Journal 9: "Pareidolia"

This week's task for our journal was to find faces within inanimate objects, without changing the object (the face had to be existing). I had a harder time with this journal because I could't really see faces at first. I learned that you really need to look close to catch these little things that we don't see in our day to day life. I was able to find two photos that have faces, at least to me they do. This first photo is of a stove top, and I used two burners as the eyes and then a larger center burner for the mouth.

This is the second face I was able to find. This picture is of a tree trunk, but when I looked closer, I noticed that it had some holes in it that somewhat looked like a face. I used two smaller holes as the eyes, and one larger hole as a wide open mouth.

Journal 8: Textures

 

 

 

This week for our journal, we were to take two photos of contrasting textures, and create a diptych in photoshop. A diptych is when you put two photos side by side. We were told that it would be most effective if the pictures had different textures, but still had something in common such as the colour or lighting. I decided to take a picture of a leaf and then a picture of my dogs fur, as I felt these textures were contrasting, yet they had a similar colour to them although they are slightly different shades.

Journal 7: White on White, Black on Black

 

For this weeks journal we were to take 2 photos, one with a white object against a white background, and the other with a black object against a black background. Exposure was key with this project, as you didn't want the object to just disappear into the background. The following two photos are what I did for this journal.



 

 

 

 

 

Montage Project

This week we were working in photoshop, learning different tools and techniques we can use to manipulate photos. We first practiced this by editing a spongebob photo. We had to add some different images into the photo as well as play with textures and layers. The photo above is for the project related to the practice we did. We were to take photos of a person in one scene, and have them move around the scene instead of moving the camera. It was important to take all the photos at around the same time to ensure that the lighting didn't change. After taking the photos it was our job to edit them in photoshop, and add the person into one picture, making it look like there were multiple of one person in the photo.

Journal 6: One Object Four Ways

For this weeks journal we were given the challenge to take one object and capture it in four interesting and different ways, whether we did that through changing the angle, lighting, or physically changing the object. Above is what I chose to do for this journal.

Photoshop Practice

After completing the Cindy Sherman project that was going on over the past few weeks, we began learning about photoshop, and were to use one of the photos from the project to practice some new techniques. Due to the fact that the photos were taken on disposable cameras, there were many lighting issues with some of the pictures, as well as some noise in the pictures. Below is the original photo off the camera on the left, and the edited photo I did in photoshop on the right.

Some of the things we practiced in photoshop was how to reduce noise in the photo, cropping, reducing colour cast, as well as working with brightness/darkness as well as shadows/highlights, which are the main edits I worked on in this photo. I also practiced putting two photos onto one file, which is what I did above.

Cindy Sherman Project

For the past few weeks my photography class has been working on a self portrait project called the Cindy Sherman project, which is a project that was done by 2 highschools lead by Brock University. We were to take two self portraits and two portraits of us pretending to be a character. At the end, one of our photos is going to be displayed at an art gallery, which is pretty cool. The following is what I have chosen to display at the art gallery, along with the artist statement below.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

  



 

The concept behind this photo is how someone's job can affect their family life. I first thought of this idea because my grandma was a nurse, and once I talked to her about her time as a nurse, I realized that it must have been really hard to raise a family. She worked night shifts, so she didn't get to see her family as much as some other families would see each other, which is what I was trying to portray in this photo. I found it really inspiring how she tried to spend as much time with her family as she could, and how she was able to do such a good job raising her family

 

 



Journal 5: Compositional Tools

 

 

 

For the past week or so we have been discussing different composition styles, and the photos below are examples of the composition styles we talked about. When taking the photos we were supposed to use a large aperture, so I used an aperture of f3.5 for all three photos.

 

 

 

This first photo is using the 'Rule Of Thirds' composition due to the fact that I placed the focal point (the light house) on a hot spot (where the lines intersect), and the rocks take up about one third of the bottom of the photo.

 

 

 

 

My second photo is an example using lead-in lines as the composition. I used the tree roots to help lead the views eye to the focal point which in this case is the one red leaf that stands out from the rest of the picture.

 

 

This final photo is an example of using natural frames in the photo, referring  to the rocks that are framing the focal point.

Photography With A Message

Born Into Brothels Activity:

Part A- Answer the following questions:

1. What did Zana describe as the reason for giving the cameras to the children in the beginning of the documentary? i.e. why didn't she just take the photographs herself?

At the beginning of the documentary Zana said her reason for giving the cameras to the children was because she wanted to see the lives of the people in the red light district from the children's point of view, and through their eyes. She wanted the pictures to be real, not posed, so by giving the cameras to the children and letting them take the pictures, she figured that she would be able to capture what is actually going on in the brothels. Zana didn't take the photos herself because for one thing, it allowed her to teach the children about photography, and because if the children took the photos she would be able to get pictures from many different view points, from people actually living through the subject matter of the photo instead of just getting photos from her perspective. By letting the children take the pictures, I think she thought she would be able to get a better understanding of what was going on, and she was able to get into the lives of the children's family, probably closer than she would have if she had taken the pictures herself. Another reason why she didn't take the pictures is because if she did, she thought that people may not be acting like they normally would in their every day lives, she thought that the people may end up posing because she was taking the pictures, so by letting the children take the photos she figured that people may be acting like they usually would, allowing her to capture more realistic photos.

2. Why is the photographer's point of view or unique voice part of what we consider when we talk about pictures? Can't we simply just judge all pictures by the same criteria of good and bad regardless of who took them?

We consider the photographers point of view when we talk about pictures because the photographers point of view allows us to understand why they took the photo, and it may also allow the picture to tell more of a story than it would if you didn't consider the photographers point of view. We can't judge all pictures by the same criteria because pictures have different reasons for being taken, and they have different purposes and different messages that are trying to be portrayed. You can't simply judge a picture because it was good or bad, you have to take the photographers point of view into consideration when you talk about pictures, because it will allow you to better understand the picture.

3. Reflect on what Avijit says about painting: "I like to draw pictures because I want to express what's on my mind ...I want to put my thoughts into colours." What does this tell us about him?

When Avijit says that he likes to draw pictures because he wants to express what's on his mind, and that he wants to put his thoughts into colours, it tells us that art, and specifically, painting is his outlet. Painting is his form of personal expression, and possibly his way of dealing with the situation he is in. I think this tells us that painting is Avijits way of expressing his opinions and thoughts, and that it is also a way that he escapes his situation, so that he can be himself, develop his own opinions, and for a little while, not be told what to do.

4. Throughout this lesson the term 'personal expression' is used to refer to art, sports, writing and other activities. How would you define personal expression? How are photography, painting and writing forms of personal expression?

I would define personal expression as a method of someone portraying their emotions, feelings, opinions and thoughts. I think personal expression is a form of therapy because by portraying your feelings and emotions, it can help you deal with the situation you are in. Photography, painting and writing are forms of personal expression because they are things that have very little limitations. They allow you to choose the subject matter, and they allow you to express your feelings, emotions, thoughts and opinions whether it is through writing a story about them, or portraying them in a photograph or painting.

5. How can art (personal expression) serve as a means of educating others about a particular issue?

Art can serve as a means of educating others about a particular issue through the subject of the art, and the story. If a work of art is about current issues for example, it would help educate others when they saw it because the art piece would hopefully explain the issue and what it is about through the drawing. Art can tell a story through the subject of it, and how the art is composed, and if people understand the story a piece of art is portraying it will serve as a way of educating them. Art as a form of personal expression can educate others because it will usually have some sort of message or story about a particular issue.

Part B- Critique:

(i) Select what you believe are the two most beautiful images based on traditional photography standards (nice contrast, appealing colours and textures, clear focal point, etc...) and in a sentence for each explain why you like them.

I like this photo because it has good contrast between the leaves and the branches, you can see the texture of the tree, it has an interesting composition, and the branches lead the eye around the whole photo.

I like this photo because it has a clear focal point (the man), it has a good diagonal composition with the hill, and it almost looks like it has a panning effect as the man is moving and the background is slightly blurry.

(ii) Select what you believe to be the most effective pictures at conveying a message or educating you about the issues of human rights abuses and in a sentence each explain why you chose them.

I chose this picture because I felt that the red marks (almost look like hand marks, and it looks like he might have been beat up) on the man's body emphasizes the fact that human rights abuses issues are occurring in the red light district, and I feel that this photograph really teaches and educates people about what occurs in brothels like the red light district.

I chose this photo because I felt that the black ink marks, as well as the red marks on the child's face, along with the background educate people on what goes on in the red light district due to the fact that it educates others about how the people in the red light district are living, and it would also show them that human rights abuses issues are occurring in these brothels.

(iii) Does a picture need to be beautiful to be effective? Does it help?

I don't think that a picture needs to be beautiful to be effective because some photos that may appear ugly or disturbing can be the most effective pictures, as they tell a story and portray issues that may be occurring around the world. Although I don't think that a picture has to be beautiful to be effective, I do believe that it helps because most people today want to look at beautiful photos, not photos that they may consider disturbing. I feel that more people would see effective pictures if they were beautiful because people are attracted to beautiful things, and if more people saw them, they would be even more effective, as more people would know about the issues that are portrayed in the pictures.

Journal 4: The Eye Of The Camera/Aperture Control

 

 

This first photo is one with a small depth of field. I was in aperture priority mode, and I set my aperture to f3.5. Once I set the aperture to f3.5, the camera automatically calculated what shutter speed it should be set to, and in this case, the camera set the shutter speed to about 1/20. Although the shutter speed is usually faster when you have a large aperture, I think the camera set the shutter speed to about 1/20 because I was inside, where there wasn't as much light, which means it would need to be open longer to allow enough light to enter the camera. What is interesting about taking a photo with a small depth of field is the fact that the in this case, the object closest to the lens is in focus, and the background is blurred.

  

 

This next photo has a medium depth of field, meaning that a lot of the picture is in focus; however there are still some areas that are blurred. When taking this picture I  still had the camera set to aperture priority mode. I set the aperture to f6.3, and the camera determined that the shutter speed should be 1/200. When looking at this photo you can tell it is a medium depth of field because almost all of the grass and the dog are in focus, while the plants in the background are only slightly out of focus.

 

 

 

For the last photo I used an aperture of f16 while still in aperture priority mode. Since I was still in aperture priority mode, the camera automatically set the shutter speed to about 1/40-1/60. This photo has a large depth of field and I decided to take this picture with a large depth of field because I wanted the leaves and trees along with the waterfall in the foreground and background to be in focus.

Shutter Speeds: Final Photo

For my final shutter speed photo I decided to try a panning photo, because I wanted to challenge myself. For this photo I went to a park near my house, and got my brother to go on the swing. I used a shutter speed of about 1/40 and in order to get my brother in focus, while the rest of the background blurry, I used a technique called panning. When panning, you are using a slow shutter speed, and tracking the subject while you are taking the photo. It is important that you rotate your whole body from the waist up, not just the camera when you are doing this kind of shot so that the subject you are tracking comes out clear. 

When I was working on this final shutter speed photo, I had a hard time choosing which one to use, but I decided to use my panning photo because I thought is was one that was more challenging, and I figured that less people would choose this technique out of the four we studied last week to use for their final photo. Although I chose to use the photo of my brother on the swing for my final shutter speed photo, I thought I would include the other photo I was choosing between as well.

Journal 3:Making The Invisible Visible-Shutter Speeds

 

This week during class we were experimenting with shutter speeds, which was a lot of fun. We particularly looked at 4 styles and techniques, which you will see examples of below.

 

 

 

     The first style I experimented with is called light painting. In order to capture this picture I had to adjust my shutter speed to a rather slow speed which was about 15 seconds long. I also had my ISO set to 100. The heart you see is actually four tiny colourful lights which my friend Lauren moved in the shape of a heart. Due to the fact that my shutter was open for 15 seconds, I was able to capture the movement of the lights for 15 seconds.

 

 

 

 

     The second style I played with was using a strobe light. For this kind of picture I had to set my shutter time to about 5 seconds, I also changed my ISO to about 800. When I was taking pictures using the strobe light, I found that a lot of my pictures came out too blurry, and I think this was because the person in front of the light was moving too fast. 

 

 

     This next style is called panning, which I thought was possibly the hardest of the 4 techniques I experimented with this week. I set my shutter speed to about 1/40 and changed my ISO to 800. The thing I felt was hard about this style is trying to get the person completely clear, as I found most of my pictures were coming out all blurry, instead of just the background. This was most likely occurring because I wasn't keeping the camera steady enough while I was taking the photos.

 



     The last technique I experimented with this week was action shots. With this type of shot, I had to set my shutter speed to a high shutter speed. In this case I set it to about 1/1000. I also had to use my flash because I found that my pictures came out too dark when I didn't use the flash. I changed my ISO setting to about 1000.

Journal 2: Pinhole Photography

 

     For this second journal, we worked in pairs, taking pictures with the pinhole cameras that we made. The first photo my partner Lauren and I took was of the street leading to our school. When we took this picture it was cloudy outside, so we used an exposure time of about 60 seconds. I think that our exposure time was alright because the image turned out ok however the left side of the image is a little dark meaning that it was slightly underexposed. The left side doesn't have as much detail as the right side of the image does either. One way to fix this would be to leave the shutter open longer which would allow more detail to be seen in the left side of the picture, however if we had left the shutter open longer, we might have overexposed the right side of the image. This photo is also a little blurry, which means that the camera most likely moved while we were taking the picture. In order to fix this we would just have to tape the pinhole camera to the ground better so that it doesn't move while the picture is being taken.

    
     The second photo we took with our pinhole camera was supposed to be of the street behind our school, however as you can see it did not turn out. It was sunny outside so we decided to use an exposure time of 40 seconds. This photo turned out this way because of two possible reasons, either it was underexposed so we should have left the shutter open longer, or there was something blocking the hole which stopped the light from entering the camera. If we were to try and take this picture again with the same weather conditions I think we would leave the shutter open a little longer in order to allow enough light into the camera to produce an image. We would also check to make sure that nothing is blocking the entrance to the camera.

Journal 1: Show me your Culture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Getting To Know Your Style

Photographer: Craig Wolf

Style: Landscape Photography

Hunting Island- South Carolina

Grand Tetons, WY

McWay Falls

Out of the three pictures posted above I particularly like the McWay Falls photo. The almost Ariel perspective the photographer was able to portray was what first caught my attention as I thought it was an effective way to capture this particular landscape . By taking the photograph from this perspective it allowed the photographer to create depth and layers within the photo by having the trees on the cliff in the foreground and the water in the background. I think this is an effective photograph because of the "C" composition that the coastline has created as it leads the eye around the whole picture. The fact that you can see the movement in the water also makes this an effective picture in my opinion because it helps to lead the eye around the whole photo as well. Another reason why I feel this photo is effective is because of the contrast between the blue tones of the water and the brown and green tones of the land, as well as the crisp colours that the camera was able to capture. Finally, there are a lot of different elements  included in this photo from the crashing of the waves on the coastline to the rocky cliffs which I feel adds interest and makes this picture effective.



http://www.craigwolf.com/