Star Burst

I call this one "Star Burst."  I took it on my bedroom floor.  This follows the rule of thirds really well.  The light is one third from the top and one third from the right.  The yellow lines follow show where that one third mark is.  I also used analogous colors.  The red and yellow go well with the orange and the yellow blends well with the white.  The black makes a good background that makes everything stand out more.  I even used leading lines to direct the eye towards the light but that wasn't actually necessary.

Cheater

I call this one "Cheater."  I took this picture in my living room.  This picture uses the rule of thirds vertically to separate the bear and the penguin and it also uses it horizontally showing the discard pile in the bottom third and the bears hand in the top third.  It also uses good color to draw the attention to the cards.  The gray of the carpet makes a good background because it isn't distracting and helps the cards stand out more.

Don't Stress Dude

I call this one "Don't Stress Dude."  This is of two of my three parakeets in my living room.  It uses the rule of thirds quite a bit.  Each bird is on the 1/3 line and the pink perch is partially 1/3 from the bottom.  It also uses good color.  The pink is complimentary to the yellow and helps the green stand out.  The green and yellow are analogous.  The brown and white are not very distracting.  The background isn't empty space but it isn't distracting either.  The stick in the middle implies a little bit of symmetry but the one bird being relaxed and fluffed makes him seem a lot larger and heavier than the tense bird.

High Angle Shots

Mafia Midget

I call this one "Mafia Midget."  I think that the title helps emphasize how small he is.  I took this picture in my living room.  The penguin is sitting on some white enamel to make it appear that he is on snow.  I think this uses a good high angle to demonstrate how little he his.

Wasn't Me

I call this picture "Wasn't Me."  I think the high angle combined with him looking straight at the viewer makes him look like he's pretending to be innocent.  I think this one does a better job of using a high angle than "Mafia Midget" but isn't quite as funny.

Antarctic Mafia

I call this picture "Antarctic Mafia."  The antarctic is kind of obvious but I chose Mafia over gangster because he's wearing a suit and bow tie rather than street clothes.  I took this picture in my bedroom.  I borrowed my brother's penguin and his Kabar (brand of knife) to take this picture.  It think it does a very good job of using a low angle to show the penguin as large, powerful, and imposing.

Illegal Literature!

This picture is "Illegal Literature!"I took this picture in my living room.  I used a toilet paper tube and some string to make a scope and took a picture through it.  It demonstrates framing by causing you to focus on my brother and what he's doing.

Backgrounds

Rainbow Tiger

This is a picture of a Viking round shield that I made on top of a blanket my grandma made for me.  I used Gimp to hide some of the battle scars.  Rainbow Tiger displays bad background because the bright colors distract from the Viking round shield.

Arctic Border Patrol

This is a picture of me (I used a tripod and self-timer again) in a WWI trench I dug a few years back.  This shows good background because there is nothing that pulls the eye away from my face.