White Subject and Rule of Thirds

White Subject


Photograph the place setting that is arranged in the photo lab. Make sure you are using a white backdrop. Good depth of field is expected. Also remember you will need to overexpose by 1/2 to one f stop because your camera light meter tries to make white things look gray. Try several shots with different settings and from different angles. Try different lighting techniques on the setting for shadows and high lights. Remember from the lab scene that if you have a high contrast situation, it will be difficult to print.



Gulls are notorious troublemakers to photograph. In these two photographs, we have the white plumage and light toned surroundings to deal with. In the first photo, +1 1/3 stops overexposure has been dialed in using center-weighting metering. The second is an intentionally darkened image to simulate what the shot would have looked like without compensation. Adding more light has kept the plumage white.



Rule of Thirds


Bring in a small item that will create interest in a photograph.


Take eight pictures as follows.

*Divide the camera’s viewfinder into thirds, both vertically and horizontally.
*Position your subject in the corners where the thirds lines cross
*The thirds lines will cross in four places, so take a normal exposure picture and then a second picture with one half stop more light. – 8 pictures


Take a picture of something beautiful. Take three shots using the bracketing technique.


Take a picture of something ugly using the same technique.


More information on the rule of thirds can be found here.


What to turn in


You will be required to turn in all of your negatives, four prints, log sheet, contact sheet and a summary of the assignment. The summary should include why you took each picture of the subjects, what you would change in your shot if you were to shoot again, the camera’s aperture and shutter speeds for the submitted images, the enlarger aperture setting for each submitted print and what you learned while completing this assignment.


As with any summary submitted in this class, you need to be sure it is typed with 1” margins. You also need to use #12 Times New Roman font. Please put your name, date, period and class in the upper right hand corner of your paper.