In this project, I learned some of the basic tools you can use in Adobe Photoshop. This photoshop assignment was all about retouching. Below, you can see the before image, taken by Noelle Jacobs at the Detroit Auto Show, and the after image which I edited in photoshop. Some of the tools and adjustments I worked with were the clone stamp, level adjustments, cropping the photo, different layers within the photo, and selecting specific areas of the photo to make an adjustment. The goal of this assignment was to become more comfortable with the tools and adjustments available in photoshop. As you can see, I took out the light reflections on the hood of the car. I did this by using the clone stamp. Also, I blacked out all of the distracting elements in the background, using the paint brush and the quick selection tool. Finally, I did adjustments to the levels on the car, and then specifically to the car's windshield.
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This weekend I shot pictures of food. Originally, I was going to do the assignment, macro, with close up shots of nature, but the weather was very gloomy with a lot of clouds and rain, so the lighting was too hard to deal with. I decided I could control the lighting a little better indoors, controlling beyond the exposure triangle settings. One indoor photo assigment I found intriguing was food. Food has many different colors, textures, and sometimes patterns. When taking pictures of food I got to be a little more creative then you do with nature, which was really fun! Food photography is in ads, on billboards, and basically everywhere you look. Food companies are trying to get you to buy their product, and one key component of making a person want to buy it, is to make the food it look appetizing. This is what I focused on when shooting. I learned that when playing around with the background and lighting, the photo looks much better when you isolate the food from the rest of the photo. I found that focusing the light on the food, having a dark background (navy blue blanket), and a little bit of editing could accomplish this. Another thing I learned in this project was that having the whole food in focus (small size aperature) was important because the audience will lose interest if only one particular spot of the food was in focus. When I was shooting the ice cream, I learned that I need to work with urgency because believe it or not, ice cream does melt even when you are taking photos of it! It was pretty cool in the end to see my photos of the ice cream in a sequence because it showed the ice cream melting over time. Aperature: f/stop 14
Shutter Speed: 3.2 seconds (I used a tripod) ISO: 100 In my best photo, (above) I brightened up the shadows so you could see that the ice cream was on a plate and not floating in mid-air. Also, I made the blacks more black, so you could not tell that the background was a blanket. Finally, I added clarity so the raspberry's details were more in focus. In this assignment, we got to use Adobe Photoshop for the first time. The final product was to create our own version of Andy Warhol's pop art. We did so with bright colors like, red, green, yellow, and blue. The original picture had to be of a person, so I used the photo from the people assigment last week. As you can see when you photoshop a photo, it looks much different from the orginial look. I have never used photoshop before, so in this project I learned some of the basics manuvers around the application. Also, I learned some how to make photos look more like art by changing the colors, pixels, and thresholds. In addition, I learned that following directions, carefuly, is important. This is because, if you do a step wrong or skip it all together it might not make much a difference, until awhile later and you have to redo everything. Adobe Photoshop seems to be very complex, but during this assignment I feel that I have broken the ice with photoshop.
This past week I shot photos of people. I went out on a photo walk that Camera Mall was hosting and shot some pictures of people on the walk and around the Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor. The photo walk was with Olympus Visionary, Frank Smith. I learned a lot from him and I am glad I went. Along the photo walk, we ran into this man that had rather beautiful eyes and a fashionable outfit, he looked like a model. The leader, Frank Smith, stopped this man and asked if we could take some photos of him. He was very excited about the idea of having his own photo shoot, so we shot away. Some of the things he suggested for taking pictures of people were to manually focus in on the eyes. On that particular day it was sunny, so he recommended having 100-300 ISO. Also, since all that needs to be in focus in a portrait shot is the face, he recommended blurring the background with 4.0-8.0 f/stops. I received very helpful feedback from him. Besides learning about portrait photography, I asked him about how he does his night sky photography. He told me that he likes to have an object in front of some of the stars for size reference. He said that you have to light that object up with red light for the most balanced photo. In his photos he had hoodoos from Bryce Canyon National Park, but he said any interesting object would do. He also suggested a really high ISO and long exposure. Another thing that I learned from Mr. Smith was how to shoot starburst shots. A starburst is when the sun is just barely peaking through the leaves of trees, in this case, and it creates this six pointed star. You can do this by being in the right spot, so you can faintly observe the starburst with your eye and have 20-30 f/stop. After the photo walk, I explored East Ann Arbor and found some other cool compositions with people. I continued to use the compositions I learned in the first photo assignment. Shutter Speed: 1/100 Second Aperture: f/stop 5.6 ISO: 100 In Lightroom, all I did was crop the photo down from a full body shot to a face and chest shot. Also, I made it black and white so you would focus more on the details of the photo, not the color. For my first topic assignment I have decided to try out doing people. When I was researching, I found that getting the eyes in focus is key for a good photo. Also, if the person is smiling, never as a photographer should you ever force a smile! People interest me because everyone is different, which means every photo is different. I love portrait photography because it tells a story. I took this class because I want to express my stories through art and photography! This is one of the photos I found inspiring. I like this image because there is a lot of clear detail in the frame. I also noticed the black and white really enhances the texture of the photo. This is one of the most famous portrait photos in the world, done by National Geographic. The reason I like it is that they eyes are very in focus. Also, there is a two tone coloring in the eyes that is intriguing as well. This photo brings particular interest to me because of water droplets on the kids body. I think in addition to the quality, this photo tells a story which really inspires me to go shooting, and tell stories through my photography.
Project Description: The first project of the year was the composition assignment. Composition is the way, in which, the photograph is framed. The first thing we did was research the following compositions: rule of thirds, pattern, symmetry, depth of field, texture, and lines. My ultimate goal was to find an awesome example of each. After going to several places, I was able to open my mind and find some creative shots. With those photos, I imported them into Lightroom and edited them. For the second half of the project, I focused on a different set of compositions. These were space, balance, color, framing, and perspective. I found it cool how these angles and compositions can really enhance the photo. What I Learned:
During the composition assignment, I learned eleven different ways to frame a picture, and it makes it look way better by doing so. The eleven compositions I learned were balance, pattern, rule of thirds, lines, texture, space, color, framing, depth of field, symmetry, and perspective. Each of the compositions is very unique and gives the picture a different feel. Another very important thing I learned in this project was how to edit my photos effectively. In Lightroom, there are so many different components of the image you can adjust, I was overwhelmed. As I got the hang of it, I noticed that only little tweaking is needed to make your picture look pleasing. I found that adjusting the crop, highlight, shadow, clarity, and saturation are the main controls I tended to work with. A new thing that I tried out on this assignment was manual focus, instead of auto focus. I learned if you look carefully and hold the camera steady, then manual focus can look much more clear and detailed. As a part of this project, I took more pictures than just on the school grounds. In doing so, many important lessons of photography came my way. First of all, sometimes the picture you set out for is not the one you come back with. I went out on a nature trail to get a lines photo, with a person on the trail. Out in the field that follows the trail, I saw a deer with three babies. I was within 25 yards of the deer, and it just kept coming closer. It started to stomp its foot at me and snort, not wanting me or my Dad to come any closer. I was shooting away on my camera and my Dad had his weapon, the tripod, ready in case it charged. I may have not came back with a lines photo, but I did come back with a whole new mindset and a bunch of deer pictures! My name is Josie Cayen and welcome to my photography blog. Outside of taking photos I love to play basketball and be out in nature. Backpacking, hiking, and biking are just some of the ways I like to explore. Wherever I go I always have my camera on me to capture to moment and look at the world differently than just straight on. I also love science. After school I am apart of my school's Science Olympiad team, and I find it so cool to figure out how and why things work. I took this digital photography class because I wanted to become a better photographer and be able to look at the world from a different perspective. Nature always intrigues me, and I wanted to be able to capture it on a camera as something to look back on.
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November 2018
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