Semester 2 Final

This is the final project for this year. I have put a link to the slideshow in the previous sentence, but due to a glitch in the blogger program, the pictures will appear slightly distorted. Because of this, I have also imported my photos as a movie. Again, there might be problems with the photos being blurry due another glitch in blogger. Please excuse these problems. Aside these technical problems, the assignment was to take 20-25 of our best photos from the entire year and put them in a portfolio. My year in this digital photography class was really fun, and I learned a lot about using my camera, editing programs, and much more. I had such a good time with my friends wandering around downtown taking pictures. As sad as I am to be finishing this class and this school year, I am super excited for next year and the second year photography class that I will be taking.

Project 11: Stop Motion

Project 11 entailed making a stop motion video. I did this in a partnership with my Italian friend Moni Santagata. We shot the video while on a camping trip. Due to problems uploading the video, it might be a little blurry. Anywho, the first video is below. Through a series of miscommunications, I accidentally joined two groups. The second group of people I am in is with Jaimee Kincaid and Cameron Carlson-Riddle. We made a golfing stop motion video. Here is the link to the second video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBKV9IUP53Q

Project 10: Magazine Mock-Up

Project 10 was a magazine mock-up assignment. We were told choose a theme for a magazine we wished to create, and make a cover page and multiple inside pages. I teamed up with two of my classmates, Jaimee Kincaid and Cameron Carlson-Riddle, and we made a travel blog. We decided to make an online magazine (for extra credit..). Below is the link for our online magazine.

http://lhstravelblog.blogspot.com/

Project 9: Commercial and Fine Art Portraits

Throughout the course of Project Nine, we have been learning the difference between fine art and commercial portraits. We learned how various poses, lights, and backgrounds capture the artist's mood in fine art portrait. In contrast, commercial portraits are supposed to have less of a mood and are supposed to capture the feelings of the model rather than the artist. The end result for this project was a magazine cover and multiple edited fine art portraits.

Fine Art Portrait: Green Light

Fine Art Portrait: Contrast

Fine Art Portrait: Vampire

Above are my fine art portraits. I tried to use the lighting system in the theater to effectively capture various moods in the picture. I also did this by having my model strike various dramatic poses, and telling her to do serious facial expressions. I edited these all differently, but I think that all of the various ways I edited them captures different elements of my personal ascetics.

Contact Sheet: Commercial and Fine Art Portraits 

This is my contact sheet. Shown, are all of my commercial portraits and my fine art portraits. I have displayed both the original photo and the edited photo. The top three rows of the contact sheet contain my fine art portraits, the first picture that appears in the unedited one, and the one following is the edited version. The bottom three rows are my commercial portraits.

Fine Art and Commercial Portrait: Pre-Work

Fine art portraits are photographs in which the photographer uses their personal aesthetics to capture the face or body of a person. They often use neutral backgrounds and heavily edit the photo so the face of the person in the portrait stands out. Magazine covers, or commercial portraits, are pictures that attempt to catch the eye of a passerby. These photographs sometimes include a object or prop. These pictures can be taken either in a studio or in the real world. 

Steve McCurry: I like how the use of color in this cover emphasizes the girls face. The neutral blue background gives the picture certain mood, but does not take anything away from the face of the girl. It effectively draws the eye to the magazine. I also really like the emphasis on the contrast between her dark hair, and the red head scarf.

Martin Schoeller: The digital editing done to the eyes of the man makes the green in the eyes pop out. It gives a otherwise plain photograph a eye catching effect. The way the mans eyes are open wide and the blank expression on his face also gives the picture and interesting and mysterious look. 

Emma Daly: The pose that the man is in, and the black and white editing gives the man and the picture, Benedict Cumberbatch, a very intelligent feel. I really like the simple editing with the words and the border emblazoned in red.  

Kimmy West: I really like the use of the models eyes, it gives the photo a very quirky and flamboyant feel. The plain background and the orange hair also gives the photo a interesting look.

Meghan Camerena: I like the use of the colors blue and yellow in this photograph. Also, the models hair in the photo nicely frames her face, giving the face an angled look. The use of color gives the photo a very happy and carefree feel.

Darren Smith: The darkness in this photograph highlights the man's face and upper body. The photographer nicely edited the photo and effectively used lighting to create a completely black frame. This makes the man stand out, but his dark jacket simultaneously blends him into the background. 

Project 8: Multiple Image Techniques

The idea for this project was to take multiple photos and put them together using Photoshop to create various different effects. The three different types of picture we created were: Panoramas, Multiple Exposure, and High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos. Multiple exposure photos create an element of movement to the photo. HDR photos have the tendency to make photos look every Sci-fi like. And finally, panoramas are used mainly for capturing landscapes. 

Multiple Exposure: Covered Playground

Multiple Exposure: Playing in the Snow

Multiple Exposure: Painting

HDR Edit: Bridlemile

HDR Original

HDR Original

HDR Edit: The Coast

There were multiple ways we were told we were able to create these panoramas. We could either take multiple photos and stitch them together in photoshop, use a setting on our camera to create the panorama, or we could use our iPhones. I created these by using the setting on my iPhone and then I edited the photos in Lightroom.

Panorama: LA Sky

Panorama: Bedroom

Project 7:Alternative Processes through Digital Means

Cyanotype: Cameron's Balloons

Original

For project 7, we studied alternate means of photo processing stimulated through a computer or digital camera. We studied primarily, daguerreotypes and cyanotypes. Daguerreotypes are photos taken and developed on a iodine-sensitized silvered plate and a mercury vapor. We replicated this using photoshop by putting textures we found online on top of our photographs and this gave our photos the appearance of being on a metal plate. Cyanotypes are processed using chemicals that make the photograph a shade of blue. Often, it was used to enlarge engineers work, thus creating the term blueprint.

Daguerreotype: Flowers

Original

Original

Daguerreotype: Lauren

Project 6: Surrealism Final Picture

For the past week, we have been working on surrealism. We posted about the history of surrealism and talked about some of the pioneers in surrealist art. We finished by creating our own surrealist style images. In my image, I used six different images and using Photoshop edited them all together to create the final product.

Hidden People 

Project 6: Surrealism

Surrealism was a mass cultural movement that began in the 1920s. Surrealist art is known for unsettling and illogical qualities. It is often described as a mixture of dreams and reality. The surrealist movement was based in Paris and gradually spread around the world affecting things such as theatre, visual arts, film, literature, as well as philosophy and social thought and practice. Below are some examples of surrealist art by three renowned artists.

The Lovers II by Rene Magritte 1928

Microcosm by Remedios Varo 1959

The Temptation of St. Anthony by Max Ernst 1945

A more modern take on surrealism is contemporary or "magical realism" photography. Below are some examples I found of photographs with surrealist qualities with a slightly more modern take.

Rebeca Cygnus

Melvin Sokolsky

Elaine Reinhold

Project 5: Basic Photoshop Editing

Semester 1 Final: Photo Emulation

Project 4: Balance and Contrast

Project 4: Balance and Contrast