ObjectiveThe objective of this assignment was to take portrait photos of different people both in and out of a studio. What I LearnedI've never really used a formal studio set-up before, so it was a good experience to learn how to get even lighting on a subject's face using reflective boards. Seeing as I've been taking portraits for a while now, I wanted to do something with this assignment that got me out of my comfort zone. I went with my friend Jackson to Gallup Park to take photos and, after getting quite a few good shots of him, I forced myself to ask random people if I could take a photo of them. The guy in the hat and scarf was one of those people, and he was super kind about it, which was one of the things I was worried about. Overall, I really enjoyed this assignment as it got me out of my comfort zone and helped me improve my portrait photography.
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ObjectiveThe goal of this assignment was to recreate advertisements with our own photos in photoshop. What I LearnedI had experimented with the color balance tool before, but not much until this assignment. I used this tool to change the hues of my shoe since I didn't have photos of multiple pairs of running shoes. I tried to match the colors of the shoe to the background so it looked more cohesive, and I think I did well. For the senior photo ad, I tried to recreate the shapes which turned out to be much harder than I expected since there's no triangle tool to help with the outlines. All in all, I enjoyed recreating these photos and making my own rendition of them using my current skill set in photoshop.
ObjectiveThe objective of this final photo assignment was to take a photo of something in nature. What I LearnedFor this assignment, I chose to take a photo of my Norfolk Pine (currently an indoor plant) while it snowed outside, and from this I learned quite a few things. Firstly, I was intending to highlight the snow on the branches, but my prime lens wouldn't focus that close to the subject. I had to compensate by trying something different, so I took a photo further away, which is different from my normal style. I'm used to close-ups, so it was nice to get an excuse to try something new. Overall, I enjoyed this photo assignment and I'll probably do more photoshoots with my other plants sometime soon!
ObjectivesThe objective of these assignments was to set up and take self portraits as well as portraits of people in their natural environments. What I LearnedIt's not always easy going from the photographer to the photographed, but it was a fun experience. I learned a couple new ways to explain certain poses to models since I was in their shoes for once. I also got more experience with making sure the lighting in the area doesn't cast any major shadows on the subject's face since that usually creates a low quality photo. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment a lot because it got me out of my normal position and had me thinking much more about the subject's placement in the photo than I normally would have.
ObjectivesThe objective of this photoshop assignment was to use a mix of layer masks and gradient tools to create a blended collage. What I LearnedFrom this assignment, I primarily learned how to use the gradient tool. In addition, I learned that when you have a layer mask on a layer and delete just the layer mask, you can click "apply" and it essentially adds the edits to the original photo so you can make another layer mask with a different gradient. I also became a lot more comfortable with the layer mask tool and using white/black to reveal and conceal certain parts of the photo. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment and I'm always happy to learn more tools in Photoshop!
ObjectiveThe objective of this photoshop assignment was to create a fun, different edit of a photo in Photoshop. Website ReviewI chose to do the "face in a tree" tutorial since I'm always up for a challenge. I got the tutorial from Envato Tutorials and I mainly watched the video as guidance for the process. The video was very helpful, but I found that the written out instructions were a little vague and assumed that the reader knew a lot of uncommon keyboard commands, so it was a bit hard to follow. What I LearnedI didn't know much about grouping things before this assignment, but now I'm fairly comfortable with them. The layer masks on both assignments took me a little while to get used to, but I got them in the end. The tree tutorial was extremely difficult because one little mistake early on messed up the whole rest of the photo, and many steps depended on the step before them. I ended up having to start from scratch 2 or 3 times on this, but it turned out alright in the end. I'm definitely more interested in the displacement technique to add dimension and texture to photos, and I might try it again soon. Overall, I really enjoyed this assignment as it got me out of my comfort zone and forced me to edit unlike how I normally do.
ObjectivesThe objective of this photo assignment was to take a photo that highlights the movement of a subject through the use of motion blur. What I LearnedWhen I went to take this photo at my friend's house during the super bowl, I accidentally forgot my SD card at home, so I had to use her camera, which I was not very familiar with as it was a Nikon and had a different body than I was used to. Eventually I found the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture buttons, so I'd say that I learned how to use a different type of camera from this photo assignment. I also learned that sometimes photos come out in a non-jpg format, such as the NEF (Nikon Electronic Format) which I had to convert to jpg before I could edit it in photoshop normally. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment but I wish I had my camera to take the photos with seeing as my lens can go down to f/1.8 and this camera could go to f/3.5, meaning I had a lot of grain in the photo due to the high ISO.
ObjectivesThe goal of this photo assignment was to fill the frame with a person's face and to show off some aspect fo their personality through their facial expressions. What I LearnedSince this was very similar to how I shoot some senior photos, I had some experience with this portrait style before. I didn't learn much from this, but I must say that it was good practice, especially on my part since I needed to do/say something to make the model smile and laugh. It's always tricky with these types of photos since most people don't like being that close to a camera, but I managed to keep Kaitlyn comfortable through the shoot, which I'd call a win.
ObjectiveThe goal of this photo assignment was to take a photo that enlarges and emphasizes small or overlooked features of a subject. What I LearnedFrom this assignment, I learned the importance of playing around with the aperture of a photo. When I took these photos, most of them were overexposed and therefore washed out even though my ISO and shutter speed were at their lowest options. I usually leave my aperture at f/1.8, but I realized that it was the only factor from the exposure triangle that I could change once I reached the limits of the other two. Lo and behold, I set the aperture to f/2.2 and it gave me the contrast I needed to be able to highlight the texture of the bright snow. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment since I don't take many photos during the wintertime, but this forced me to get outside and use the snow to my advantage.
ObjectivesThe objective of this assignment was to create a panographic image using many layers (20+ images) to form one big image. What I LearnedBesides learning the technique of stitching together a panographic, I've also learned a bit in terms of the set-up for a good panographic. Firstly, my best photo (railroad) was taken with my personal DSLR and no tripod and I had minimal issues putting it together. My second best photo was taken once again with my personal camera, but with a tripod. I tried the tripod method after a bunch of my other panographics hadn't turned out very good to try and make the lines match up more seamlessly, which seemed to help, but I still struggled to get all the edges lined up. I realized that the issue may have been my aperture since I used a very wide aperture for everything except the railroad, causing the image to be more blurry in the background and thus, more difficult to line up. Also, I tried to use photomerge on my library panographic since some of the photos had different hues for some reason (likely a white balance issue in the camera) and it turned out alright, but hand stitching definitely looks better to me. If I were to do this assignment again, I'd get a ball head tripod instead of a traditional one for ease of movement and I would make sure to have a semi narrow aperture while maintaining a high shutter speed.
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