Inside the Photo

The aim of this photo was to create something that emphasized a color as part of the assignment for a ds106 Daily Create, “Make a photo that emphasises one color much more than any other in the photo.” I was staying at the Virginia home of my friend Gardner, and on seeing the prompt for the day, I thought of this stuffed animal my travel companion, named for the same name as my red Ford F-150, Red Dog.

I tried first a shot of the stuffed animal behing the seat belt of the car. Cute, but it seemed too set up.

The light on the day was sharp, and worked well even here at mid-day. I then thought of the contrast with the vivid green grass of his lawn, a next shot looking at the face Red Dog.

Next, I thought it might appear to eb more mysterious with a rear view shot, like capturing someone on a pensive moment. i tried a few angles, getting belly down in the grass. This one worked best with the narrow depth of field (f/2.8) to blur the trees and detail on the horizon. It’s pretty much got the tip of the tail on the rule of thirds interestion point.

A better shot might have been with just a grassy hill, but I felt the contrast of the colors was the real story, and the contrast of near and far ground as the backup story. Just who is this read critter? And where is he going?