Angela's Result: Surrounded by Design (cont.)

I did a few more tries of the Surrounded by Design exercise (where you take random photos and create characters or environments from them).  I can tell that this exercise is really striking at two weak points of mine - environments and atmospheric lighting.  It was very difficult for me to come up with interesting compositions when there weren't human figures involved and to light them accurately so there was a sense of depth.

It just goes to show that I need to start thinking of my environments like I do my characters by thinking of a narrative for them.  What is this place used for? What is its symbolic meaning?  What can I add to them that creates visual interest?  How can I arrange my environment so it has an interesting composition?  This was a really great exercise. I hope others will try it and share as well!

The original photo rotated and cropped.

The result - some kind of secret underground shrine.

The original photo  of a bird feeder turned upside down.

Bird feeder equals KILLER SPACE CANNON!

Photo of origami cranes turned upside down.

Equals alien mirror pyramids in the desert!

I think the next exercises I need to do to help my environments and lighting are studies of photos. Not so much creating environments as copying existing photos to get a better sense of lighting and color, then moving on to creating my own environments (suggested exercise of 30 thumbnails).