Keyboard

This piece is a modern analogy to Strand's closeup of a typewriter (above). I made sure that my frame centered on the same few keys as Strand's does, so that the audience can draw parallels between the two and thus see the progress of technology from then to now. I made one stylistic change: while Strand's photo is very sharp (meaning it was shot with a small aperture), I chose to widen my aperture to blur out keys in the background. I made this decision because the modern keyboard has many more options than the typewriter did (ex. the F1 - F12 keys, that are at the top of this photo), and some of those extra options made my photo seem too distracting and unfocused. Because of this, I blurred out some of the keys in the background in hopes that the audience will immediately focus on the eyes right in the middle. However, I wish I had paid more attention to the lighting in Strand's composition, which contrasted the white of the keys with the black of the background very nicely. To improve on my own piece, I could take the same shot in more direct sunlight, which could brighten up the background to make it contrast more sharply with the dark keys.