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.
In our fourth Gimp editing assignment, we worked with panoramic pictures. I took a picture of the view from my driveway...or rather I took three. With the use of a "tripod"...my mail box, I took three pictures, each with 10-20% overlap. The overlap allowed me to merge the pictures together and form an over all panoramic photograph. I learned to use some new tools in Gimp, including opacity and the eraser tool. I continued to use the layers tool, and also discovered a trick that allowed me to more easily create my final picture (paste as new layer.) The opacity tool allowed me to see through one layer and line it up with the next when we were merging our three individual pictures into our final panoramic. The eraser tool allowed us to get rid of the lines and distortion that occurred when overlapping our pictures. It was definitely a lot trickier than I would have guessed! The detail of the trees made it especially hard to line up my pictures, which is probably why we were warned to use a picture with a simple background(: In the end I ended up doing an overall levels adjustment to lower the amount of lightness in the picture. I'm super happy with my final result.
In our third Gimp editing assignment, we worked with portraits. We took one window portrait using the natural light from outside and a white piece of poster board (bounce card) to reflect the light. There was a distinct difference in the shadows and light form using and not using a bounce card. When I was taking pictures of Sam by the window, the light was more evenly distributed if we used the white poster board. We then took a picture in the studio. We had a hair light, fill light, and key light, then captured photos of someone sitting on a stool in front of a sheet. Taking the pictures into Gimp, we were able to create white background boarders using different levels which gave us a great final product. I am becoming more and more familiar with Gimp each time we use it. I'm also working on recognizing when pictures need levels adjustments. Being able to recognize and adjust levels makes a HUGE impact on the quality of my pictures.
For our third photo assignment, I chose to capture black and white photos.While shooting, I really looked for objects that provided great contrast.I originally set out looking for things that were strictly black and white…I began with the piano and music sheets.As I ventured through my house, I began looking at things, thing that I see day in and day out, in different ways.I’d barely even noticed the lights in our kitchen and dining room before I shot for this assignment.It was weird discovering new things in MY OWN house I’ve been living in for years now.I shot all of my pictures in color, and then worked on them in Gimp for the most part.A challenge I faced was not having enough contrast in my pictures. A lot of great pictures I took, I was unable to use because when put in black and white, everything just washed away.I was able to deal with lack of contrast by adjusting the levels in some of my pictures.I haven’t worked with black and white photographs very much, so this week gave me a whole new perspective for photography.
Through this assignment, I experimented with the “de-saturizing” tool which made all of my pictures black and white.I also used levels adjustments, and am becoming more familiar with the effects of this tool.For a few pictures I used the contrast tool which more clearly distinguished the blacks and whites of my pictures.This tool was good in some situations, but often made the pictures look “fake” in the finals products.I learned that all of the tools Gimp has to offer are good…in moderation.A lot of the levels adjustments I did added noise to my pictures.Although converting to black and white often took away some of the grain in my pictures, I had to find the right balance between the levels, digital noise, and de-saturation.
My best picture was one shot of the plants on top of our fire place.I didn’t originally think that these plants would work for black and white, but the light coming through the nearby window provided a lightness that contrasted the outline of the plants.I really liked how the plant curved over and had an interesting shape that stood out against the well lit white walls.I never even laid eyes on these plants before taking these pictures.They really are quite appealing.After some minor levels adjustments, and de-saturation, this picture came to be what it is.I’m very pleased with the result.
For our second photo assignment, I chose to capture still life photos. Choosing still life, I never imagined the planning and set up that would go into achieving a great picture. I originally had a black skirt covering my calendar and then black paper on my desk to create an entirely black background for the photograph. And although the black provided great contrast to the items I was capturing, there was still something missing...light. Taking the pictures in ordinary light from my room was boring and just kind of "normal looking." I wanted some light that would make the objects pop and really produce more quality pictures. I ended up using a desk lap that I could easily move around and create shadows and interesting effects with. In the end, I was extremely pleased.
Through this photo assignment, I learned to modify the lighting and and set up a background that works with a picture. I've never had to plan to take pictures as much as I had to for these. I moved around, turned lights on, turned lights off, etc. and eventually achieved the looks I really wanted. One challenge I had to work with was digital noise in my pictures, especially in the black backgrounds. To deal with this grain in my pictures, I edited all my pictures in Gimp, a tool I am becoming increasingly familiar with. Doing a levels adjustment in each of my pictures, and using the clone tool in the background every so often, really enhanced the quality of my photographs.
My best photo was shot was of my gladiator shoe. I shot this picture multiple times, but I just couldn't get the effect I was going for. I love these shoes, the sparkle and gold in them, and I wanted to capture a quality image of them. I finally moved my desk lap to create a little bit of shadow in the picture which I really liked. I did a little bit of a levels adjustment to create a bigger contrast between the shoe and the black background and loved what I ended up with.
In our second Gimp editing assignment, we were worked on a photograph taken by Noelle Jacobs at the auto show a couple years ago. Although the original picture was quite lovely, it still had more potential. Using tools such as cropping/ straightening, the Clone tool, Dodging and Burning, and Levels in Gimp, we were able to take this picture from average to fantastic. We were given a demo image that we were to model with our editing. It's truly amazing how much editing can be done and the effects you can achieve. I was unfamiliar with any of the tools we used in this assignment, but my favorite was definitely the clone tool...that poor man in the background didn't know what he was in for! But eventually, we were able to use the clone tool for "good" and remove the lights going across the hood of the car, just one of the steps in developing our new and improved photograph.
For our first photo assignment, I chose to capture pictures of nature. We were asked to take pictures that reflected the atmosphere we live in. It was bitter cold over the weekend while taking my pictures, but I couldn't resist the sun reflecting on the snow and the brilliant clear blue sky. It was absolutely breath taking. I enjoyed venturing out into my back woods where I haven't been since I was a kid. Although my fingers were frozen by the end, my experience outdoors opened my eyes to how beautiful winter really can be.
I really learned to use the natural light of the out doors to enhance the quality of my pictures, and adjust the settings of the camera to develop the best pictures. It was awesome to finally be able to apply the knowledge we gained in class...and actually see the differences in the pictures! When I shot my first pictures, all of them were white. I was able to turn the ISO to the lowest setting on our cameras and started getting more quality pictures.
My best photo was shot from my deck. I spotted a forgotten wind chime dangling in the cold with part of the woods in the background. I shot using a large aperture, so the depth of field was small which put the wind chime in focus and slightly blurred the tress in the background. The sunshine reflecting off the metal of the chime and the amazing blue sky really helps this photo stand out.
In our first Gimp editing assignment, we worked on creating our own pop art image. This was my first time working with Gimp, and I found it very fun and pretty easy to work with. I feel like, with time, this tool will become very helpful in helping me become a successful photographer. I took an image of myself and copied it four times, each time "colorfying" the image to a different color (red, green, blue, and yellow.) The final effect was a unique picture that catches the eye.
For this first assignment, we learned about eleven elements of photographic composition: Rule of Thirds, Depth of Field, Texture, Pattern, Color, Space, Balance, Lines, Framing, Perspective, and Symmetry. We further investigated these fundamentals of photography by capturing an image that portrays each. The new basics helped us develop true photographs rather than simple snapshots.
Photo Descriptions:
Texture = school bench outside
Pattern = vending machine with Propel bottles
Lines = kitchen sink
Space = do not enter sign
Depth of Field = bananas on kitchen counter
Perspective = underside of light in the Hive
Color = flowers' stems/ leaves
Balance = sunrise outside of school and dark trees
Symmetry = gate/ fence gonig around track in the gym
Rule of Thirds = orange gum ball
Framing = bagels framed by their basket
Photo Slide Show:
What we learned:
In just our first few weeks in this class, I feel like I have learned more about taking a quality picture than I have in my entire life. This composition assignment opened my eyes in a new way to things I see everyday. Ordinary objects and settings have become possibilities for great photographs. The main component I found fascinating was the Rule of Thirds; I see it all the time now on comercials, ads, etc. I'm eager to improve my skills even more and be able to capture breath-taking photographs.
