I have learned so much in this digital photography class and some of the things I've done I never thought I would be able do. The very first time I walked into this class I was nervous and exited. I didn't really know what kind of work we would be doing and what we would do on a day to day basis. I was a little intimidated because I am not so good with technology and I didn't know if I would understand anything about Photoshop or the cameras. The very first time we got out the cameras and had to complete the composition assignment I struggled with finding inspiration and creativity. I didn't know what to take pictures of and started to overthink it. When I think back to that first assignment it shows me how much I have developed my skills as a photographer. I am now able to pick out good photos and I have developed an eye for good photos. I struggled a lot with my creativity at first when we were taking photos, but now I have gotten better at trying new things and composing cool photos. At the beginning of this class I also found myself being self conscious about the pictures that I took. I now realize that there is no reason to be self conscious about any photos that you take because if you like it and are proud of it, then that's all that matters! I also enjoyed learning about how to edit our photos to make them look even better. These tools were fun to play around with, especially when I did my black and white photo assignment. Another aspect of technology and photography that we worked on in this class was Photoshop. This part of class really stressed me out! I had never used Photoshop before entering this class and it overwhelmed me at first. There were so many tools and things to use and I was afraid that if I did one thing wrong, everything would be messed up. Thankfully, Mr. Bush walked us through how to do almost every assignment and gave us instructions. I had a hard time with it at the beginning, but once I had finished the second assignment it now longer stressed me out! I didn't realize how much easier it was than what I originally thought. By the time our fifth and sixth assignments came around, I was much more confident in my skills and no longer worried about having enough time to finish the projects. I'm still not completely confident in my skills and there is so much more to learn about Photoshop, but I have definitely gotten more confident and skillful at Photoshop and I hope I can take these skills with me and use them one day, even if it's just for fun. I learned so much in this class about photo composition and camera settings and Photoshop, but I also learned things about myself. I learned that I can be a problem solver when I need to be and that, even though I'm not the best at things technology related, I can still figure it out. I had a great time taking pictures in this class and I know I will carry the skills I learned in this class with me throughout my life. This was the very first photo assignment picture that I turned in. I did nature and I was very happy with this picture! Especially since it was our first photo assignment. This was the very last photo assignment we turned I turned in. I did shadows and light and really liked this picture because of how big the pawn looked in contrast to it being the smallest chess piece. This picture is an example of one of the Photoshop assignments we did. This assignment was called school context and we Photoshopped pictures from the internet into a picture of a place in the school. I really enjoyed this assignment because I got to use pictures of something that I loved, Harry Potter, and turn them into a really cool photo. This was the picture I turned in for our third photo assignment. As you can see, I did food. This is my least favorite photo that I turned in. It's not that I don't like it at all, but it is a little bit blurry and I feel like the color of the muffin looks a little unnatural. This, in contrast to my muffin photo, is my favorite photo that I turned in. This is from our fourth photo assignment and I did still life. I also think this is my best photo that I turned in for a grade. I really like the overall mood of the photo and the dim lighting.
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Today in class we did a motion demo. Mr.Bush rode his bike and we had to take of picture of him. We followed him with our cameras and took a picture when he was right in front of us. I learned that in order to get a good photo you have to be following him at the same speed. At first I was having trouble doing that and my pictures weren't turning out very good, but when I followed him closely, they started to look okay. Panning is hard to do, but if you focus on it and continue to follow the subject with your camera, the pictures will probably turn out okay! I turned my picture black and white and I like the overall look of it.
For our seventh photoshop assignment we did a project called multiple me. For this project you took multiple photos of you or someone else and then composited them together into one photo, so the photo has the same person in it multiple times. For this assignment I didn't take photos of myself, but of my classmate Selina. This assignment was easier than I thought it was going to be because Mr. Bush gave us step by step instructions on how to do it. We worked with layer masking and photo stacks in Photoshop to do this project. This project was fun to do and the pictures look really cool when they are finished. I edited the look of this photo to give it a purple hue and I think it looks cool! I have learned a lot about Photoshop in these seven assignments and had lots of fun creating these photos!
Aperture: 3.5 Shutter Speed: 1/30 ISO: 250. Edits: I used Photoshop to turn the photo black and white and I also used the clone stamp tool to clean up the background. I boosted the exposure, decreased the blacks, and boosted the clarity. For our seventh and final photo assignment in this class I did shadows and light. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to shoot at the beginning when I started taking pictures so I went to the internet for inspiration. I saw a really cool image of a chess board and thought it would be cool to take some of pictures of chess pieces and the board. I used the flashlight from my phone for a light source and set the chess board on my black ping pong table. I like this photo above because the pawn is the smallest chess piece and it looks really big in this photo. I decided to turn it black and white because I think it makes it look more dramatic and enhances the mood of the photo. I was uninspired at the beginning of this shoot but at the end I think I got some really cool photos. I have learned a lot from doing these photo assignments and I can't believe this was our last one! I had lots of fun going out and exploring and finding cool photos for these assignments.
For our sixth Photoshop assignment we had to do a portrait assignment. For this assignment we had to get into groups of three or four and take two portraits, one with window lighting and one with a three point lighting set up. It was interesting to take these photos with the different lighting techniques because I have never taken a portrait before. Then, after we took the photos we put them into photoshop, inserted them onto the same background and put frames around the pictures. It was a little more challenging because there was less instruction than usual, but with a little help I got a good final product! In this assignment I learned a lot about taking portraits and proper lighting, and also about making frames around pictures in Photoshop.
Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/400 ISO: 160. Edits: I used Photoshop to turn it black and white. Boosted the exposure and contrast, and decreased the whites. For our sixth photo assignment I did black and white. The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend so my family took advantage of it and went to Millpond Park. It was really sunny outside and I remembered Mr. Bush telling us that good black and white photos have contrast in them. I thought that the sunny blue sky and the brown dull trees would have lots of contrast together and I really like the photos I got. Black and white photos are some of my favorite to look at because I just think things tend to look cooler in black and white. I really like the way my photos turned out in black and white form. I especially like the photo above because of the reflection the trees have on the water and the sun shining on the rocks. I love taking photos of nature and nature photos look really beautiful in black and white, so I like the way my photos turned out in black and white.
This week's photoshop assignment was a little bit different than previous weeks. We had to go on the internet and find a photoshop tutorial and then recreate it. It was fun to be able to have a lot of freedom with what we choose to do. I ended up doing two different tutorials of a technique called double exposure. Double exposure is when you take one photo and make it look like it is in another one. It is hard to explain, but you'll get it when you see the pictures! To find my photos I went to google images and found some that I could use. Double exposure photos look really cool with a photo of a person and nature landscapes. I had a lot of fun doing the photos, the first one I did I didn't like very much, but then the second tutorial I did created a really cool photo that I really like! Photoshop is so broad with what you can do and it was fun to be able to try something I have never done or seen before! This was the first photo that I did and I don't think it turned out very good because of my choice in pictures, so I tried again with a new tutorial and different pictures. This was a very good tutorial, though, especially if you're a beginner like me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRScatYWYyQ (Link to tutorial) I definitely like this photo a lot more and I'm really happy with how it turned out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=-19z_ldzPes (Link to tutorial) This tutorial was also great for beginners!
Aperture: 5.0 Shutter Speed: 15 ISO: 100. The edits I did to this photo were boosting the clarity, vibrance, saturation, and contrast. I decreased the blacks and also used the clone stamp tools to clean up the photo a little bit. For our fifth photo assignment I decided to do light painting because Mr. Bush did a demo of it and I thought it would be really fun to try! I decided to use a mason jar as my subject in the photo because it was glass and the light would reflect off of it. I had a lot of fun experimenting with different techniques and colors while shooting these photos. With my brother's help I got some really cool photos and I really liked the photo above because it was in focus and I liked the reflection on the mason jar from the lights. I learned this week that when you shoot light painting photos, focus is really important because when the subject isn't in focus, the picture loses some of the cool aspects you get when light painting.
For this Photoshop assignment we had to go around the school and find cool places and landscapes to take panoramic photos of. To make a panoramic photo we needed to take at least three photos of a certain landscape. I ended up taking my camera home and taking some photos in my backyard. We then took those photos and put them into Photoshop and Photoshop molded them into one photo! This assignment was hard for me at first because I found it hard to get inspiration, but once I started taking the photos it became a lot easier. It was really cool how Photoshop merged the photos into one panoramic photo!
Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/20 ISO: 640. The edits I did on this photo were decreasing the exposure and shadows. I also boosted the contrast, vibrance and saturation. For our fourth photo assignment in this class I decided to do still life. I started playing guitar this year and I absolutely love it! I thought it would be cool to shoot some photos of my guitar and I'm really happy with the way that they turned out. For my set up I had my brother hold up a black board for the background and I set the guitar on my family's ping-pong table. I used a desk lamp as my source of light. I had a hard time deciding which photo to select as my favorite this week because I had two that I really liked, but I'm really happy with my final choice because of the way the neck of the guitar is in focus and everything else is out of focus. I also like the dim lighting of the photo. This week I learned that when you are shooting still life the lighting and perspective of the photo make a big difference in the way the photo looks. Overall I think that the photos I took this week are some of my favorites!
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