Today is the first day of the Photo 2 class! I'm excited to continue with this class!
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Reflection For me personally, I already knew and loved photography when I walked in on the first day, so my photo quality didn't improve by much (see below for first, fourth, and final photo of the trimester). I already was using manual mode for every photo I've taken since 7th grade, which is when I took the multimedia elective at the middle school. I carried on with that elective through 8th grade and I would say that was my year of the most improvement in terms of the quality of my photos. Since then, I haven't taken another photography class, but I continued to take photos during vacations and I've been hired to take multiple people's senior photos as well. However, this class definitely got me out and taking photos much more often as each week I had to turn one in, which was refreshing to say the least after two years without very consistent photoshoots. Even though I didn't learn much in terms of the technical side of photography or the actual taking of photos, I learned a whole lot about one topic in particular. Photoshop. Walking into this class of the first day, I had only one encounter with Photoshop before, and that was two years ago in 8th grade multimedia when I had to simply cut out a subject from an action photo for my yearbook spread, but my teacher didn't teach me a single thing about how to do that. So that task ended up getting handed over to another person in my class who was good at Photoshop, and I haven't used it since. Now, I know exactly how to do that and so much more. I even got Photoshop on my own computer so that I could use it for editing senior photos such as the photos below. The editing skills I learned in this class helped me to improve my photos an insane amount, and I'm so glad that I took this class because of those new skills I likely wouldn't have learned otherwise.
ObjectiveThe objective of this assignment was to become familiar with creating/editing multiple photo, then putting them into a single image side by side to prepare us for the final exam/project. What I LearnedFrom this assignment, I learned a lot about the process of putting multiple images side by side, especially with the sizing of the background to ensure they all fit neatly next to each other. Additionally, I learned a bit about how to change the background colors of each one as it took me a few minutes to find the correct button to change them.
ObjectiveThe goal of this final photo assignment was to take a macro photo, which highlights the up-close, fine details of the subject. I chose to highlight the small, usually unnoticed details of a pine branch. What I LearnedI learned that prime lenses aren't exactly prime for macro photos, as my camera often wasn't able to focus close enough to the subject. I usually had to be about 4-5 feet away to take the photo, which took away from some of the macro details I would've captured, had I been closer. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment as it got me outside and taking photos on an otherwise more gloomy weekend.
ObjectiveThe objective of this assignment was to find a photoshop tutorial and complete the edits on a photo. I chose a typographic portrait tutorial. What I LearnedI learned a fair amount from this assignment, but the main takeaway for me was layerstacking. I learned a lot about how to quickly merge layers and how to order the layers when doing this type of edit. I had to redo the photo quite a few times, as it was difficult to make sure I had enough text everywhere. Overall, I really enjoyed the freedom this assignment gave me as well as the challenge it was for me, as I have never done anything like it before.
Assignment DescriptionFor this photo assignment, I chose the category "open," which I narrowed down to focus on cars before I took the photos. My goal was to get a photo of the car moving with lots of motion blur behind it. I achieved this by using the panoramic technique, following the car as it passed. What I LearnedIt took me about ten tries to get the photo just right, and I learned a lot about using the panoramic technique. In particular, I got a lot of practice on moving my camera as well as the subject fast enough to create the motion blur in the background. As I said, it took me quite a few tries, but eventually I got the right shot. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment in particular as it gave me the creative freedom to come up with my own idea and then put it into action.
ObjectiveThe objective of this assignment was to use the layer stack tool to put a subject into a photo multiple times. Also, the importance of layers was in important detail as masking of each photo had to be in a certain order to allow for the photo to turn out correct. What I LearnedFrom this assignment, I learned a lot about the importance of layer stacking and how to use the hardness of the brush tool effectively, allowing for realistic blending between those layers. As with most of these photoshop assignments, I learned a lot about the new tool, which in this was the masking tool for each layer. I also learned the importance of trying to get all the photos in similar lighting, as it was a pain to stitch the first set of photos together, since the background for half the photos was significantly warmer and brighter. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment and I'm glad that I know more about photoshop now!
Assignment DescriptionFor photo number 5, I chose to take a photo of animals. While visiting my sister in Rhode Island, we went to a small zoo, which had tons of animals, including sea otters! It was feeding time when we got there, so they were pretty energetic in the water. It proved to be really difficult to take a good photo of them as they swam so fast, but I managed to get a few decent shots. In this photo I emphasized the otter's facial features (texture), put his eye/nose/ear on the top rule of thirds line, and had him look towards the empty space in the photo. What I LearnedAs taking photos of otters proved to be extremely difficult, I learned the importance of getting settings set up quickly, as an otter can be in a perfect pose one second, then once I came back from changing just one setting, he was already at the other side of the pool. Overall, I really enjoyed this assignment as I got to take photos of countless animals, and in the process learned how to emphasize certain features about them.
DescriptionThe goal of this assignment was to take a photo of the school and change the context of it in photoshop. This was achieved by adding parts of additional photos to create a new theme. For my theme, I chose to add some Formula 1 cars flying by, adding motion blur to indicate high speeds, and I made the school essentially become a race track, as the cars are beginning to cross the finish line. We were also required to add shadows to some aspect of the photo, so I gave the guy waving the checkered flag a shadow, as well as the flag. What I LearnedFrom this assignment, my biggest takeaway personally would be blending techniques. I had to use quite a lot of blending, especially with his shadow and the sky when I took out the sign/poles in the background. Trying to make the photo look natural when taking out certain elements can be tough, but I managed to make it work. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment, especially the creative freedom it gave me, allowing me to hone in on some of the skills I've learned in Photoshop so far.
Assignment DescriptionThe topic I chose for photo number 4 was "black and white". During a senior photo session with my friend Jordan, her dog jumped onto the couch and I got some cute shots of them together. As the lighting wasn't great inside, the colors came out fairly desaturated, so I put it into black and white in order to make the colors more uniform. I also put it into black and white as I felt it highlighted her bright smile as well as her dog's tongue and eyes. What I LearnedOverall, I learned the importance of remembering what's in the shot when preparing settings such as shutter speed and ISO. At first I had a really low shutter speed in favor of the ISO being lower, but then the photos came out very blurry as her dog kept moving around. In the end, I found a good balance between them. If I were to take this photo again, I would've brought them outside and found a bench to take the same photo on, as being outside would give significantly more light, allowing me to lower the ISO and increase the shutter speed to get a more crisp image.
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