For our FINAL photo assignment, I decided to shoot pictures that showcased shadows and light. I learned to move objects back and forth to both enlarge and shrink shadows, and also to work with the sun which creates great natural shadows. My main challenge was getting a good balance between light, the object and its shadows. I feel like I put it all together for this last assignment. I was constantly adjusting shutter speed, aperture, and ISO without thinking twice. It was easier to take quality pictures the first time. And even Gimp, the editing has become easier...finally(:
I took a wide variety of pictures, venturing both around the house and outside, but my best photograph ended up being of the shadows my backyard. I stood on my deck and the sun was creating these beautiful shadows in the snow. I thought there was a good balance between the dark trees and bright snow. I did a levels adjustment due to the very bright sunlight and to bring out the shadows a little more. The picture was simple, yet the detail of it is so prominent.
For this Gimp assignment, we were instructed to create three visual puns by combining two or more unrelated pictures. We used basic tools such as copying and creating multiples layers, fussy select, and the eraser tool. It truly amazes me how easy Gimp has become. I've seen so many great edited pictures and have always wondered how on earth they could be done. I feel like I've gained a bunch of tools that I will continue to use after this class.
This was one of the most fun assignments we've done, and it was also incredibly easy!
For our sixth photo assignment, I chose to try light painting. I had been holding off on trying this technique, but I was really intrigued by how adjusting camera settings, light sources, objects, etc. affected the picture. I really enjoyed the process of figuring out what worked and what didn't. We got this light painting demo a while ago, so it was good to review the technique and use everyday objects- books as a tripod, shoes, my guitar, etc. to develop a cool picture.
My main challenge in shooting for light painting was supplying just the right amount of light in the right way to achieve the effect i was looking for. I went for a couple different techniques, but I really liked my best picture in which the light almost looked like wisps of wind blowing through. Another challenge was eliminating digital noise.
My best picture is of my guitar. I ended up taking it into black and white, one to eliminate digital noise, and also because of the contrast of the guitar. I really liked how the light has movement, and also how the light reflects in the shiny part of the guitar.
For our fifth Gimp assignment, we were asked to take a picture within the school, but jazz it up a little bit. We were to bring in outside elements to transform a portion of our school. I chose a small corner in a hallway and chose to make it the Jersey Shore club, Karma. The main challenge of this assignment was scale. In order to make the picture look like the real deal, we had to have the right proportions of people and things. Adjusting the sizes of the different people proved to be a great challenge. Other than that, we used skills that we've been using all along. We downloaded our desired images from the internet and pasted portions of them into a new image as new layers. The end result was truly amazing and it was super entertaining to see everyones work. I learned a new technique of creating shadows but copying a portion of the picture, rotating it, and changing the color and opacity. This assignment was definitely one of my favorites!
For our fifth photo assignment, I chose to capture photos of architecture. I went downtown Saline and embraced the frigid weather and fresh snow. For the number of times I've been downtown, I've never really stopped to admire the beauty of our town. It really is something. I felt very at home. My main goal was just looking for interesting perspectives of buildings and such that we've all driven by countless times.
One of the greatest challenges of mine was the light. I shot pictures on a super sunny day, so most of my photos looked overly bright. I had to take each one into gimp and do a levels adjustment which greatly improved the quality of my pictures. Despite the cool air, the sky and sunshine were beautiful and it was great being outside.
My best picture is of a church in downtown Saline. I loved the deep red of the brick against the blue sky. I did do a levels adjustment on the sky by itself because it was slightly more gray then I wanted. I also cloned out a branch or two that was distracting to the overall photograph. I love the rustic feeling of the brick and the lines of the church as well, kind of an older feeling. Before yesterday, I hadn't taken a second look at this building, but it turned out being a work of art!
Today I had my first experience with panning...what a CHALLENGE. We took a trip to the commons and photographed Mr. Bush riding his bike. We worked in shutter priority mode, between 1/30 - 1/60 of a second which gave us a fast enough shutter to capture Mr. Bush in focus, but a slow enough shutter to blur the background of the photograph. Our first step was to focus on a point a little to the right or left of us (hold the shutter button half way down), then Mr. Bush would ride in on his bike and we would follow him with our camera. When he reached a point roughly in front of us, we would press the button the rest of the way and capture the photograph. My main challenge was timing...moving with the bike and also positioning him and his bike in a quality area of the picture. Patience was key, but eventually we got the hang of it!
For our fourth photo assignment, I chose to shoot for macro. This week, I think I met the most challenges I have in any assignment thus far. Getting the camera settings just right, adjusting aperture, light, where I held the camera, etc. proved to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. About 90% of what I shot this week was blurry, I got pretty frustrated. I had used a DSLR on Friday in class which was a great deal easier to capture pictures of, so going home and trying to take macro pictures with my own camera was extremely hard. My main concern was getting the object in focus that was supposed to be in focus. The camera would always focus slightly behind my point of interest. I had to learn to back away from the object just enough so that I captured the detail of the picture, but also had a clear photograph.
The best photo is my picture of the fire alarm. I had to take the photograph to Gimp and use the clone tool to get rid of a finger print that somehow mad it into the picture. It was a challenge to clone the exact shades of red on the fire alarm. Over all I'm content with the final picture. It was a great experience being able to use a DSLR and have that extra quality. I was surprised it turned out so well because I didn't have a tripod, I just had to lean up against the wall for support and use the large aperture (small f#.) I think this picture demonstrates good quality and focus in the correct area with a small depth of field.
