The semester has been good and has taught me how to take better photos. Yes, because you can get different angles and different filters and make the same photo look so different. Yes, I try and get the pictures from all angles now. My favorite project was the one where you had to take a bunch of different angles. I think it is really interesting I’m not sure if I will do it next year because it is challenging and I am not that good with computers.
Basically had to go up close to objects living and non living and use the app VSCO to turn either up the macros or turn them down. When you turn them down it focuses on the closest thing you have near your camera and blurs out the background. It does the opposite when you turn up the macros; blurs the closest thing and focuses on the background. Using flash and filters definitely helped and made the pictures look way cooler. It was hard getting close enough to the object, for example I was trying to take a picture of a plant and I had to lie down on the ground to get a good photo of it. Water droplets are very cool when you have the right equipment to take high quality photos of it and I would really like to photograph one. To see the rest of my photos click here.
For this project we had to take photos that show an emotion and a easy to follow story, and then edit them. Justin Bettman is an editorial photographer who takes garbage and makes sets on the street for people to take photos in.http://www.justinbettman.com/ Mae Weems is an artist who took pictures of her and her daughter at the kitchen table in black and white the pictures tell a story and an emotion. I used the marquee tool and the curve layer as well as the select>modify>feather tool. If I had to choose a place to tell my family’s story it would either be in a car or a park. When I was little my family always went to the park,went fishing, hikes, went on walks and to the playground. I would tell our story there because of how much we were there. I would tell our story in a car because nowadays we are all always busy with school, work, sports, etc. and the time we are usually all together is when we are in the car going on a trip or something. To see an edited zoomed out photo of the set we used click the link down below.
The project, Catch The Action is about taking cool photos of things that are in motion while trying to keep the object of focus in focus and the background not in focus/ or not distracting from the thing in motion. I timed my photos so when the car or bike or whatever was moving by I got a good shot of it. If you are trying to take an action photo, it takes lots of tries and make sure to not be too late or too early when taking the photo. If I could take a picture of any sport, I would do football. I would do football because players get hurt all the time and if you timed a photo right before someone got tackled it would look really cool. To view the rest of my photos, click here.
The first thing I am thankful for is my parents (and the rest of my family; and extended family.) I am thankful for my parents because they take care of me. They give me a bed to sleep in, food to eat, help with my homework and always help me to strive to do my best. I don’t know what I would do without my mom and dad. I love them both very much and I am very thankful for them both.
The second thing I am thankful for are both my sisters. I am very thankful to have two people who are older, and have more experience to give me good advice, share clothes with, do each other’s hair, etc. Without my sisters family vacations and everyday life wouldn’t be nearly as fun. I love them very much and am thankful for them.
The next thing, I am thankful for is all my friends. Without them my life would be incredibly boring. I can always laugh with them until I cry, even when nothing is funny. I can always hang out with them and do something fun, and I can always count on them to make me feel better when I am sad. I love them all so much and I am incredibly thankful for them.
Another thing I am thankful for is my dog, Bentley. I love him so much and I get excited whenever I go home because I can see him. I love taking him on long walks until he sits down and refuses to walk anymore and playing fetch. He’s the cutest dog and I love when he falls asleep in my lap. I’m so glad I have him as my dog.
The fifth thing I am thankful for is the beach. I love going to the beach in the summer.My favorite part is probably going on beach walks at sunrise/sunset and seeing all the pinks,purples, blues,oranges and yellows in the sky or going to the beach all day and staying out in the ocean the whole time. Every year my family goes to Outer Banks, NC and it is so much fun.
Considering it is almost December, I am very thankful for Christmas. It is by far my favorite holiday. I love watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music. All the Christmas lights are beautiful and so are Christmas trees with their brightly colored ornaments. I especially love Christmas because you spend it with your friends and family; you also give gifts and receive them. Which is very fun, and this is why I am thankful for Christmas.
Lastly, I am thankful for the sport I play; lacrosse. I am thankful for lacrosse because it is very fun and I get to see my friends there. I love going to tournaments with friends and hanging out between the games and just the carpool rides going to lacrosse.
What was difficult was finding people that I didn’t know or know of in the school to take photos of. Most of these people were substitutes or new teachers. What was also hard was actually asking them for a photo, and some people saying no because they were uncomfortable with their photo being taken. When the people smile,I notice they seem much nicer based on the photo. Bias could effect your job as a photographer by what angle you take the photo from, what poses you tell them to do, what filter you use, etc. When you are hired as a photographer I would ask the client to tell me what theme or what light they want to be painted in. Then, I would ask them to tell me one good thing about themselves and one bad thing about themselves. This way I have a balanced opinion of them and not implicit bias. To view my slideshow click here.
To take our photos we had one person behind the camera and another in front of the camera if it was just a one person photo. We had them turn on the flashlight and then cover it with their hands. Then once the photo was taken they uncovered the flashlight and started drawing with it, phone facing towards the camera. They had about 15 seconds until the photo started developing. This worked well, and group pictures were much harder because you had less time to get everyone where they needed to be. To take this project to the next level, I would recommend colored glow sticks so your pictures can be in color, and be even cooler and easier to tell what they are. Click here.
Taking landscape photos worked better for me rather than portrait because it is easier to crop, and put something eye catching on one of the lines of thirds. What did not work as well was taking portraits photos because it is harder to put something on one side rather than the middle. At first, I did not really understand the point of the rule of thirds cause I thought it looked better to have the object your focusing on in the middle. But, with rule of thirds people can see the object your focusing on. Then look at it from left to right, or right to left and find other things in the background you may not have noticed if you just looked at the thing in the middle. To line up the lines with the photo I used the grid effect on my phone. To see the rest of my photos click here.
The process for taking photos in front of a black background was just standing in front of the background and taking the picture. For editing I use photo shop to edit the photo and adobe fireworks to add my logo to the photo. Using the light worked well but it was hard because you had to find the correct angle to point the light at so it wouldn’t create shadows. What did not work was standing too close to the background because that also created unwanted shadows. To see more photos click here.
For the photos we all used the plain white background and took photos of everybody, then for editing I used photo shop to crop it,change the colors,etc. and to add my logo I used Fireworks. Taking photos in front of the other side of the white background worked because you didn’t have shadows but it was clear,from the natural lighting of outside. Taking photos in front of the white background