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

Holiday Picture

I'm Jewish. This means that the holiday I celebrate at this time of year is Passover. For me Passover is the Seder and of course the Seder had already occurred when we got this assignment and my family was not to keen on reenacting it for my picture. So I decided that instead of answering the question, "what does Passover mean to you?" I would instead answer the question, "what do the holiday's mean to you?" To me, the holidays mean spending time with friends and family and of course, eating! I took this picture because it is typical of holidays in my family. My Grandmother is still finishing up the meal in the kitchen (usually "aided" by my Grandfather). The rest of us are crowded around the kitchen eating appetizers and whatever parts of the meal we can filch. There is laughter, talking, arguing and of course eating and even though my grandparents have a large house, all of us are squeezed into one small area of it.

Night Photo

This picture was taken with my canon powershot SX100. Settings were ISO 80, f/8 and 10 sec. I wasn't able to use the full 15 sec exposure that my camera is capable of because I was in town and there was too much light. It was taken by placing the camera on the dashboard of my dad's car and taking the picture while he was driving. Not really sure why everything streaked the way it did because we were moving and for the most part they were still (such as the green traffic light) but I got this result numerous times so I know it wasn't a fluke!

Camera Fun

This week I decided to post some pictures that I took while having fun with my camera. I feel like recently I have almost gotten to obssessed with making a perfect picture and forgotten to just have fun while I'm doing so. Some of the pictures are pretty good and some aren't but all were taken while I was having fun!

For as long as I can remember my dad has loved taking self portraits of himself with us. This probably explains why I also enjoy doing it! This picture is overexposed a little but it was fun to try and take because you are always kind of guessing with self portraits (of course with digital you can just repeat until perfect) and it was Anne and I just goofing off!

This picture was taken in Yellowstone when I was just trying to get candid shots of people doing things. Of course Dave caught me and tried to turn the tables so I just took a picture of him taking a picture of me (or we could pretend he was taking it of the really cool animal that I totally missed because it was behind me;)

This was a picture taken from inside Anne's truck. I have always thought that this necklace was interesting hanging from her mirror and I really liked how the background was something pretty instead of boring road!

Ah, Yellowstone signs. This one makes me laugh even though it is supposed to be a warning that I could die if I step off the trail. I like how the kid looks mildly upset that he is being steamed to death while the mother looks slightly ill.

After several not so productive rides it was fun to spend a morning out in turnout with my horse as he ran around. I had spent a good half hour trying to get this shot and finally got myself at the correct angle and him to run in the right direction and got all of him in the picture only to look back and see that it was horribly blurry. Oh, well there's always next weekend!

This shot was fun for me to take because my horse had gotten kinda of upset with me and decided that he didn't want anything to do with me when he was turned out. After I had been out there with him for 45 minutes he decided that I wasn't going to catch him and make him work and he really wanted to know what I was doing. He kept sticking his nose right down into the camera lense so I finally took a picture from that angle and actually really like it, especially since the sun highlights he forelock just enough to show the pretty copper color of his coat!

Photographing Horses

This week I decided to look into how to take good pictures of horses. I ride and love spending time with my horses but want to get better at taking pictures of them and of my friends riding around. I found several site that had some good ideas.

The first site is all about posing your horse for the perfect head shot. I know from the many, many pictures I have tried to take that this is easier said then done. This article talked about using a lower aperture to blur the background and to use your zoom to tighten up the picture. I liked how it mentioned to make sure horse and halter/bridle are clean because it is amazing how many times I see an imaculate horse whose dirty headware make an unattractive picture.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4483449_posed-photo-horses-head.html

The next article is about getting pictures prepared in order to market your horse. The author stresses how important it is to be ready and to take multiple shots when the horse is moving. She also stresses that you should figure out where and how you want to take the pictures ahead of time. This seems like common sense since you do it for all types of other photos but I can honestly say that I usually just take my camera out and see what happens. If I take a few moments before I start to make a plan than I can get ready and focus on where I want so that I have a better chance of getting a good picture.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/22158379/Taking-Horse-Pictures

I liked the final site because of the picture examples. It shows how just a slight change in the horse or the photographer can make an ok picture really nice!
http://www.cowboyway.com/HowTo/TakeHorsePictures.htm

All of the websites stressed cleanliness of the horse and to find a background that was not distracting. Often a grassy hillside or some similiar background work the best while more cluttered backgrounds take away from your horse. The websites also talk about making sure to give yourself lots of time to take the pictures so that you don't cause tension in the horse and to enlist the help of friends to be holder or attention getters! Finally you get the best results if you know your subject. Spend a few minutes with the horse if it is new to you so that you can learn what it likes, what gets its attention and what part of its personality you really want to bring out. If you are photgraphing your own horse this is less of an issue because you presumably already have most of this information.

Filter types

After our discussion on Tuesday about many things, I was interested in learning more about neutral density filters; especially why you would use them other than to make the sky look bluer! I found this cool website that explained not only neutral density filters but polarizing and warming/cooling filters as well. I like the picture examples that show what the filter looked like, the difference between using and not using a filter and when a filter was used incorrectly.

I also learned that the main reason most landscape photographers use neutral density filters is to allow them to extend exposure time. This seemed strange to me who enjoys faster shutter speeds in order to avoid blurriness, until I realized that tripods are usually involved in these instances. This website helped reiterate the points that Dave made in class and helped show how everything: camera type, tripod use, filter use, etc. are interrelated and how you probably shouldn't just change one thing without thinking about how it changes everything else.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lens-filters.htm

Costa Rica or the difficulty or photographing in the rainforest

So the trip to Costa Rica was awesome. We got to see a lot and I learned a lot about my camera, mainly that it hates the low light that is common when there is a canopy of leaves constantly above your head. Most of the pictures were shot at ISO 200 at least and the rare moments when a creature would be in the open where there was light almost made things to easy! Here are some of my favorite animal pictures from the trip.

The Tamandua (or anteater) up in the tree. We got to watch this guy try to get at termites and do all sorts of acrobatics!

This poor Agouti really wanted to cross the river before a big crocodile started to move toward him!

I was proud of this picture of a basilisk because I had finally gotten to the point where I could take one or two pictures of a lizard and have them turn out rather than the ten or fifteen that I had been shooting.

I was proud of this Scarlet Macaw picture because I was lucky enough to have me camera already set when it took off and then I managed to catch all of it in the frame and fairly sharp!

This frog literally fell from a tree in front of us. This is the first picture I have taken at night that turned out good. I managed to get my flash setting low enough to give me enough light without overexposing the frog and the frog is pretty cute!

This is my favorite bird that we saw. It is a turquoise-browed motmot! I like this bird because they always look angry due to the way their "eyebrow" is shaped and because motmot is a fun word to say!