Contrasting Subject and Treatment

Our first task in Part Five of the course is to compare two images, one of which is mostly concerned with being aesthetically pleasing, and the other which is not necessarily so, but where the subject is paramount.

This first image is one of my own, taken recently inside the viewing platform of The Shard, in London. The interplay of light and shadow in the scene caught my eye, and it is this which is the primary subjcct. The location is mostly irrelevant (most people wouldn't know by looking at this image that it was taken from inside the tallest building in the EU), with the people and the interior of the building providing lighting contrasts and shapes.

 24mm, f/22, 1/1000s, ISO 5000

This next image is of US President Barack Obama and his security council, while they are watching a live video feed of the Navy SEAL raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. Graphically, the lighting is harsh and unflattering on a group of people. They are all looking rather tense, hardly ideal for a 'portrait' shot. The photographer has also managed to catch the top of someone's head in the lower left of the frame, and someone's elbow in the top right. All in all, it's quite an uncomfortable image to look at, however the context of the image and the subject matter is way above and beyond that of the first image. It captures the scene of one of the most important events in the history of the United States, and is a raw, behind-the-scenes look at national security.