High and Low Key

So here our the shots from my last photography class assignment.  One high key, one low key.  Going into this I was most excited about the low key, because I really love the dark, rich tones.  So I thought the high key was going to be the bigger challenge, and I struggled with it at first.  But in the end, I like that one better.  Maybe because I wound up putting a LOT more thought into it.  A crazy amount of thought.  And I probably re-shot the image like 7 times over the two weeks we had to work on it.  And then I had to look through 100s of pictures to pick "the one."  Hundreds of images of soap... when I got to class I was totally second guessing my choice of subject.  I mean, it's a pretty straight on picture of a bar of soap.  Not the most exciting subject matter ever, especially in comparison with some of the really interesting images other people in the class shared.  But in the end it all worked out.  What I was most pleased with is that people understood the image...  my intentions came through!  woo!  It made me ridiculously happy to know that I was able to communicate my ideas successfully with this image.  Which is that I went for a very literal interpretation of high key... clean (hence the subject) and simple.  And I wanted a softer and more inviting take on something clean and simple, which is why the soap is pink (I tried white too, but that made it seem harsh and sterile).

I'm still working at getting a really good low key shot that I love... though the one I took of my teacher and his wife last night is pretty close.