motion

Assignment Description:
When taking pictures of an object in motion, one can either express the motion by blurring the subject, or one can freeze motion. I performed the latter in this photo assignment, trying to capture the water in mid-motion.

Best Photo:

 This is the unedited photo, taken outside where my sister would repeatedly drop the ball into the glass for me to take pictures. The pink hue is due to the umbrella she was using.

This is my edited picture, which I obviously cropped and adjusted color and levels.
The original Exposure Triangle:
Shutter Speed: 1/1600
Aperture: 3.2
ISO: 100

















Slide Show:




What I Learned:
I learned that stopping motion is really hard. Often times I missed the ball actually hitting the water surface and had to take multiple shots to get a decent picture. I also used curves on gimp for the first time to change the lightness/brightness of the shot.

Gimp 7: visual puns

Assignment Description:
This project was designed for us to explore the different ways we can use gimp to create images. By combining different images together, we were instructed to create a visual representation of common puns.

Photos:

 This first image was meant to illustrate the common phrase "bookworm"

Whereas this one is representative of the word "eggplant"

And lastly this one shows "hole milk" in a new way















What I Learned:
I learned how to use multiple layers to create a single image, as well as tweaking the opacity in order for layers underneath the  top layer to show through (as used in the hole milk image above).

Black & White

Assignment Description:
This assignment was supposed to show us how to capture pleasing images without considering the colors of the photograph. By eliminating hues, photographers focus viewer's attention to certain aspects of their picture, enhancing certain elements of the picture.

Photo:

 This is the original photo I took of a jar of coins. The lighting was not very good, so I had to eventually adjust the balance in photoshop. The exposure triangle was:
Shutter Speed: 1/8
Aperture: 5.0
ISO: 200

This is the edited photo after using photoshop. I wanted to make some shadows in the picture to contrast the brightness of the rest of the photo.











Slide Show:



What I Learned:
I learned that it is extremely important for one to consider the lighting of the picture when taking a black and white photo. Without different colors to balance an image, you must rely on the exposure triangle to get a decent photo.

Gimp 6: Dictionary

Assignment Description:
This project was to introduce us to complex digital editing, for we were instructed to take four words and try to illustrate their dictionary definitions through pictures we found on the internet. We had to incorporate at least three images per word.

Pictures:

 What I Learned:
I learned how to alter multiple images to incorporate them together into one picture. I never realized how much work to took to make these photos. I had to use tools like the perspective tool, scaler, blend/blur tool, and the opacity. These techniques were combined with the other skills I've used before, like colorize, levels, and saturation/hue.

Portrait

Assignment Description:
This assignment was to get young photographers such as myself to begin taking creative, professional pictures of people. We were instructed to fill the frame with our subject, and to somehow portray the person's personality.

Photo:



 I forgot to save the original photo, which was taken outside. There had been grass in the bottom third and a parking lot in the remaining background space. I had an exposure triangle of: shutter speed 1/400, aperture 4.0, and ISO 80.












Slide Show:



What I Learned:

I learned previously how to adjust the lighting of the environment to get a proper exposure on my subject's face, as well as placing them in a natural setting to enhance their personality. I barely used photoshop or gimp to enhance the pictures. It was mostly used to adjust the lighting on the girl's face. Although some of these pictures involve multiple people, they truly display the two girls' personalities, which is the most important aspect of a portrait photo.

Gimp 5:Portrait Project

Assignment Description:
In this assignment we were exploring how to get a professional portrait picture using studio lighting. We set up expensive cameras at many different angles to add light onto our subject. We also tried to make decent photos using a bounce cad; a big piece of white cardboard to reflect light in an attempt to add additional lighting on the subject.

Photo:

What I Learned:
I learned how to manipulate the lighting in an area to get enough to create a nice portrait without expensive lighting tools. I also learned that it is extremely hard to get the lighting to look so professional without that equipment. It is really hard to get good lighting without additional light sources.

Food

Assignment Description:
For this assignment we were instructed to photograph food in a pleasing way that resembled that of professional work. We were told to consider compositional elements as well as exposure settings to create a well thought out picture.

Picture:

 This is the original photo. I used an auto exposure setting and only adjusted the shutter speed in order to get the lighting I wanted.

In the edited picture I removed the second strawberry, seeing it as a distraction, and did my best to blend the new black background with the red berry.









Slide Show:



What I Learned:
I learned that food photography is very difficult the master and takes lots of planning and prep-work to finally create a creative picture. It was really hard to get the lighting the way I wanted and was quite difficult to merge the original image with the adjustments I made on Gimp.