Final (Not Presented)

These are the remaining pictures for my final that were not presented in class.



Focal Length: 6 mm ISO:800 Aperture: f/8
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec. No flash No Reflector


I took this in Yellowstone because I really liked the way the front crystals were on top of the wood. I believe I took this picture on shutter speed priority which is why the ISO is so high. I did nothing to this picture in photoshop.








Focal Length: 8 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec No Flash No Reflector


I took this picture because I thought it was awesome that T and Grant were taking pictures of each other. In photoshop I cleaned up some leaves from Grant's shirt and cropped T's feet out of the picture so that the balance was better since Grant's feet were already out of the picture.

Focal Length: 28 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec No Flash Reflector Used

I wanted to take this picture because I wanted to play with photographing my subject from below so we put Meggie in the tree. I really liked this picture because Meggie's smile is beautiful and comes through so well. I didn't do anything to this picture in photoshop.

Focal Length: 13 mm ISO: 80 Aperture: f/4

Shutter Speed: 1/1600 sec No Flash No Reflector

I love this picture because of the scene and because Mary walking in nature is how I think of her. I like how her reflection is in the water and how the boardwalk moves you into and back out of the picture. I didn't do anything to this picture in photoshop.

Focal Length: 60 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec No Flash Reflector used

I like this picture because of Mary's smile and the fact that you can still see her eyes even though she is wearing sunglasses. I also like how she is positioned in the frame so the picture is tight but doesn't seem to be smothering her. I didn't do anything to this picture in photoshop.

Focal Length: 20 mm ISO: 800 Aperture: f/5

Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec No Flash No Reflector

I was so very proud of this picture because I got the reflection of the tree in the water, the steam and Mary looking thoughtful. This was taken in Yellowstone at Mammoth near sunrise. I cropped the bottom of this picture a little.

Focal Length: 35 mm ISO: 200 Aperture: f/4

Shutter Speed: 1/1600 sec No Flash No Reflector

I felt like a tourist taking pictures of Bison in Yellowstone. I like this picture because sunset made for very pretty light and the background is cool. I cleaned up some of the Bison's coat, removed some grass from its face and cropped it down.

Focal Length: 12 mm ISO: 800 Aperture: f/8

Shutter Speed: 1/2500 No Flash No Reflector

My ISO was high because we found this Bison right after sunrise where I had had it cranked. I liked this picture because there was definition in its face. I cleaned up some of the Bison's coat with photoshop and cropped down a little.

Focal Length: 18 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec No Flash No reflector

I like this picture because Anne's hat adds a splash of color and she was smiling at Mary which helps to tell a story. The pose seems very flattering and I really like how the shadows keep her face from being so bright that you can't see the expression. I cropped the photo but that was it.

Focal Length: 10 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec. No Flash No Reflector

I like this picture because it is an interesting angel that captures Anne. The neutral colors help Anne's pale skin stand out and draw focus. I removed a tree from behind Anne's head and cropped a little.

Focal Length: 7 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/8

Shutter Speed: 1/1600 No flash No reflector

I took this picture in Costa Rica after we had been hiking for over an hour. I like how he is walking out of the frame because his posture tells that he is tired and the framing shows why. I darkened his water bottle so that it wasn't so obnoxious but nothing else.

Focal Length: 28 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/320 sec No flash No reflector

The focus of this picture was on the sky/clouds at sunrise on a Costa Rican beach. In photoshop I darkened the contrast to make the trees more of a silhouette and let the focus be on the sky.

Focal Length: 16 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/3.5

Shutter Speed: 1/100 sec No Flash No reflector

I really liked this peice of drift wood on the beach in Costa Rica and wanted to get a picture of it with a wave crashing in the background. I like how the wave is kind of blurry because it makes it feel like the wave is moving. I cropped the picture a little but that was it.

Focal Length: 13 mm ISO: 80 Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/1600 sec No flash No Reflector

I really liked how these trees had been killed by the sulfur in the hotsprings and tried to capture the death of the hotsprings with the life of the park. The fun lines of the tree branches as well as how the different trees lead you through the picture make it work. Nothing was done to this picture.

Focal Length: 18 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5

Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec No flash No reflector

I like this picture becuase it captures the joy that my dog exhibits when running. I upped the contrast a little to bring out the colors of his coat and removed some grass from in fron of his feet and some of the dirt.

Focal Length: 32 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5

Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec No flash No Reflector

I like this picture because this dog is photogenic and he looks very regal. The dull colors of the background help his red's stand out and draw your attention. I cleaned up some of the dirt and cropped the picture a little.

Puppy Shoot

This week I decided to post some pictures of my dogs that I took on a recent walk.

I was having fun trying to photograph Maddy because she is black. Trying to get definition in her face was really hard but I think that I was starting to get the hang of it before she got bored of listening to the stay command. In hindsight I wish that I had noticed the grasses in front of her at first so that I could have moved her or removed them!

I like this picture because of the angle. I was able to get up above him which I think give the picture a neat look. It is a little overexposed and should probably have the contrast boosted in photoshop.

I like this picture because they were both running ahead of me and stopped when I asked them too. Unfortunately Maddy, the black dog, didn't feel the need to look at me and in the next moment Kelev decided that I really wanted him to come so the chance of a second shot was ruined.

I like this picture because it reminds me of Homeward Bound. They are both just trotting down the path not really caring if I'm around or not.

Final Part 1 ( Presented)

These are pictures used in my presentation.

Focal Length: 60mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec No Flash No reflector

I like this picture because it shows a girl and her horse working in harmony. The colors work well together and the position of horse and rider is nice. I like pictures from the back in riding because they seem to give cleaner lines and a more classic feel to the image. I added tree branches to the left side of the photo and removed another horse from the left as well.

Focal Length: 20 mm ISO:200 Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/1600 sec No Flash No Reflectors

This is a classic head shot. I liked this picture because it happened in series. In the next picture she was yelling with her mouth open so in this one she was very intent on whatever it was that made her scream. This was hard to take because she is whit and the sky is blue so I played with the levels a little to bring her white and the sky's blue out more. I also cropped in on the right side of the photo removing a tree which detracted from the image.

Focal Length: 32 mm ISO: 200 Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/1000 sec No flash No reflector

I wanted to get an action shot and was happy with how this one turned out. I love this horse's trot and feel that this picture does a good job of capturing it. I cropped this picture down quite a bit on all sides. I added some hay bales over the top of a house, added trees over another building and removed a telephone poll and wire.

Focal Length: 7 mm ISO: 80 Aperture: f/5

Shutter Speed: 1/1000 sec No Flash No Reflector

I like this picture because this says horses to me. The sky is perfect blue with fluffy clouds, there is a red barn in the background and the horses are eating green grass. I cropped in on this picture removing unneeded grass in the foreground and some unneeded space on the sides. I also cloned out a little of the first horses mane because the wind had made it stand up and it was escaping out of the top of the frame.

Focal Length: 35 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec. No Flash No Reflector

To me this is the classic picture of a girl and her horse that has been taken for years, but updated. Now instead of sitting with your horse and reading or drawing, you talk or text on your cell phone. I took the picture with the girl not all of the way in the frame to balance out the horse who was not all in the picture. I had to crop in a little more in photoshop to make the loss of her back look intentional (which it was) instead of an accident.

Focal Length: 6 mm ISO: 200 Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/2000 sec No flash No reflector

I was playing with angles for this picture. I didn't realize that my ISO was at 200 for this entire day and realize that I should have pulled it down but alas what is done is done. In photoshop I brightened the image up to get rid of weird shadowing on her back and like the blown out quality. I also removed a tree from behind her neck. I should have made the sky a little bluer.

Focal Length: 60 mm ISO: 200 Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec No Flash No Reflector

This picture makes me think of horses just getting turned out for the day because rolling is usually the first thing they do. I liked how you can see the dirt being turned up and his body position. I cleaned up some destractions in the dirt and some trees in the grass and cropped down a lot to make him the focus.

Focal Length: 7 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec No Flash No Reflector

I love this picture becuase this girl obviously loves her horse! If I had had a better flash I could have eliminated some of the shadows on her face so instead I lightened the best I could in photoshop. I also removed a dog, some cars and a weird white thing on the barn.

Focal Length: 6 mm ISO: 200 Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec No Flash No Reflector

I took this picture trying to capture what one horse sees when looking at another and I don't think I did that but I still like the picture. I removed a red feeder from under the white pony's neck but otherwise left it alone.

Focal Length: 14 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec No flash No Reflector

I like this picture because it captures the atmosphere of my barn. My barn is full of young riders who love thier horses but often do weird things like lay down on thier back and then try to sit back up. The horse is wondering what's going on and I just think it tells the story well. For this picture I cropped this picture in and removed some orange cones and a lunge line from the background.

Focal Length: 6 mm ISO:80 Aperture: f/4.5

Shutter Speed: 1/1000 sec No Flash No Reflector

I took this picture to describe what spring means to me - horses eating green grass without blankets on. I like how the sahdows pull you into the light and how the two horse's heads frame the full horse. I removed some destracting elements from the background, cropped in a little and adjusted the contrast in photoshope to make the sky and grass more vibrant.

Focal Length: 6 mm ISO: 80 Aperture: f/5

Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec No Flash No Reflector

This was another picture where I was trying to take unique angles rather than the normal shots. I removed some cars from the background and cropped some grass out of the foreground but otherwise left it alone.

Focal Length: 13 mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec No Flash No Reflector

I like this picture because both horse and rider are looking in the same direction and just hanging out. I cropped the picture to a more verticle frame and removed some orange cones and lungline from the background.

Focal Length: 6 mm ISO: 80 Aperture: f/5

Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec No Flash No Reflector

I took this picture because the sky was so cool and the red barn is classic. I liked how the wind was blowing his tail and how relaxing the whole scene is. I cropped the picture a little and removed some spots from the horses body.

Displaying pictures

Now that I've spent a semester learning how to take good pictures, I realized that I have next to no idea what to do with them. For this weeks blog I decided to look into different ways to display good pictures and found two helpful websites.

The first, and most helpful, website was from Kodak. They had good ideas and tips for framing your photos. I didn't know that you always want to make sure to use a mat in order to protect your photo from getting stuck to the glass frame, molding and wrinkling. They had good ideas for displaying your pictures as well, such as having a high quality image enlarged to become the focus of a room. I also learned that pictures look best at or below eye level so you need to be careful not to hang them to high.
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=334&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=43473

The second site was from HP and had good tips about where and how to hang your pictures. If you are worried about how a particular arrangement will look on your wall, you should cut out pieces of paper the same size as the frames which can be stuck on the wall with tape and moved around until you are satisfied. Remember to keep your frames plain because you want the focus to be on the picture not the frame! I liked the ideas about rotating galleries on your fridge or a bulletin board where you continually change the pictures being displayed.
http://www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/digital_photography/share_photos_creative/tips/displaying-framing.html

Of course both of these sites are ultimately trying to get you to buy their product but if you ignore the blatant product placement they both have some really good advice!

Life, the Universe and Everything

42

Space Pictures

I was at a loss about what to blog about this week so I just started typing things into google to try and get inspired. What I found turned out to be a site that I spent 30 minutes looking over! NASA has a website for their astronomy picture of the day. On this site a new picture from space or some space phenomena seen on earth is posted with an explanation about what you are seeing. Even though I have never wanted to be an astronaut, I would be lying if I said space didn't hold some beautiful sights that often leave me enamoured. Below are two of my favorite pictures and the link to look at more.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Portraits

Since we are taking outdoor portrait tomorrow I thought I might look up some tips about taking portraits. On the first website I found that you often want to use a flash or reflector to fill in the shadows on your subject's face and that you should stand 10 to 15 feet away from them in order to make sure that their nose isn't obnoxiously large. Blurring the background, unless you are capturing the moment/environment is a good way to draw focus to your subject so the background should be composed of neutral colors. Remember that getting all of your subject's face in the photo is not always important, sometimes capturing the moment can give you a better picture that means more.

http://photo.net/learn/portraits/?

The Second site had some really good tips about posing, or not posing, your subject. I liked the parts about shooting candidly because these are the shots that I like to take. However, the parts about placing your subject in the frame and changing the direction that they are looking were helpful.

http://digital-photography-school.com/10-ways-to-take-stunning-portraits