Project 52 - Week 9, Isolation

Ok, first a little story . . . Two nights ago I was woken up several times by Hermes' insistent barking. (These were single barks, varying in degrees of urgency at first, only to become more like expletives if you listened carefully. . . or maybe that was me, I don't know.) Each time I would ask if he needed to go outside or offer to put his blanket on him.  He would go to the stairs and look up like he wanted my husband to fix whatever it was that needed fixing, not me. (wow, Hermes.) After the 4th trip I told my husband that it was his turn because I had no idea what was wrong with him. He said, "Oh, I know exactly what's wrong with him." Turns out when Gary and Hermes called it a night there was a certain little Italian greyhound in Hermes' bed. Gary moved Dash, but Hermes would now have nothing to do with it. Apparently, there was now Dash-stink in that bed and we couldn't possibly expect him to sleep in it. (OMGosh! my family and friends are now calling Hermes a diva and, well . . . )

This week's Project 52 is about isolating your subject. (I thought I'd tie it in with our current Goldilocks story.) Even though we often want to include the surroundings of our subject to know more about what's really going on in the resulting image, there are also times when we want to exclude things that can distract from the subject, the "big picture," or . . . (say it with me) . . . the story.

There are a number of ways to isolate the subject in an image before pressing the shutter button.  The photographer can physically move around the subject until the unwanted elements are out of the frame; she can change the angle of the shot by getting higher or lower than the subject; or she can use a different lens to include or excluded extra elements.

In the first example I took a picture of Hermes sleeping in his bed. 

I then took a picture looking down on him as he slept.

When I look at the first image, I see a dog sleeping in a bed.  When I look at the second, I see a dog sweetly sleeping with a stuffed animal. The second has so much more emotion for me. (Looks so innocent, don't you think? )

In this next example I wanted to show the love affair between Hermes and blankets.

The first picture that I took wasn't that appealing to me. But, when I moved closer I was able to emphasize how he buries himself in that blanket.  (He drags it around like Linus, too, but that's another story.)

Next week I'll show some examples of isolation using different lenses. Take a look at what other photographers in the blog ring have posted about this week's theme.  Starting with Pat Corl, Field and Ranch Photography, Greenville TX  you can make your way around the circle.

Enjoy your weekend!