Shadows/Light

This week, I chose to do shadows and light for my last photo assignment. Last week, while working on my previous photo assignment, I got a few pictures with interesting shadows, and that inspired me to take more shadow pictures. I tried to take my pictures in the evening, so there would be long shadows. I took objects from around my house that I thought would create unusual shadows. I edited almost all of my photos to black and white to emphasize contrast.

For my best photo, I chose a picture of my dad, brother, cousin, and uncle walking downtown. I like how the shadows of the people is the focal point, and not the actual people.

Technical Details:

ISO 80

f-stop of 4.8

279/100000 of a second shutter speed

Portrait Demo

This week, we were taught how to take portrait pictures both in studio and by using the light from a window. After we took our pictures, we edited them and put them both into one picture in gimp. I like the end result.

Architecture

For this week's photo assignment, I chose the category architecture. This weekend, my cousin came to town to visit U of M. I thought it would be a good idea to take pictures of all the interesting architecture as we walked around to give him a campus tour. The weather was really nice, so I like how a lot of my pictures turned out. A few were kind of gray because there was not a lot of color left on the trees.

For my best photo, I chose a photo I shot from the bottom of a spiral staircase. I really like the interesting change in perspective, as well as how the lines curve.

Technical Details:

ISO 160

f-stop of 2.7

2726/100000 of a second shutter speed

Fourth Gimp Assingment

For this fourth gimp assignment, we had to change to the context of the school. I already had a picture of our beam in the gymnastics room for another previous assignment, so I decided to add Shawn Johnson onto the beam. It was very time consuming, but I like the final product.

Motion Demonstration

Today I learned more about the panning technique to create motion in a picture. We went outside and took pictures of Mr. Bush riding on his bike with various shutter speeds. It was very bright outside, so I couldn't have a very fast shutter speed, or else the picture would be very over exposed. This made it difficult to create motion, even when my ISO was as low as it got and my aperture was as high as it got. I wish I had gotten this demonstration before I chose to do motion as one of my photo assignment categories.

This is my best motion photo from the demo:

Animal

This week, I chose the category animal for my photo assignment. I took pictures of my friend's cat. Out of 120 pictures, only about 15 were decent and only a few were really good. It was very hard to take sharp pictures inside that were not grainy or noisy. I couldn't use the flash, because the cat would squint. A lot of mine I edited to black and white to hide some of the grain. I wish I could have taken the photos in a better light.

For my best photo, I chose my least grainy photo. I like how the cat is all stretched out, and how it looks like it just woke up.

Technical Details:

ISO 200

f-stop of 2.7

1562/100000 of a second shutter speed

Third Gimp Assignment

Our third gimp assignment was to create a panoramic photo from four separate photos. I chose to do the line of computers in the classroom. I think overall, it went pretty well. I am learning more about what I can do with the gimp program.

Pattern/Shape/Texture

This week, I chose the category pattern/shape/texture for my photo assignment. This weekend, the weather was not to great, so most of the time I was limited to taking photos inside. A lot of these turned out horrible.I liked a few photos that I took of eggs in a carton and of the tile in my bathroom. The next day, it was okay weather, so I took a few photos of the pathway up to my house, some cool-textured leaves, a bench in my backyard, and our woodpile. I really like the variety of textures on the woodpile.

Overall, I think my best photo was of the pathway. I like how the curve of the path leads your eyes across the photo. I also like the shapes of the brick, and the leaves scattered across the photo.

Technical Details:

ISO 80

f-stop of 2.7

925/100000 of a second shutter speed

Second Gimp Assignment

In my second gimp assignment, I learned more about some tools in gimp, and how to enhance and edit pictures more. We had to edit a picture of a car at an auto show. I learned how to remove reflections, darken windshields, and change backgrounds. It was pretty successful.

The original:

The edited:

Event

This week, I chose the category event. Over the weekend, we had a cross country invitational. I decided to try to capture the excitement and happenings at the meet. It was a little cloudy outside, but my photos turned out pretty well given the circumstances.

I chose a picture of our team getting off the bus in the beginning of the day. I like the leading lines of the bus, the bright colors of the bus and the trees, and the pretty blue sky before it got cloudy.

Technical Details:

ISO 80

f-stop of 4.8

166/100000 of a second shutter speed

First Gimp Assignment

My first gimp assignment was a challenge. Our assignment was to create an Andy Warhol-like effect. I chose a to edit a picture of my little cousin Isaac. I had to start over a few times because I was not sure what I did that messed up my picture, but in a short while I got the hang of things, and I am pleased with the end result.

Nature

I chose the category nature for this photo assignment. The first day I tried to shoot some photos, it was raining. I got a few photos I like of rain drops falling or on plants. The next day, the weather was much nicer. I went down to the pond in my neighborhood where some trees were starting to change colors and got some photos of these trees and their reflection on the pond. At home, I got another reflection picture of flowers on a bird bath. I went to a woodsy path to take more pictures, and got some colorful photos of leaves and some photos with good framing.

I chose a photo of fallen leaves with rain drops on them as my best photo. I really like the variation of colors and pattern, as well as the depth of field in this photo.

Technical Details:

ISO 100

f-stop of 2.7

968/100000 of a second shutter speed

Motion

For my first photo assignment, I chose the category motion. I started with taking photos of moving cars in downtown Ann Arbor at night. I started off on the top of a parking structure, but found that the railing got in the way. I moved down to the sidewalk, and tried to pan with cars so they were in focus while the background wasn't. Unfortunately, that wasn't very successful and I only got two decent panning photos. Also, after my photos were uploaded, I realized my ISO was set too high, so my photos turned out grainy. However, this probably couldn't be avoided because my photos were taken at night.

Later on, I took photos of my brother playing his ukulele and his violin. This went pretty well, except my brother moved his body along with his hands and made most of my pictures too blurry. I also took pictures of my fan moving, which I thought turned out really well. I really liked how the light on the fan became the automatic focal point of the photo.

For my best photo, I picked a photo of an intersection where a car is passing to get through the intersection as the

light turns yellow. I really like the darker background with the bright lights and the blur of the car's headlights.

Technical Details:

ISO 800

f-stop of 8

1 second shutter speed

Photo Assignment Brainstorming

For my first photo assignment, I have chosen to take pictures in the category motion. This weekend, I am going to go to my dad's Ann Arbor Velo Club practices so I can get some photos of them cycling. I'm going to try using a tripod to steady the camera and have a long shutter speed. I also want to try moving the camera with the subject so the background is blurry.

Another idea I want to try is setting up a tripod at night in downtown Ann Arbor and using a long shutter speed to capture the movement of cars. On saturday at my cross country meet I want to capture the movement of runners.

Some photos that have inspired me are linked:

USA Cycling by Craig Lee

Light Speed by Maurizio Photography

Melbourne Commonwealth Games by D J Clark

Fast Feet by David Recht

Night Life in Motion by Kris Kros

Composition Assignment #2

My second assignment was to take five more photos with five more different types of composition. These types of composition were:

Color

Frame

Perspective

Space

Balance

My color photo was of a box of various markers. I really like the wide variety of bright colors mixed with lines.

My frame photo was of downtown ann arbor on North University Street. I like how the colorful garbage can and traffic light post frame the left and top of the photo.

My perspective photo was of a curved staircase. I took this from a view that you would not usually look at a staircase from.

My space photo was taken of the green screen with a light fixture in the bottom right.

My balance photo was of me and two friends, all in a line. I like all the bright colors in our sunglasses that serve as the subjects in my photo.

In this assignment, I learned more about how to set up interesting composition.

Composition Assignment #1

My first assignment was to take six photos with six different types of composition. The types of composition were:

Lines

Rule of Thirds

Texture

Symmetry

Depth of Field

Pattern

My lines photo is of the keys on my piano. I liked the reflection on top of the keys as well as how the lines lead your eye from the bottom left to the upper right corners of the picture.

My rule of thirds photo is of a garden in my backyard. I found a pink rose that was nearly perfect and set that as my focal point in the lower left corner.

My texture photo was of pea gravel that makes up a path in my backyard. I really liked the different colors, textures, and sizes of all the different rocks.

My symmetry photo was taken at the high school track. I thought it would be interesting to have the red track on half of the picture and the green turf on the other half to contrast the colors while remaining symmetrical.

My depth of field photo is of a basket of tennis balls at the high school tennis courts. In the far background you can see people playing tennis, while the focal point is on the green tennis balls. I like how the shadow from the basket adds interest to the tennis balls.

My pattern photo is of the vending machine in the commons. I liked the repetition of the circle in the rings that hold the food in, as well as the rectangular shapes of the food. I also liked all the bright, interesting colors.

Throughout this assignment, I learned how to take a creative and interesting photo using types of composition. I liked trying out new things and experimenting with where my focal point was placed. I also enjoyed taking pictures from creative angles to make the picture flow.