Repetition Photography
Often in photography, patterns are used to create an interesting photograph. This lesson challenges you to look for patterns in everyday life and document them. Patterns are essentially repeating shapes. In photography there are usually two options, emphasizing the pattern or breaking the pattern.
Emphasizing the Pattern: filling your frame with a repetitive pattern can give the impression of size and large numbers. The key to this is to attempt to zoom in close enough to the pattern that it fills the frame and makes the repetition seem as though it’s bursting out (even if the repetition stops just outside of your framing).
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Breaking the Pattern: breaking the pattern means you are capturing the interruption of flow in the pattern.Sometimes you’ll find these broken patterns naturally appearing around you and on other occasions you might need to manipulate the situation a little and interrupt a pattern yourself.
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Step 1Finding Patterns: examples of this technique might include faces in a crowd, bricks on a wall, a line of bicycle wheels all on the same angle etc. Almost any repeated appearance of objects could work.
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Step 2Finding/Making Patterns: examples of this technique might include photographing hundreds of red M&Ms with one blue one. Broken repetition might include adding a contrasting object (color, shape, texture) or removing one of the repeating objects.Pay particular attention to where in your frame to place the break in the pattern.
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Step 3Editing: There will be a small amount of editing necessary for this project. Cropping and making adjustments to levels are the most of what you will need to do for your photographs.
The emphasis is on finding these repeating shapes. |
What to do
What not to do
Assignment
Take at least 25 pictures total of repeating shapes and patterns.
Remember you have to find them. Making your own is in addition to ones that you find, have a good mixture.
Lighting and composition are important so make sure you play with different compositions and quality lighting.
Remember you have to find them. Making your own is in addition to ones that you find, have a good mixture.
Lighting and composition are important so make sure you play with different compositions and quality lighting.