Final Project

Graveyards have always drawn me in. I can spend hours wandering through them exploring. For this final project, I decided I wanted to show them for what the stones can be: art. I chose a day with blue sky, but some overcast shadows so there wasn’t a lot of glare. My favorite technique for this shoot was from the hip, and while that meant using automatic features, I was able to get some angles and points of view that I might not have gotten otherwise as I tend to over think my shots.

I wanted to keep the lighting as natural as possible, but used the shutter speed to help blur the background a bit. Editing was simple, I used curves to help balance out the light and dark, and saturation when I wanted the image in black and white.

Barbara Kruger - Homage

Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1945, Barbara Kruger is considered a conceptual artist. Her use of photographs and existing images with bold aggressive statements is the trademark of her work. This is seen with black and white images with the statements written in red, or white on red bases. Working as a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor rounded out her career. Her work questions her audience on ideas of “feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire” (http://www.barbarakruger.com/biography.shtml).

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My favorite shot in the series.
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Journal 5 - Documentary Day by Day

With the idea of taking a photo each day, and telling some sort of story, I decided to take pictures of what I put on my feet each day.

Wednesday - Hanging out at home
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Thursday - Out to dinner with Jeremy
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Friday - Bookclub
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Saturday - Dancing with the girls
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Sunday - Couch to 5k Run
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Monday - Work
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Tuesday - Work Again

Journal 6 - Cross-Processing: Color to Evoke Emotion

I started playing around in Photoshop and wondered if there was a way to make photos look like old school postcards. I found a tutorial online for cross-processing and here is the before, the after, and the post card.

I love the feeling of nostalgia that is created with the cross-processing of the images.

Original
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After
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Exercise 6 - Combining Images

These images were created by taking 3 different shots to create a single image.

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Exercise 5 - Playing with Layers

Journal 4 - Lighting and Portraits

This journal assignment was challenging and fun. I took it from a slightly different perspective, using colored paper to gather different effects.

The first column of shots are taken with no flash, with just colored paper held up to reflect the color. The color is not very strong, however when enlarged, hints of the color can be seen.
The second column was used in a similar manner, only with the flash turned on and being softened by a white piece of paper used as a filter.
The third column is done with the colored paper as the filter.
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This shot was taken with no filter on the light, the light placed on chest at head level.
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This shot was also taken with the light at head level, with a purple piece of paper over the light as a filter.
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This shot was taken with the light behind her at head level with me looking up from the floor.
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The light was at head level, with the pink paper as a filter over the light.

In Class Shoot - Lighting

We played with lighting in class. There are some great ways to get different results depending on the type of lighting and the angle of lighting.

Side Lighting - Edited with Magnetic Lasso and Edited Levels on Background
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Side Lighting with Black Background - Curves Edited
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Backlit - Edited Levels

Exercise 4 - Selection Tools

Magnetic Lasso Tool
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Magic Wand Tool
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Journal 3 - From the Hip......

I loved this assignment. It was really fun to go out and just "point and shoot" without looking. Many of my shots were pretty crappy, but I was able to get seven really decent shots to post. The ice that formed around the trees was beautiful.

Chest Level - Angled Up
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Ground Shot - Straight Up
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Ground Shot - Straight Across
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Chest Level - Angled Down
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Ground Level - Straight Across
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Above Head - Angled Down
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Chest Level - Angled Up