Preparation for Assignment 1: Contrasts

Winter, work and weather have conspired to prevent me taking any photographs for a few days, so I've been thinking instead about how to approach the first assignment: Contrasts. Initially I wasn't particularly inspired by the assignments – I couldn't really get past the idea of taking pictures of things; photographing something thick or something thin, something large or something small, something smooth or something rough. But then I was leafing through some old photos and came across this one, taken last Autumn in Stratford-Upon-Avon: (Canon 350d; 210mm; 1/30s; f18.0) Looking at this photograph I thought that it was not simply a photograph of something undeniably hard (decorative paving under a bridge), but actually communicated a sense of hardness. So I spend some time thinking about what qualities in the photograph were responsible for this impression.
Contrast: there is very little subtlety in the contrast in this photograph; the highlights and lowlights are extreme, and there isn't much tonal contrast between them.
Depth of field: the aperture was reasonable small, so focus is fairly sharp over the whole photograph.
Light: because this photograph was taken in the early afternoon on a bright day the light is quite hard, and the shadows are sharp and strong. Subject: the photograph is full of sharp angles and jagged lines – there are no smooth edges.
Once I'd started to think like this it became much easier to think about how I could communicate some of the other abstract qualities listed:
Rounded/curved To promote a sense of roundness or curves I will try to maximise the tonal range in the photograph, so that the contrast between the highlights and shadows isn't as extreme. I will take the photograph with an aperture tending towards the wider end of the scale, and shoot in soft light.
Thin/sharp/pointed/narrow For these qualities, I will experiment with narrow apertures and strong light (though depending on the subject I may also try a wide aperture to contrast the subject in focus with a blurred background).
Soft/rough As with rounded/curved, to communicate softness I will try to minimise contrast in the photograph, photograph in soft light and with a wide aperture.
Small This one has been quite interesting to think about – I've been looking at techniques for faking miniaturisation, which contain some tips such as taking an elevated viewpoint, and blurring out the foreground and background. I'm not going to try fake miniaturisation for this assignment, but I'll use those tips.

Large

This link leads to a photo by Stephen Maclaren which shows a way of suggesting largeness - without simply positioning an object next to something small. The foreshortening caused by the low viewpoint (and handy attitude of the dog) gives the impression of a dog the size of the tower of Big Ben. [Photo from http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/9CA3C5DF-0F52-408E-85F7-A0A86962E457/0/LARGE_LSP_StephenMaclaren.jpg]
For this assignment I will make things as easy as possible for myself by photographing subjects which I clearly relevant to the quality – I won't be trying to take something hard and trying to make it look soft. But I suppose that would be a challenge.