Photo Assignment #6: Light Painting!

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.

ISO: 200 Aperture: f/2.8 Shutter Speed: 15 seconds

Gimp Assignment 5: School Context: JERSEY SHORE

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!

Photo Assignment #5: ARCHITECTURE

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!

ISO: 200 Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/200

PANNING!

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!

Photo Assignment #4: MACRO!

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.

Technical Info:

ISO  400, Aperture: f/4, Shutter Speed: 1/60

Gimp Assignment #4: PANORAMIC

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.

Gimp Assignment Three: PHOTO DEMO ASSIGNMENT

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.

Photo Assignment #3: BLACK & WHITE

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.

My Best Photo:

Technical Info:
-ISO 400
-Aperture: f/5.0
-Shutter Speed: 1/13