Cinematography: My goal for this shot was to make an aesthetically pleasing yet slightly messy image that focused on the subject and the sock, but still provided interesting space and movement in the background. The first rule I followed was the Rule of Thirds, placing the subject and the sock (emphasized by lighting) at the focus, all while giving comfortable head room to the subject. To emphasize the Rule of Thirds and create space in the framing, I used the couch as the edge of the frame. I was also very intentional about producing some negative space in the shot to the right of the subject on the couch to keep the focus on the sock. I was able to accomplish the Rule of Thirds, edge of the frame, and negative space by shooting from the top of a ladder directly down onto the subject.  I was also intentional about using some design principles, particularly visual tension, contrast, and texture. For visual tension, I threw a few items into the set design to play with the pleasing balance of the couch and the subject; my goal was to make the setting look messy as if it were the subject’s room with items sprawled on the floor as he tries to find his sock. For contrast, I used a flag to block off the right side of the couch and subject’s face to emphasize the light on the sock and the left side of the subject. For texture, although the subject’s lighting was high contrast, I wanted to provide soft textured light on the carpet using a cucoloris to provide some interest, along with my choice of using my fur rug to add to this principle.

Lighting: I wanted there to be a high lighting contrast on the subject so that only the sock and the side of the subject’s face were illuminated, therefore making them the focus. However, the background was also important because the subject was reaching towards an object that was important to contextualize the story of the shot. To accomplish high contrast on the subject, I used a 200k light at slightly above eye level of the subject to appear as though there was a lamp illuminating the left side of them. I also used a soft light with a cucoloris to bring texture to the rug and items laying on it. Although I tried to aim most of the light from the soft light onto the background, this is very difficult to do with this kind of light. I realized that was still interfering with the high contrast I wanted to bring to the subject and the couch, so I used a flag to block all of the light striking those areas. These actions resulted in the high contrast look of the subject and the negative and dark space on the couch, with textured lighting in the background that supports the context of reaching towards the shoe.