photography

Title: People (after)To ensure that my image captured as many...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:32:01 -0500

Title: People (after)

To ensure that my image captured as many people in the photograph as possible, I sat on a shelf which was three quarters as tall as the walls in the venue. It was also not too close in order for me to get majority of the crowd in the frame. My idea was to get an “action shot” when everyone was moving around. What is happening in this picture is people are moving around. The people in more of the center of the crowd are doing something called “hardcore dancing”. You can normally tell when someone is about to “throw down” (another term for hardcore dancing). This can be determined when a band plays certain parts of their songs-normally I would prepare my camera to shoot during a breakdown, because that’s usually when hardcore dancers get really intense with their dancing and use as many moves as possible. Some challenges that I encountered with my other images that I took earlier were that I took the image too late, or you couldn’t really decipher what was happening in the frame (i.e. it looked like no one was moving even though they actually were). In the end I got my final product in the way that I had envisioned it. In order for me to catch the image, I had my shutter speed set to 1/125. To obtain the sharpness of this image since I aimed for a still photograph I set my f stop to 5.0. As for the editing of this image I boosted up the contrast and colors immensely in order to make everything pop. I also spotted a lot of reds in the crowd so I boosted up the red color in this image.

Title: People (before)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:31:08 -0500

Title: People (before)

Title: Nature (after)Upon arrival of the scene, my idea was to...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:30:30 -0500

Title: Nature (after)

Upon arrival of the scene, my idea was to get a good view of trees with the background of the sunsetting. Since the sun was already down I could not achieve any images with the sun in plain sight, yet I was successful in shooting the trees with the sky changing colors. I was located on a bridge so I had a broad view of the horizon. This made selecting what I wanted to shoot a little less challenging. Though it wasn’t all that easy at some points because I did run into a few challenges. One challenge was time: because the sun had already set, it was getting dark really fast. And because it was dark this required me to keep my shutter speed at 1/10, and I left my aperture at 5.0 to give the image sharpness. Another challenge I had was that there were a lot of giant lamp posts in the way, making the image look less like nature. I needed to angle my camera in ways that you couldn’t see any of the civilization so the image looked like it was all shot in a forest. When photoshopping my image, I wanted the trees to look darker in order to get that watercolor kind of feel so I rose the contrast, and I gave the background a layer of color boost titled “warmth”.

Title: Nature (before)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:29:54 -0500

Title: Nature (before)

Title: Movement (after)This picture is probably one of my...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:28:22 -0500

Title: Movement (after)

This picture is probably one of my favorites. I was looking for a close up shot of a hardcore dancer who looked really intense and into what he was doing; and that he was clearly moving in order for it to be a movement shot. Again this was taken inside that venue which I had talked about earlier with the “People” shot. What I was able to capture in this image is my friend throwing down, and you can clearly see he looks like he is moving his arms with a lot of force and power. The expression on his face looks fierce which adds a lot of emotion into the movement. Some challenges encountered was with my other shots before this one, my shutter speed was set too low therefore the image came out black. I was also not interested in used too much flash but I ended up using it for this image and it came out nicely. I used a shutter speed of 1/10 because the room was dimly lit, and a f stop of 5.0 for sharpness. The iso was set to 200. Once I began my editing process I wanted Garth (the dancer) to look more in focus and to further pop out from the crowd. So I increased the contrast and I increased the sharpness of the image to achieve that look.

Title: Movement (before)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:27:09 -0500

Title: Movement (before)

Title: Kids Help Phone (after) For this image I had several...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:26:31 -0500

Title: Kids Help Phone (after)

For this image I had several ideas come to mind. My original idea was to shoot my friend’s phone ringing (she has an iPhone so the display would have said Kids Help Phone and would have been very clear to see) and have a hand reaching towards it yet you can see the intimidation and fear in their eyes. I was then going to make my slogan say “Pick up the phone, we’re here to help”. As I began to think of other ideas I came across my friend’s little sister and she looked really distressed while on the computer, so I thought of taking a picture of her looking like that, as if she were getting bullied on the internet. A lot of teens get bullied online a lot; especially now that the internet has evolved so much and it has become much easier to belittle someone online even anonymously. Harsh bullying can lead to psychologically damaging a teen, and if they really can’t handle all the pain and suffering anymore some kids begin to cut, get heavily into drugs or even worse-commit suicide. So what is happening in this image is the girl has come across her “Formspring” inbox. Formspring is a website where you can ask others questions. This can be done anonymously or not. Some cruel people take the opportunity to bash the people they hate online and send them anonymous messages via Formspring. As you can see her inbox says hateful words such as “slut” “whore” and “kill yourself”. To some people it may not bother them, but to someone who is suffering at home or is being bullied at school, online bullying really draws the line. And as much as it seems like it wouldn’t affect a person words DO hurt, and it does change the way a person thinks of themselves and of the world. As for challenges the only one I had encountered was picking which image I wanted to use for Kids Help Phone. My shutter speed was set to 1/500 and my aperture was set to 5.6 and the iso was set to 200. For the editing, the image was required to be in black in white. The image started to look “pixely” once the black and white layer was added, so I increased the yellows (which lightened the person in the image since her hair is blonde) and I increased the blues to make the image look more subtle. I had to edit the “Formspring” website on to the screen and to make it more clear that she was being bullied I added text to her inbox.

Title: Kids Help Phone (before)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:25:01 -0500

Title: Kids Help Phone (before)

Title: everyday item (after) For my everyday item I chose a...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:24:34 -0500

Title: everyday item (after)

For my everyday item I chose a doorknob. This is because that is an everyday “item” used by all. Doorknobs are used to open doors, which could lead to opportunities, lead you to where you need to go in life. You can close them as well which could be a good and or bad thing; you can close a door and leave everything behind for better or for worse. This doorknob in particular intrigued me because of how pretty it is. It looks precious as if whatever is hiding behind the door has something of value, maybe even of sentimental value. I also like how there is an old fashion keyhole which shows that you can lock the door if it is a door you wish to keep safe from others. Only you have the power to lock and unlock this door, and only you have the power to turn this doorknob in order to open the door. Some challenges I came across was choosing the right angle for this shot. During the editing processes I wanted the doorknob to look more precious, like a real diamond so I added blue which enhanced the way that the image looked. I also added some yellows to make sure the doorknob and keyhole still had that rustic gold look to them. My shutter speed was set to 1/13 and my aperture was set to 22.0 since we were indoors. My iso was set to 200.

Title: everyday item (before)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:23:44 -0500

Title: everyday item (before)

Title: Enjoy (after) In this image I tried to achieve getting...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:23:14 -0500

Title: Enjoy (after)

In this image I tried to achieve getting someone in the crowd clapping. As you can see majority of the crowd is clapping which shows the emotion “enjoy”. The band had just finished preforming a song and in return the crowd shows their appreciation for it. Some challenges was getting a close up of someone while having everyone else in the background in the shot too creating more depth in the image and more emotion. When I began to edit this image I made sure the boy clapping with his hands way up high was the main focus, so I rose up the contrast and exposed the image a little bit more. My shutter speed was set to 1/125 and my aperture was set to 5.0, the iso speed was set to 200.

Title: Enjoy (before)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:22:07 -0500

Title: Enjoy (before)

Title: Culture (after) I love sushi, and what better way of...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:20:34 -0500

Title: Culture (after)

I love sushi, and what better way of expressing culture through food? Sushi is a delicacy to many people and is known to be a Japanese food. What you see here is called “maki sushi”.Maki sushi is any type of sushi made in a roll with rice, toasted nori (aka seaweed), and fish. It is normally kept cold in order to keep the fish fresh. It is rolled with a bamboo sheet in order to keep all ingredient intact. The sushi in my shot is called a “spicy salmon roll”. There is cucumber, and the ‘fish’ on the inside and spicy sauce and sesame seeds on the outside. This is not the best quality sushi for there are higher quality spicy salmon sushi rolls that I have seen; this one looks like it has shredded pieces of imitation crab in it (which is made of different types of fish). A little more info: Sushi was first served in the 1700s, and it was always served first to the head of the table. There were not many challenges with this image, I needed to adjust my shutter and aperture in order for my DOF to be more emphasized. My shutter speed was set to 1/125, the aperture was set to f/5.6 and the iso was set to 200. During the editing process I made the image look more bold by turning up the amount of blues and oranges. I also rose up the contract to make the sushi look more vibrant and delicious.

Title: Culture (before)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:19:52 -0500

Title: Culture (before)