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Photo 101

Day Fourteen: Scale & Observation – The Man, the Offering and the Moon

As I am a regular photographer at this Teochew Chinese Opera or Wayang Troupe of Thai origin, I had the opportunity of taking photographs of them at the Mooncake Festival Prayers to the Dieties on the Moon as per Taoist beliefs. Before taking this photograph, I was thinking to myself on how to capture the essence of the Prayers Ceremony to the Moon Dieties in one single photograph. The interesting offering of a fresh pomelo fruit with a lot of burning joss sticks stick into it was a significant one to these Thai Opera performers as it definitely symbolized the moon. As I saw the actual rising at the back of the altar table, I quickly chose an angle to capture 3 elements in one composition. The Man offering the Smoking Pomelo signifying the moon and the actual full Moon in the distance at the back. The actual moon was so small in the photograph while the “man-made” Moon was so large in comparison.

SP Lim

The Man, the Offering and the Moon

Photo 101
Day Fourteen: Scale & Observation

Last Mardi Gras, WordPress.com editor Michelle W. wandered New Orleans, Louisiana, with an unlikely companion: a tiny plastic baby (courtesy of Randazzo’s, a bakery that hides and serves this little figurine in their King Cake), using him to experiment with scale.

Photo – not included

A park bench dwarfed him. A margarita glass made him look huge. And an old dollhouse at an artist’s workshop proved to be just right. In the photo above, he takes a rest on a peeling iron fence outside an old home in New Orleans’ Garden District.

Today, play with scale: you can use anything and everything to help convey size in your image, from your Chihuahua to your Mini Cooper, to an aerial view or perspective from a penthouse floor.

Today’s Tip: Don’t just point and shoot. Observe your scene before pressing the shutter, considering how all the elements in the frame interact with one another. Make an object appear larger through a ground-level POV. Place two things side by side in an unexpected way.

Surprise us!

Cheers,
Josh R. and the WordPress.com Team