Introduction to Landscape

When I first saw this picture, I was blown away. I thought it must be photoshopped, how can someone catch the light and the fog like that. This picture is amazing and the soft hues from the little light just add to the mystique to it all. The long lines of the trees are what really made the picture because the angle that they were taken at was very peculiar. Seeing pictures like these really made me want to go out and explore. This made me want to pay attention more to the nature around me and really take notice of the different shapes they come in.

Outside Composition

Our task for this assignment was to take a picture while experimenting with compositions and and different angles. This shot was actually a test shot, I was just trying to incorporate interesting lines in the picture and my model, Joanne, just climbed the stairs and posed. I took advantage of the light and took a picture while the sun was on her face. This assignment was really educational for me because before, I would just take pictures that I thought would turn out nice. Using what I learned has really opened my mind and next time I will definitely look out for objects out of the ordinary to help accentuate the picture.

Portrait

The purpose of this assignment was to shoot a portrait using natural window or door light. My model, JP, was just outside the door so I could have the sun shining on his face. Surprisingly the background turned out darker than I expected and I must say I quite like it that way. By having the background darker, JP's face turned out brighter and it catches more attention that way. JP's clothes helped with the eye catching appeal because they are bright and I like the way that his eyes are not visible because it adds to the allure. I took this shot when the sun was very bright making his face brighter. Its almost as if he was photoshopped into the picture because the background is so dark. I think that the lighting played a key part in this shoot because without proper lighting, it would look like a random snapshot and I didn't want it to look that way.

Group Picture

The picture consists of a dancer, artist, and musician. In the black and white photo, the saxophonist lures the dancer with his soulful noise as the dancer flirts with him. Meanwhile the painter is painting the couple with her easel. In the colored picture, the dancer is posed in the middle while the painter paints her and the boy plays music in the background. In the first picture, there was no particular person in the middle because we did not one person to be the main focus. The colored picture was just a test picture so we tried to see how it would seem like to have our dancer in the middle. This assignment was complicated and it was difficult to find the right lighting. We spent some time trying to find the right light and find the right positions for our models. We chose to use a bright light with the strobe outside because it was a little dark that day of the shoot. It was also hard to try and shoot the models without them being cramped up. The location was a little tricky because the ground was an uneven and there were lots of trees that hinders the strobe from getting as much height. After some obstacles, we were finally able to overcome it and take some satisfactory pictures. If we would have more time, I think we would have shot better quality pictures.

Portrait vs. Snapshot

What sets a portrait and a snapshot apart is the amount of effort put into creating a portrait. So much work has to be done in order to create a proper portrait. Usually a snapshot is birth without much thought, some of them taken as a spur of the moment thing, but a portrait requires more thought and consideration than a snapshot would. In order to shoot a portrait, you need to consider about the proper lighting, composition, and angles for whatever or whomever you are shooting. Snapshots does not necessarily that they are bad but portraits usually have a better quality in them and emits more emotion than a regular snapshot.

7th period

What I have done:
*I worked on Jiane's plastic body --- her body is coming along pretty well, we are almost done with it, we just need to refine some areas
* Completed my road trip lessons---They took me a while to finish, but I am glad I finally completed them. I am excited for our 'road trip'.
*Enrolled in community college--It was weird applying for college in your junior year, but I am happy I am getting college credit.

Photoshop

This photoshop assignment wasn't my first time working with photoshop but I am still quite new to this whole scene. I picked this background because I wanted to add another picture that would look out of the ordinary. I wanted to leave the background alone and just manipulate the picture that I would add the original picture. Originally, I wanted to use the stamp clone tool to make another copy of the bird, but I haven't got a good grasp of that tool yet. So I just settled for using the lasso tool, then magnifying the bird and making the outline of the bird white. I added the extra white bird to add the effect of a mother bird and a baby bird. This assignment was kind of challenging but at the same time it was made easier because of that packet that Mrs. Alvarez gave us about photoshop. I will practice more with photoshop as I would love to one day photoshop on the same level as professionals.

Sequence Book

Ah sequence! When I first heard, that we were going to do this assignment I was really excited. I had so many ideas on how my story would play out and how I'm going to shoot it. In the end I opted for a more simple story: Chris suddenly realizing that he lost his phone and then finding it in his pocket afterwards.

Seeing other people's works made me really envious and frustrated in myself. If given more time, I would have probably chosen a better story or maybe decorate my book more.I really do wish that my book was half as creative as the others in my class but as luck would have it I ran out of time and was left to just try and complete the book.

I didn't really want the images to be so dark because it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. I wanted them to be light because I wanted to portray those moments that I think everyone has where you panic that you lost something only to find it in your hand, head or pocket some time later.

Photobooth Assignment

Trying to think up of four different personas for myself was troublesome but it was fun trying to be someone else. I guess I like the idea of alter egos or being someone you're not. The first set of pictures are supposed to be someone who feels like a celebrity or a socialite. The second was someone who is more prim and proper, possibly innocent. The third one was someone who is kinda dumb and ditzy hence the doh face. The last one is someone who is stressed out, which in a way is how I feel this week.
I felt that this assignment could be made better if the pictures were taken with the whole body as if you are truly personifying that character instead of just changing for your head. As much fun as that sounds, I honestly think it would take too much time however but it would be nice as a project you could do for fun.
I'm pretty satisfied with the overall pictures, I like the variety of characters that I've chosen and I am glad that I finished this assignment on time.

Studio Lighting

Out of all the assignments that we've had this semester, I would have to say that studio lighting is my favorite. I think the main reason why I liked it so much is because I had a lot of fun while shooting. Trying to manipulate light to work in your favor is kind of challenging but at the same time it gives you a lot of options on how you take your pictures. I liked how you can play around with shadows and how you could position the light to convey various moods. I felt that it would be better if I added the crazed fan hands in the background to accentuate the whole rockstar appeal. I think it adds more dynamic in the image and creates nice shadows. I am quite happy that I added those hands as it really does look like Omar is a real rockstar.
In this picture, I wanted to portray a story. Omar is the uber popular lead singer while Chris(in the background) is the unaprecciated member overshadowed by Omar's popularity. I wanted to show Chris' remorse and anger towards the amount of limelight that Omar is getting so I focused most of the light on him but kept some light on Christ-- just enough to show his emotion.
Printing this picture was the only obstacle I had on this assignment. Trying to get the picture to turn out just right was pretty difficult because it would either come out too dark or too light. In the end, I decided to just play around with the contrast in photoshop and fix it up a bit.
Overall I really enjoy shooting for studio lighting and if given the oppurtunity, I would love to this one again just for fun.