind the customer of traditional snow cone flavors, however these are household cleaning products. The design of the bottles resemble traditional beverage containers from the reinforced hand grip to the tapering at the base. The ripples and ribbing of the bottle reinforce the traditional water bottle look and feel. Using a clear container draws attention to the coloring dyes used in the product subconsciously triggering anxieties of spilt Cool-aid on a light carpet.  Only the context of product placement could trigger curiosity, but in the design closure is created before education, and sugar is my final feeling.

      Because of the its packaging design, there is so much noise the product is confusing and awkward.  The product name stamped into the top of the container looks like a Snapple or Sprit bottle, and the yellow cap resembles many Pepsi drinks, and the rainbow resembles Skittles and Luck Charms.   But worst yet, the underline of the female fonted brand pushes your eyes upward and to the left toward the fruit and rainbow, and the products type and purpose is lost in lower righthand corner.


Good Design

2011 iQ Cleaning line by Planet People

www.iqclean.com

      iQ cleaning products are all natural, non toxic cleaners that have no harsh chemicals.  Their product line also use color but in a sophisticated interactive way.  The colors are very vibrent, yet light and silky. Traditional packaging companies cover the front of a bottle with advertising, and the back with product warnings and ingredients. This innovative packaging is simplistic and effectively imprints nothing but the trademark and products purpose on the bottle.  The customers daily experience of the bottle reinforces a familiarity with a companies trademark, which establishes trust in the company and its products.

      The studio lighting highlights the sexy curves of the bottles shape, and the high gloss finish reflects and bends the light to create a shimmer or sparkle much like glass.  The container looks more like a fine bottle of wine that a cheap sports drink.  The unique spray nozzle continues the curvy look and caries many of the same curves as the bottle.

      Unlike most cleaning products that are packaged in white bottles, on a shelf, the iQ cleaning bottles stand out because they are clear and empty.  The product line uses the customers tap water and small cleaner refills so it uses 80% less plastic that tradition cleaning products, and dosent have to ship the main ingredient of all cleaners, water.  The concentrated cleaner refills contain all the legal information and the ingredients so that the customers everyday experience with the product is just the trademark and product type.

     In this case of design, less is more.  The iQ slogan:  "...because you shouldn’t have to choose between a clean home and a clean planet."

Visceral Response

 I have a visceral response to the Cloud Gate sculpture at millennial part in downtown Chicago. Nicknamed the “Chicago Bean”, Cloud Gate offers many amazing photo opportunities with an infinite number of shooting angles. The sculpture has become more of a destination than a work of art, and has been described as a transformative, iconic work.

It creates in me a feeling of wonder and amazement. It's a surreal experience. As it distorts reflected images the viewer becomes a piece of the art. Like watching yourself on television, the audience becomes a part of the Chicago skyline. A deconstruction of empirical space makes the bean seem light and almost weightless.

All of the Gestalt principles become warped and distorted, which is where my fascination comes in.

Pragnanz - As the viewer approaches, they physically enter the art. When one walks underneath it into its "navel", the experience is described as a displaced or virtual depth that is composed of multiplied surfaces.

Continuity - The spherical shape interrupts closure at almost every angle. In order for the reflections to make sense, people have to look behind them to assess the reflections continuity. On the underside of the sculpture is the omphalos, an indentation whose mirrored surface provides multiple reflections of any subject situated beneath it. The omphalos is a "warped dimension of fluid space". In this dimension, solid is transformed into fluid in a disorienting multiplicative manner that intensifies the experience.

Closure - Closure is the challenge. The reflected images continually wrap around the sphere pulling the viewers eyes from the edges outward to identify the source of the reflections.

Figure/Ground Relationship - The landscape on which the sphere rests is in stark contrast to the futuristic science-fiction feel of the sculpture. Yet because it reflects its surroundings, the sphere becomes a chameleon, absorbing the environment. It becomes the background or landscape on which the figures rest.

(This Picture was taken by a great photographer fabio celeita)