For this week's photo assignment I chose to take pictures for the photo topic, Portrait. So, I called my friend Madeleine and had her come over so I could take some pictures of her. She has a really crazy personality so we had a lot of fun but ended up with a lot of wacky pictures. For my setup I put a White sheet up in a door frame and then had a lamp behind it and next to Madeleine I put another lamp to add more light. For my best photo I chose a picture of Madeleine "modeling" a box of brownies. I like this picture because it really showcases her personality.
Technical information for my best photo: ISO:400 Aperture:3.5 Shutter speed 1/5 sec
For this week's demo we learned how to take two different kinds of portrait/ lighting setups. The first setup we learned how to do was in the studio using a "Pancake" setup. For the other setup we learned how to take pictures using a window as our light source and having an assistant use a bounce card to reflect the light. After we took our pictures we uploaded them into Gimp, made a black background, and then put a white frame around the actual pictures. The picture on the left was the picture that was taken using the window as light, the photo on the right was taken in the studio. Here is my final product.
For this week's photo assignment I would like to take light painting pictures. I am not sure exactly what I want to do for light painting so I went on flickr to find some inspiration. The first inspirational picture I found, that I thought was really cool, was taken by "Gerbren.nl" Another picture I found was by jeremyknight221, I thought this picture was really unique and I hope to be able to do something similar to this picture when I am doing light painting. I also liked a picture I found that was taken by Patrick Long. After looking at all these really cool light painting pictures I have some ideas of what I am going to do when I go and take pictures. I hope to get some really interesting and unique photos for my 7th photo assignment.
For this week's photo assignment I chose the topic 5 senses. Instead of taking pictures of just eyes, ears, noses, mouths, and hands I decided to try to be a little creative. For sight, I took a picture of my moms glasses, for touch I took a picture of my dog and my mom doing a high-five, for hearing I took a picture of my iPod and my stereo, for taste I took a picture of a bunch of snickers bars, and for smell I took a picture of a candle and the garbage. For my best photo I chose the picture of my dog and my mom doing a high-five because I thought it was very creative and unique.
For this week's Gimp assignment we took a picture of some part of the school and then changed the context of it completely. I chose to take a picture of the commons and then turned it into a circus because sometimes it feels like it is a circus in there during lunch. I thought this Gimp assignment was really fun and I learned a lot from it as well. I learned how to use several different layers, to add a bunch of different pictures that I had found on the internet, to add to my original picture.
Today we used a technique called panning, where you move the camera with a moving object to get a blurry background but a crisp subject. Mr. Bush rode his bike while the whole class took pictures using the panning technique that we had just learned. I learned that when taking motion pictures it is extremely important to pay close attention to how you set your shutter speed, ISO, and aperture to get the type of picture you want, also, you want to move the camera with the same speed that your subject is moving at. Overall I thought this was a pretty easy technique that I will definitely use in the future when I am taking motion pictures.
For my 5th photo assignment I chose to take architecture pictures. I found some very interesting architecture pictures right within my town. I took pictures of a church near my house, a historic church in town, that after it was used as a church, was used as a building for one my favorite small businesses, a locally historic house, some unique condos, and a house that resembled the shape of a barn. I enjoyed this photo assignment topic a lot because it really opened my eyes to all of the great architecture within my own town. For my best photo I chose a picture I took of the house that resembles a barn, I like the interesting architecture of the actual house and how the house is framed by two large trees in the picture.
For our third GIMP assignment we had to create a panoramic picture. We took three photos, overlapping about 10 to 20 percent on each photo so that we would have some room to work when we put our final picture together. Since my original three photos did not turn out correctly I used C.J. Slotten's photos instead. This GIMP assignment was definitely much harder that the car retouch one we did the previous week, but I think that I learned a lot from doing this assignment. From this assignment I learned to use the scale tool and the shear tool. Here is my finished product, its not perfect but I think it is pretty decent for the first time ever doing something like it.
For this week's photo assignment I chose to take animal pictures. I went to a park and took pictures of swans and geese and at home I took pictures of my dog, Molly. For my best photo I chose a picture with two swans in it. I had fun taking pictures for this photo assignment because I love all types of animals so taking pictures of them was really enjoyable for me! So far this is my favorite photo assignment topic I have chosen.
Technical information for my best photo: ISO:400 Aperture: f3.5 Shutter speed: 1/1000 sec
For this week's photo assignment I decided that I want to take animal pictures. To get inspiration I went on Flickr to find pictures that other people had taken of animals. This is what I found.
Another really cool photo I found was of an interesting looking bird taken by "topendsteve"
I am really excited to take animal pictures after looking at these great ones. I am planning on taking pictures at the park and taking picture at my house of my dog.
This week we learned how to edit a photo in Gimp. We used a picture of a car taken by Noelle Jacobs, then we made the background black and got rid of a person who was in the background. We learned how to use the clone tool, the burn tool, and we used the select tool. Here is what my finished product looks like...
For my 3rd photo assignment I chose to do pattern, shapes, and textures. I took pictures for all 3 categories of this assignment. My favorite pattern picture that I took was of a container filled with regular candy corn with one Indian corn ,candy corn, to show a "broken pattern." My favorite texture picture was a picture of my wall that has a very unique paint pattern that makes it have the look of texture different textures. My favorite shape picture was of a irregular shaped, wooden, bowl that is very unique. For my best photo I chose one of my candy corn pictures. I really liked how it showed a little bit of the container but mostly just the actual candy.
For our first Gimp assignment we had to use gimp to create the "Andy Whorhol effect." First we had to take a portrait picture to put into gimp then we had to edit the photo to prepare it to add the colors to each section of the picture. I really liked this assignment because it really helped me get a better understanding of how to navigate through the steps in gimp. Here is my picture representing the Andy Whorhol effect...
For this week's photo assingment I chose to take pictures that represent nature. I took pictures of various landscapes within my own yard. I took pictures of the Japanese Maple tree with different types of plant and bushes surrounding it that is in the front of my house. I took pictures of and island with a variety of types of plants and grasses. And for a final scene I took a picture of some stones with some flowers planted around them. For this photo assignment I really enjoyed experimenting with the use of different colors and textures in my pictures. Out of the two photo assignments that I have done so far I have to say that I really enjoyed taking pictures for nature the most. There are so many great nature scenes just around my own yard that it was extremely easy to find different subjects to take pictures of for this assignment. For my best photo I chose one of the pictures I took of the island of plants that is in my front yard. I really liked the contrast of colors of the redish woodchips against the green plants and nuetral colored grasses.
For my first photo assignment I chose to take still life pictures. After looking around my house for an interesting subject to shoot I decided on my hot pink cross country spikes. I took pictures from a variety of different angles and used different backgrounds. I took pictures from the side of my shoe, below my shoe, and above my shoe looking down on it. For different backgrounds I took pictures on the stairs, my black piano bench, and the wood floor in my kitchen. I really enjoyed doing this assignment because it caused me to open my eyes to everyday objects that can be taken in ways that are really unique and intriguing. My best photo was a close up that was taken on my kitchen floor.
For this week's photography assignment I am going to take still life photos. For inspiration I looked at examples of still life photos on Flickr and this is what I found...
For my first shooting assignment I hope to take still life pictures of things to make them look more interesting then they do in real life. I hope to take pictures of just everyday things that I have around my house but take them in a way that makes the viewer want to keep looking at it so that they can get the full affect of the picture.
For this assignment we learned about five more elements of composition. These elements are balance, color, space, framing, and perspective.
For my picture of framing I took a picture between two trees of my neighbors play structure. For my picture that represents the composition element, space, I took a picture of a silver candlestick inside a blue box. To represent the composition element color, I took a picture of candy corn on a black table, the bright, vibrant colors of the candy corn really "pop" against the black table. I took a picture of an American flag from below it to show perspective. And for balance I took a picture of my mantle with the mirror that hangs above it with two decorations of about equal size on either side of the mirror.
From this assignment I learned that when taking a picture of any object to make it look different than it actually looks in real life the composition element perspective could be the way to go. Also, the composition element space can really make your point of focus jump right out at you. Another thing I learned was that framing your main focus point can give the picture more depth.
For this assignment we had to take 6 different pictures that represented each of the six rules for having a picture with good composition. Those rules are, The rule of thirds, symmetry, texture, depth of field, lines, and patterns.
My picture that showed the composition tip, lines, was a picture of a folder that had black and white lines that curved together and met in a swirl in the middle. My picture for depth of field was a picture of the seats in the cafeteria going to the vending machines. My picture for texture was a picture of three different purses each with its own unique texture. I took a picture of a blanket that had a pattern of different colors and fruits for the pattern picture. For the rule of thirds tip i took a picture of my dog, she was all the way to the right of the picture looking to the left. For my symmetry picture I took a picture of a house where there was two identical bushes one on each side of the house and the lights outside the garage on each side are the same as well.
From this assignment I learned that to get a good picture that is unique it is important to use one or more of these tips. When taking a picture of a person you do not want to take a picture of them straight on but instead use the rule of thirds and put their face in one of the thirds, depending on which way they are looking. I also learned that either accentuating a pattern or breaking a pattern can lead to a very intriguing and interesting picture. I think these tips will really help me to take better pictures that make them more pleasing to look at.
