Transforming Materials-Darkroom

House of My Mind

The House of My Mind project was to get a better basis of Photoshop while also taking influences from your "house of your mind" and putting them in "picture form." For example, say your house was very colorful and precise then in your pictures you would have lots of colors and clean cut edges etc.  For my house it was a mixture of color, monotone color and statement pieces that stood out in my pictures.  I didn't have one specific intention for this project but wanted to play around with direction, color and layers.

Overall, this project was successful although I definitely like some pictures more than others.  I accomplished all of my intentions in these pictures regarding direction, color and layers.  In this project, I think everyone's individual style came out in their images and for me I can't really say what kind of style I have because right now it's kind of a mixture of lots of different elements.  Conceptually, I grew when creating these pictures although I can't say that I grew formally.  Technically, I definitely grew and understand Photoshop so much better than before.  Last year, we went over Photoshop briefly, but this project really forced me to think about masking, layers, and non-photographic elements.  On that note, the hardest part of this project was putting in non-photographic elements and pictures of myself.  I would have liked to not add either of those elements, especially adding me in, and I think my pictures are more successful if I didn't have those elements.  It would have been interesting to play around with other non-photographic elements besides writing on the images, but personally I don't like having myself in my pictures. In conclusion, this project forced me to learn a lot more about Photoshop and my own style in Photography I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Transforming Materials- Digital

The transforming materials assignment was the first assignment of the year where we were given foil, baking cups, parchment paper and other materials to create an interesting picture.  I didn't really have any intentions going into this project and wanted to play with the materials and how they interacted with each other.  I was especially intrigued by the baking cups, which is why all of my pictures are of them.  The pictures that I took definitely covey my intentions, or lack on intentions, and I have very pleased with the result.  One quality of my work that came out in this project is how much I love texture and lighting.  Conceptually and formally I grew as an artist, but technically I'm not sure I did because we weren't altering are photos in Photoshop and just printing them in the darkroom.

These four pictures are my favorite of the series that I shot.  The first picture I tried to make the baking cups simplistic with an element of edge.  The second photo I tried to create a flower using the baking cups and added to foil for an element of depth in the picture.  The last two photographs I wanted to showcase the layers of the baking cups and the shadows they could create.  I think this project went very successfully and I am pleased with my four pictures.

Abstract Darkroom

The Abstract Darkroom project was our first run at taking pictures abstractly.  My favorite picture was the last one of the branch because it had a shallow depth of field while the background was blurry.  I also really liked the one of the two paintings (picture 3) because it was very detailed and not many people could figure out what it was.  My least favorite picture was the one of the rail because it wasn't very thought-provoking and was slightly out of focus.

Final Reflection Questions

I came into Photography pretty much not knowing anything.  I had taken pictures before but they were typical family photos with everything centered perfectly in the middle.  It was definitely shocking when I realized that pictures didn't always have to be centered.  Even though I had seen photos that were not centered before, I never thought I could take them while making them look "good."  The first pictures I saw in this class were very "artsy" and I thought mine would just turn out awkward and strange if I tried to take a similar picture.  I soon learned, I would be capable of taking those "artsy" pictures too.  Before I came into this class, I did have a little bit of knowledge about photography in general.  I had taken a week course the summer before freshman year and learned about aperature, shutter speed, f-stop and other photo terms.  Later in this year, I definitely used my knowledge of these terms especially when thinking about composition of my pictures.  The skills that I needed and want to continue sharpening in this class were using light (natural or artificial- off camera flash)  and also thinking about different angles and taking pictures zoomed in on an object, as opposed to capturing a picture with the entire object in it.  The steps that I have taken to improve these skills have mostly come in the form of taking more pictures and really focusing on the projects that we have been doing in class.  I've focused more on taking intentional pictures versus taking a bunch of pictures and hoping some turn out.

I have always enjoyed photography but what excites me now is taking lots of picture over the summer of nature and other objects while sharpening my skills that I learned this year.  I'm also excited for the projects next year that we will be doing in Intermediate Photography.  I wrote what was my strongest and weakest photo for each assignment, but in this reflection I will write about my favorite and least favorite project.  My favorite project was the Still Life project because we got to play around with light and off camera flashes, which I had never done before and I was kind of worried about.  Lighting was always intimidating to me because the flashes I had been using before were built into the camera and never really benefitted the image.  The Still Life project made me realize the potential light has to enhance your photo and I would love to have another project next year that involved lighting.  My least favorite project was the Color project because I found it really difficult to find objects that had all the right colors that I needed to make split complimentary, monochromatic or other color combinations.  Finding the colors was hard, but making an interesting photo using the photos was close to impossible.  I think the project would have been better if we could have taken the pictures at home instead of limiting it to the Branson campus.  All in all, I loved this year and am super excited for Intermediate Photography next year :)

Abstract Digital

The Abstract Digital project was focused on creating compositions while taking abstract photos.  The main goal of this assignment was to learn how to digitally manipulate photos in Photoshop and the different ways of doing so.  The first way we learned was called Cyanotype, which is the fourth picture that is bluish and has specks in it.  The second option was Sepia tone, which has a more ancient and antiquated feel.  This was demonstrated in the last photo of the cork board.  Next we learned how to Solarize a photo, which basically turns the blacks into white and the whites into black.  My Solarized photo was was the second picture of the white spots on the black background.  After Solarization, we learned how to Vignette, which means to make the edges, especially the corners, darker so the viewer focuses more on the center of the picture and it also draws more attention to the middle of the photo.  Lastly, we learned how to use a color filter.  We had previously used filters in the darkroom, but they were to make the photo darker or lighter.  Also there were color filters in the darkroom, but we have not used those yet.  The Color Filter on Photoshop was designed to make one section of your photo a different color.  I still wanted my photo to look semi-realistic so I changed one of the rods in picture one to navy blue as opposed to the previous black.  It was a noticeable change, but still a slight one.

Portrait

I chose to shoot the portrait project of my friend, Maggie.  I loved her hair and she practically looks like a model so I figured that she would be the perfect person.  Not knowing how to capture portrait pictures, I played around with different angles, backgrounds and having Maggie look at the camera and not look at the camera.  My goal was to have an assortment of pictures and hopefully some of them would turn out.  The most successful photo was the second one for many reasons.  One it was printed perfectly with just enough contrast and also the photo itself was beautiful.  I liked how Maggie wasn't looking at the camera but still looked like she was getting a picture taken of her.  The tree in the background is also a nice setting for the photo, making this picture my favorite of the five.  My least favorite was third one because it was printed very well (wasn't dark enough) and the top of Maggie's head was cut off a little bit.  It was not framed very well and cropping wouldn't have helped that much.  This was my favorite project of the year and I thought it went pretty well.

Still Life

The Still Life project was our final project of the year and probably one of my favorites.  These pictures were my most successful and it was a great way to end the year.  The first picture of the record player is my favorite and also the class' favorite.  Their was a natural light source from the windows in the background and over the object while an off camera flash was behind it and slightly to the left.  My second favorite picture is the teapot in the tree and the light under it.  It creates a glowing affect, which is very appealing and lovely.  Also the green moss really makes it stand out and produces great contrast.  I also really liked the zoomed in picture of the book because it was not completely centered, but was slightly off to the right, creating a lovely shot.  The least successful photo of this assignment was the last one of the book.  I chose this one because I liked the pages and how they were separated, but it was overall the weakest of the collection. 

Urban Landscape

The Urban Landscape project was one I wish I could do over again. We were asked to capture the urban landscape of San Francisco, which seemed relatively easy; lots of buildings, cafes, lots of urban life.  I soon found this project a lot more difficult because I was trying to find a good shot rather than creating one with the setting I had.  My most successful shot was the third picture because it had multiple buildings, a cable car, an old lamp post and felt very urban to me.  The least successful picture was the fourth one because it was shot from straight ahead and had no interesting angle.  The reason I took this picture was because I liked the grassy garden that was one the sides of the buildings, but otherwise it was just a regular cafe.  Come to think of it, a regular cafe would have been a more interesting and overall better picture to take.  I really want to go into the city to capture the urban landscape again because it is very interesting and I believe I could do a better job taking pictures of it.

Also in this project we had to take our pictures while thinking about a famous urban photographer, whom I chose Eugene Atget.  Atget takes pictures of storefronts, long alley ways and rustic buildings.  I kind of forgot when taking pictures about taking pictures like Atget, but I think the last photo kind of represents his style of photography.  

Earthy

My favorite picture from my Earthy project was the second one of the tree.  I liked how you could see the detail in the roots and moss on the tree, which added an interesting aspect to the photo.  The angle that I shot the picture at was also different and made it look like you were looking up into the sky.

My least favorite picture was the last one of the plant because it was not shot at an angle but instead straight down on to the plant.  Even though details of the water droplets are apparent nothing else about the picture is appealing.