An object in different positions

For my objects in different positions exercise, I chose to photograph an ornamental lizard on my living room wall. To keep the shots simple and focus all attention on the lizard and its position, I used a flat, desaturated wall.

I took one shot with the lizard in the centre and two with him on the third lines, one right one left. Although many successful images are created using the rule of thirds, I found all of these shots quite boring. Granted, I was taking photos of an ornament in a sea of grey but I felt more could be achieved.

Luckily, in my opinion anyway, I was right. My next four shots showed the lizard in the four corners of the screen. This effect seemed to breathe life into him and I could quite easily imagine him skitting across the wall. Shot five, where the lizard is far into the top right corner is definitely my favourite. The top right position gives no room for manouvre and the extreme nature of him being tight into the corner accentuates this. The shot goes against rules of giving the subject space to look or move into but I think in this case, it works.

I think that where the first three shots bring up images of someone taking a photo of a lizard, shot five and to a lesser extent the other corner shots tell more of a story. When I look at shot five, two stories spring to mind; one of a photographer, trying to take a photo of a lizard who nearly escaped from shot, the other trying to photograph a wall when a lizard scurried into view. The former story could also apply to shot four and the latter, to shots six and seven.  I feel that it is the stories evoked from the position of the lizard that make these shots more successful.