Academic Shoot Reflection & Critique

Step 1:

1. What challenges did you encounter while trying to get the photos following the rules I set out for you? 
Well, I have my hurt arm so trying to get the pictures to turn out the way I wanted them to was really hard, and trying to get some of the rules with everyone moving around and talking made it a little challenging.


2. What technical aspects of photography or the assignment in general (focus, framing, holding the camera, etc.) did you find yourself thinking about the most? Provide a specific example of what you did to do this correctly.Definitely was holding the camera but not because I didn't know how but because of my arm but I know that's not what you're asking, but I would have to say trying to get a picture for lines, and simplicity were the hard ones. For example when I was getting a picture for lines it was really hard to get an angle were the lines were pointing to the subject of the photo.

3. If you could do the assignment again, what would you do differently now that you know some basic rules of photography?If I could do this over again I would make sure that the backgrounds were a lot simpler, because in a lot of my photos you couldn't make out the subject from the background.

4. What things would you do the same?I would keep most of the angles in my photos, because the angles are very nice, but when the background is filled it makes for a really bad photo.

5. When you go out with your next set of prompts, which rule do you think will be the easiest to achieve?Framing will be the easiest to follow because that is more based upon the angle in which the photo is taken, not what the photo is.

6. Which rule do you think will be the hardest to capture?Simplicity, because it's really difficult to get a clean background, meaning a background that's not overt;owing or filled to the point where you can't find the subject of the photo.

7. What rule are you still not totally clear on and what can you do to figure out what that rule is?
I know what all the rules are, I just need to work on actually capturing them correctly and well.

Step 2:

http://kayleyphotojournalismblog.blogspot.com 

For the most part it's clear what her subjects are, and it's clear what picture goes with what rule.

One thing I think that could be improved would be to make sure that it's focused a little bit more.

ISO

ISO 200

ISO 3200

1. What are the advantages of shoot at a higher ISO at a sporting event like basketball or a night football game?

When you use high ISO it adds grain/texture/noise to the picture, it would make the basketball game look like the crowd was yelling and it would show the excitement at the game.

2. What suggestions did the author make about using a low ISO?

You should use low ISO when there is a lot of light because if you use a high ISO it won't keep all the detail you want it to.

3. What suggestions did the author make about using a high ISO?

You should use high ISO when you're taking a picture with a low amount of light, or when you're not using your flash.

Shutter Speed

High Shutter Speed

Slow Shutter Speed

Step 1:

a.) a booth in the middle of the yard near the Tree
Most likely a high shutter speed would be best for taking a picture when the sun is still out, because there's already a lot of light.

b.) a food booth outside under one of the big red awnings
High shutter speed would be the best choice, because there is still sun which produces a lot of light so we couldn't go with slow shutter speed because then there would be too much light.

c.) the Stars performance inside the gym
High shutter speed because the lights are on in the gym and you want to capture them doing a motion and you want the picture to be clear.

d.) students dancing near the center of the courtyard
High shutter speed, because it's multiple people and you want to capture their movements and if you used slo shutter speed the picture would be blurry and it wouldn't be a good picture.

e.) people streaming in from the front doors
High shutter speed so then when you take the picture people don't blur together.

f.) the basketball booth where students are shooting basketballs at a hoop
High shutter speed, because you have a large group of people all moving at once and you have the basketball being thrown and you want to capture all of that, without it blurring.

Step 2:

a.) a booth in the middle of the yard near the Tree

Slow shutter speed, because there's not enough light so you need to use slow shutter speed so that more light can go through the lens.

b.) a food booth outside under one of the big red awnings

Slow shutter speed, because there's not enough light so you need to use slow shutter speed so that more light can go through the lens.

c.) the Stars performance inside the gym

You would still need high shutter speed because you are inside where there is a lot of light and you don't them to become blurry.

d.) students dancing near the center of the courtyard

You could try high shutter speed but I believe that slow shutter speed would be better because there's not a lot of light so it would help make the picture more visible.

e.) people streaming in from the front doors

I'm not a hundred percent sure but slow shutter speed would be the best option because it would allow you to get the light needed.

f.) the basketball booth where students are shooting basketballs at a hoop

Slow shutter speed because there's not enough light and you could get a picture where it doesn't look frozen but looks like there's actual movement.

Step 3:

The two modes are shutter priority and manual mode, shutter priority is when you set the shutter speed, and manual mode is when you set shutter speed and aperture manually, and the last one is aperture priority, when you set the camera to a shutter speed and aperture.

Aperture

F2.8

F16

1. What part of the body should we closely relate aperture?
The sharper image, or the object you see more clearly is the object that is closes to the aperture.

2. Finish this sentence - the smaller the Aperture _____________, the higher the Aperture ________________.
The smaller the Aperture the higher the F-stop, the higher the Aperture the smaller the F-stop.

3. In your own words tell me how aperture impacts Depth of Field?
When you use a higher aperture it makes the center of the image sharper/clearer and the background blurry, but when you use a smaller aperture the background becomes clearer, and it's not as blurry. 

Black and White Photographers pt.2

Name: Lothar Wolleh

Sources: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar_Wolleh
http://www.liquisearch.com/lothar_wolleh/publications
http://www.annedarlingphotography.com/lothar-wolleh.html

Date Of Birth: January 20, 1930

Date Of Death: September 28, 1979

Origin Of Birth: Berlin, Germany

Education: He was taught at Lette-Verein a continuation school for photography.

Jobs: Between 1946 and 1948 he studied concrete painting, then realized he wanted to be a photographer.

Books Published: The council, 1965, Art scene Dusseldorf, 1972, Apostolorum Limina, 1975.

Photo Manipulations and Ethics

A. What are some of the main points you read about in the website above regarding manipulating images? 
It's a very thin line, because if you are a manager and you change the way a photo looks whether it's noticeable or not it still changes the photo. When we take a photo sometimes it doesn't show the reality or the purpose the photographer had when the took it, so then when we add photoshop we're changing the reality of the photo even more.

B. What is the philosophy of newspapers like the Washington Post and the New York times regarding image manipulation?
They provide a strict guiltiness on how to shoot and edit their photographs, for example, the charlotte observers photo policy states', "no colors will be altered from the original scene photographed. "

C. What do you think are acceptable things you could do to an image and not cross the line unto an unethical manipulation?
Making a picture a little bright, or add a little light to it making it easier to see what the picture is. 

Step 2:

To me this is an unethical photo, the reason why I think that is because the school wanted to seem more diverse. So, what they did was take a picture of one class, then a year later they took a picture of a different class, then put him into the first picture. Which isn't "wrong" but its not really appropriate.

Step 3:

I think that in the Times picture it is really heard to see his face, so in the Newsweek picture that make the picture a little lighter so you're able to see his face features, and face in general.

Academic Shoot

Lines

1. What composition rule did you follow the rule?

This is under the rule of lines, I followed the rule, the lines on the ceiling are pointed towards the center of my picture, and the dark lines on the window are pointing down directing your eyes to the center of my picture. 

2. What is the subject (be very very specific)?

My subject is the center table, with the girl in the red shirt, because that's the table that the lines point to.

3. Is it clear to people looking at your photos what the subject is?

No, not really, because there's a lot going on in the background. Which makes it a little difficult to find what I want you to see.

4. If you can't very clearly see what the subject is, what could you have done differently?

I could've found a better angle to take the picture, so that the background was more simple, and there wasn't as much going on.

Merger

1. What composition rule did you follow the rule?This is a merger, you can tell by the boys arm is merging into the window pane, which makes it hard to see him and his arm.

2. What is the subject (be very very specific)?The subject would probably be the boy, his arm, and the window pane, because that's what is being merged together.

3. Is it clear to people looking at your photos what the subject is?No, but that was the point of the picture, to know what not to do.

4. If you can't very clearly see what the subject is, what could you have done differently?

I could've gotten better lighting, so that it was clear, and a different angle so that the student wasn't in front of the window.

 Balance

1. What composition rule did you follow the rule?The rule I followed was balance because the picture is split perfectly in half, and the water spout shows the center of the picture and it's split in half. 

2. What is the subject (be very very specific)?The subject is the boy and the girl, and how they split the picture.

3. Is it clear to people looking at your photos what the subject is?Yes, because I made sure that it was obvious that the center of my picture was the girl and the boy. 

4. If you can't very clearly see what the subject is, what could you have done differently?

Simplicity

1. What composition rule did you follow the rule?

The rule I followed is simplicity, because the background is very simple and so then you're focused on subject.

2. What is the subject (be very very specific)?The subject is the potato, which is the center and that is what your eyes see first.

3. Is it clear to people looking at your photos what the subject is?Yes I believe so, because that is what your eyes go to first, plus experiment they were doing was about the potato. 

4. If you can't very clearly see what the subject is, what could you have done differently?

Rule of Thirds

1. What composition rule did you follow the rule?Rule of thirds you can tell because the boy is in the lower left hand corner which is in one of the points of the graph.

2. What is the subject (be very very specific)?The boy is my subject you know this because he is in focus, closer to the camera, and he is the first thing you see.

3. Is it clear to people looking at your photos what the subject is?Yes, I believe that it is clear that the boy is the subject of my picture. 

4. If you can't very clearly see what the subject is, what could you have done differently?

Framing

1. What composition rule did you follow the rule?

The rule I followed is framing you know this because the skull which is my subject is framed by the window and the ledge.

2. What is the subject (be very very specific)?

My subject is the skull facing the camera and is the one that you can see it's nose and eye sockets.

3. Is it clear to people looking at your photos what the subject is?

Yes, I think that it's clear that my subject is the first skull because it is the only one facing the camera, and is the one that's framed by the window and the ledge.

4. If you can't very clearly see what the subject is, what could you have done differently?

Academic Shoot Preview

The photo is a girl dropping paint onto a garbage bag, and the paint pounces off of the garbage bag and the photo was taken at the exact moment the paint was pouncing off of the garbage bag.

1. Why did you pick this photo?
I picked this photo because I thought it was a really good action picture, and the way the paint came pouncing up was really cool and pretty.

2. What rules of photography are evident in the photo?
The rule of balance was followed in this picture, the photographer also made sure what the reader knew what the center of the picture was.

Second Step:

1. Where do you think you could take photos like the ones you look at today?
I think a good class to go to would be Biology because they do experiments and I could get really cool pictures of the students doing the experiment and their reactions.

2. Whose classroom would you like to visit and take photos in?
I would like to take pictures of Mrs. Hardings class, or possibly another biology teacher.

3. What will you do, as the photographer, to get amazing photos like you look at today?
I will follow the guide lines of photography, I will focus on lines, simplicity, balancing my photos, avoiding merging objects together, and making sure to use items and objects to use as a frame and then filking that frame.

Filling the Frame

The frame is the black around the boys, and the frame is filled by the boys and they're experiment. Even though the frame isn't a real frame, the way they fill it is quite neat, because the light from the experiment shines onto the boys which makes them stand out so much more.

Action and Emotion

This is action and emotion because you can see the girls are conducting an experiment and you can see the chemical reaction, that's the action. You can see the girls emotions, you can see they're surprised, excited, and interested in the experiment.

The Story

It tells a sweet loving story, of selflessness, kindness, generosity, and caring. The story it tells is no matter your age, raise, or gender people will be there to help, and people do care. You're never truly alone, and you should never give up, because some one out there has it worse than you and they're not giving up, they're finding the joy in life. You should never just be focused on yourself, you need to give to others so when you need some one else's help they'll be there.

Post Shoot Reflection

1. What challenges did you encounter while trying to get the photos of your first 4 prompts (Square, Metal, Happy, Bowie)
It was hard to find something that was different but still went with the prompt, I thought that metal and happy were the hardest to get a picture of. Trying to get happy picture without it being too posed and fake looking while it still being a happy picture which is why I just waited until the three boys started to laugh thats when I took the picture. Then just finding a metal object that most people wouldn't take a picture of was surprisingly difficult but when I went to the library taking a picture for square I realized that maybe a picture of the metal ceiling would be cool. 

2. What technical aspects of photography or the assignment in general (focus, framing, holding the camera, etc.) did you find yourself thinking about the most? Provide a specific example of what you did to do this correctly.
I think I was focused on framing and the angel in which I took the pictures for example my square picture has this frame around it, it's actually just the beginning of the metal ceiling.

3. If you could do the assignment again, what would you do differently now that you know some basic rules of photography?
I think I would try to get more lines into my pictures, focus on the rule of thirds, simplicity, and making sure I'm not merging two objects together.

4. What things would you do the same?
I believe the way I was thinking as very good, because I focusing on trying to do something different and unique. which I think payed off.

5. Finally - go back and edit your blogs with the 4 photos (square, metal, happy, Bowie), tell me what rules of composition (which you just learned about) did you end up actually achieving? Did you have any?
All of my pictures followed at least one rule, although I could've done a better job making them look a little clearer.

6. Are you interested in shooting those same prompts again, why?
I guess, I don't see why not. I don't think I need to retake them but some of them I would like to work on the rules we talked about today.

STEP 2

http://allisonschafersphotojournalismblog.blogspot.com

First positive: Her pictures are very unique, which is rurally great because every one was doing the same thing and she went and made it her own.

Second Positive: Even though she didn't know the rules she followed them and it made the pictures look very good.

One Improvement: I think she could work on using less flowers and use objects that correspond with the center of her picture.

The Falling Man Reaction

    My reaction to the falling man was shock and sadness. I was shocked that it came to the point that people had to make the impossible decision to suffocate, burn, or take their own life. I was sad because the people knew that there was no way out so they decided to jump. One thing that doesn't make too much once is that people thought it was wrong for the Falling Man picture to be in the news or to be seen, instead they wanted to see heroic people which is good, but the Falling Man picture shows so much. It shows how people lost hope, had no way out, how they were desperate to get out, the picture is a symbol not a happy heroic symbol but a symbol of what people in the Twin Towers were feeling and thinking.

Merger

I changed my original merger picture to this because I believe that this one is much better. The smoke covers the city and it's kind of hard to see the buildings. Since you can't see the buildings clearly and everything just looks like a big cloud of smoke I believe that this is a good representation of a merger.

Balance

I believe that this is a good representation of balance because on the left we have a police officer holding a man and on the right there's another police officer talking to what I believe is a fireman which balances this photo nicely.

Lines

This is a good representation of lines because we have the flag pole going up and the lines in the back ground all pointing towards the center which draws your eyes to the flag and fireman.

Rule of Thirds

I think this is a good representation of rules of thirds because the Twin Towers in the up right corner and the Brooklyn Bridge in the up left corner. Which also adds balance to the photo.

Framing

This is an excellent representation of framing because the broken out wall frames the fireman perfectly and the fireman goes with the rules of thirds a little but the way the building wall frames him is beautiful.

Simplicity

I changed my original picture to this one because the background is covered in dust and ash making it stand out less and the women is also covered in the dust and ash but she still stands out because you can see her out line very clearly.

Prompt Shoot #1

Happy

I believe that this is a representation of balance because there's the boy in the white shirt in the upper right hand corner, the boy in the dark shirt and light pants in the lower left hand corner, then the boy in the dark shirt and dark pants in the middle.

Square

I feel like this is representation of lines and framing because around the square there's the dark edge and in the square there's the two lines that meet in the middle.

Bowie

This is a very good example of simplicity because the background is white so it doesn't distract from the center of my picture.

Metal

This is an example of lines though I could have done a better job making the lines look cleaner.

The Camera Q&A

1. Explain the “camera obscura” effect. How is it achieved?
The camera obscura effect is created by a very dark room with a small hole in the wall and through that hole light is focused and then the scene is projected onto the other wall upside down.
2. What invention during the 17th Century helped man get a step closer to creating the modern camera?
Isaac Newton and Christian Huygens help to prefect the understanding optics and the process of making high quality glass lenses.
3. What were the parts of the first modern camera invented by Niepce?
Niepce added the final touch, the film, to create the first successful photograph, and thats how the modern camera was born. 
4.What do modern digital cameras have in common with Niepce’s camera?
New cameras and Niepce camera work basically the same way, not much has changed other than quality of the photo and the speed in which you can take it.
5. What do digital cameras use to capture an image?
Instead of using a plastic film we store the photos in an electronic sensor called a CCD, photos are stored on a reusable electronic memory chip.  
6. What is the difference between the Auto Mode and the Program mode?
It tells the camera heather it needs to take pictures or display them, some cameras only have on and off.
7. What is the Portrait mode used for? How does it work?
The portrait mode is used for blurring the background of a picture, it works by going to the program setting and then finding the portrait icon and then you select it and it will blur the background of a picture by trying too use the fastest available camera lens.
8. What is the Sports mode used for? (not just sports) How does it work?
The sports mode is used to freeze motion, the camera will try to use the highest shutter speed possible.
9. Why should you do a half press on the trigger button?
You press with only a little bit of pressure and wait for the focus lock and then a blincking light will start to flash saying its focusing, then the light stops and you hear a beep it means the camera is ready to take a picture.
10. What does this symbol mean?

 When would you use this?
It means no flash, you would use that when its a bright day or you want to get a shot of some ones out lines so you would have light in the back but you would use the flash on the camera.
11.What does this symbol mean?
When would you use this?
On most cameras auto flash is pre-set by default and will automatically fire if the camera thinks it needs more light.
12. What happens to your photo if there is too much light?
If you have too much light your picture will be washed out and all the colors will be lost.
13. What happens to your photo if there is not enough light?
When a picture doesn't have enough light the picture will be too dark and you won't be able to see what is in the picture.
14. What is a “stop.”
The word stop is used throughout photography to represent a relative change in the brightness of the light.
15. How many stops brighter is the new planet if there are two suns instead of one?
The new planet is 1 stop brighter then Earth.
16. How many stops brighter is the new planet if there are four suns instead of two?
The planet with 4 suns would be 2 stops brighter than Earth.
17. What affect does a longer shutter speed of have?
The shutter speed controls how fast light travels through to the film, the longer the shutter the more light goes to the film.

18. What affect does a shorter shutter speed have?
The shorter the shutter speed the less light that goes to the film which is not good, just like having too much light go to the film isn't good.

19. What does the aperture control?

It's like a pupil it lets light get into the camera so then the film gets hit with light, it does so by opening and closing an opening near true film.

20. When adjusting the aperture, how can you increase the amount of light?

Moving from one f_ to another causing the aperture to stay open lounger or shorter causing more or less light to get in to get to the film.