Academic Shoot Reflection and Critique

1.The biggest challenge of following the rules of composition while taking candid photos is that the subjects are constantly moving and don't always position themselves in the best stance to be photographed. This is when photographers need to be creative in order to take dynamic photos even in these situations. 
2.I found myself most thinking about focus while taking these photos. The subjects are always moving, so I had to take dozens of photos in each position I was currently in to guarantee at least one decent, focused photo.
3. If I were to do the assignment again, I would focus on experimenting with more interesting angles to make my pictures more interesting. 
4. Doing the assignment again, one thing I would do the same is to take photos where the most interesting action is happening. An interesting photo starts with an interesting subject.
5. For me, the easiest rule to achieve is always simplicity and is personally my favorite rule. I enjoy having a really photogenic, bright subject that absorbs the energy of the photo without help from the background. Grungy brick walls are one of my favorite backgrounds to use.
6. The hardest rule to capture is always lines. You have to be creative in a type of way that isn't typically on my mind while I'm taking photos.
7. The rule that I'm still not totally clear on is lines, which is part of the reason I have trouble capturing it. To me, lines can be someone's line of vision leading a viewer's eye to where the subject is looking, even though this line is imaginary. Before I do my next prompt shoot, I will look at examples of photos that use this rule. 

http://angelasphotojournalismblog.blogspot.com/

• Each of these photos have a very clear subject and fill the frame nicely. 
• However, the photos could potentially do a better job following the rules of composition. Some of these aren't very clear in the pictures. 

Photo Manipulation and Ethics

A. It is left to readers to decide the limits to photo-editing and what is ethical or unethical. The media plays an important role in influencing what an audience believes using their photos, so if these photos are altered, is it fair to to an audience to make judgements this way? Another question arises from this: due to those who post online such as bloggers, what is considered media?
B. The philosophy of the New York Times and Washington Post is that an audience has the right to make judgements based on the truth. If a photo is altered, than it is no longer an original, valid image of the event.
C. It is ethical to alter a photo to portray the event more accurately. For example, if the photo was underexposed, then you could rightfully edit the tone of the photo to restore it. 
D. 
 
This is the most unethical photo on the site. This photo is completely unethical because it portrays Sarah Palin as a potentially violent and radical women when all along, perhaps the only valid part of the photograph was her face.
E.

This is the least unethical photo on the site. This photo is the least unethical because it only causes Couric to be more aesthetically appealing while many of the other photos are being manipulated in order to sabotage someone or cause an audience to develop a certain emotion because of the image.

Academic Shoot

Framing:

This photo follows the composition rule of framing. The subject is a student framed between the sink in a biology classroom.  When people look at this photo, it is clear that the student is the subject.
Balance:

This photo follows the composition rule of balance. The subjects are the two students. When people look at this photo, it is clear that the boys are the subject.
Simplicity:

This photo follows the composition rule of simplicity. The subject is the student standing by the door. It is clear that she is the subject because a viewer's eye is drawn to her when they look at the photo.
Rule of Thirds:

This photo follows the composition rule of rule of thirds. The subject is the student laughing by the sink while she observes a part of her experiment. A viewer's eye is drawn to her while looking at the photo, therefore she is clearly the subject.
Lines:

These photos follow the lines composition rule. The subject of the first photo is the male student working in the sink and the subject of the second photo is the female student studying the fluid in her beaker. These are clearly the subjects of the photos because an eye is drawn to them immediately while looking at the photo and the picture is focused around them.
Merges:

This photo is a bad photo that is an example of merges. The subject was supposed to be the students working at the sink, however the image is too chaotic to easily determine a subject. In order to avoid merges like this in the future, the camera should be more tightly framing a specific subject to decrease the amount of distractions in the photo.

ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture

1. 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22
2. 1 sec, 1/60 sec, 1/4000 sec
3. 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800, 25600

ISO

ISO 200:

ISO 3200:


1. The advantages of shooting at a higher ISO at a sporting event or something with a lot of motion is that the motion is more clear in the photograph.
2. When using a low ISO, there should be plenty of light in the room and when the subject of the photo is still.
3. When there is not enough light for the camera to be able to quickly capture an image or when you need to get ultra fast shots, increase the ISO.

Shutter Speed

High Shutter Speed:


Slow Shutter Speed:


1.
a)low-medium
b)low-medium
c)high
d)high
e)high
f)high

a)medium
b)medium
c)high
d)medium
e)medium
f)medium

2. Aperture Priority-manually set lens aperture while camera automatically sets shutter speed
    Shutter Priority-manually set shutter speed while camera automatically sets aperture
    Manual-manually set both aperture and shutter speed

Aperture

F2.8:


F16 or above:


1. The eye is closely related to aperture.
2. The smaller the aperture, the more light that enters the lens. The higher the aperture, the less light that enters the lens.
3. The smaller the aperture, the more the subject is in focus and the background is blurred. The higher the aperture, the more the background comes into focus.

Black and White Photos 2

B

Bibliography:
"Lee Friedlander." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Friedlander

"Lee Friedlander." / Biography & Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

http://www.atgetphotography.com/The-Photographers/Lee-Friedlander.html

On July 14, 1934, Lee Friedlander was born in Aberdeen, Washington. In Pasadena, he studied photography at the Art Center College of Design. Friedlander worked solo and on his own terms. His early work in 1956 was photographing jazz musicians for album covers. However, his most famous photographs are perhaps those of Madonna, appearing in the September 1985 Playboy. Friedlander's original style focused on the "social landscape." In his years of old age, his photography was focused on his surroundings. By 1988, Friedlander began photographing parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted for a six-year commission from the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. He has published countless books and is still alive today. 

Josten's 2012 Photo Contest

     The photo I selected from the "Academics and Community Service" section in the Josten's 2012 Yearbook Contest was called "Drop the Bass." It was taken of a girl pouring pink paint onto a speaker with the paint splattering upward in front of her face. I picked this photo because I thought it was really interesting looking, not to mention how aesthetically pleasing and unique it was. Although the picture used no tradition rules of photography, it was somewhat related to simplicity. The girl's face was in the background of the subject, but that was part of what made the picture interesting. The photo was strategically taken in a tight frame in order to leave out unimportant parts of the event.
     1. For my academic shoot, I could take a picture like this in a science classroom.
     2. I have Mrs. Keyes, so I will visit her.
     3. In order to practice taking dynamic photos, I will mimic photos that I have seen before and later practice making them unique.

Filling the Frame

Out of the most highly rated Josten's Academic Photo Contest entries, this photo was the most interesting to me. It makes me want to find out what was happening in the picture. What are they wearing masks for? Is that smoke they are looking at? The picture is also more interesting because of the above angle it was taken from. 

Action/Emotion

Out of the most highly rated Josten's Academic Photo Contest entries, this picture beats all of the others by far. Probably the reason it won first place. Moreover, I think that this picture is very unique and does an outstanding job capturing a part of this science experiment that is particularly interesting and triggers emotion from the students. The students are so shocked and amazed at the result of their experiment. 

The Story

Out of the most highly rated Josten's Academic Photo Contest entries, this is the photo that I believe tells the best story. From what I can see, it looks like students are preparing and serving food to homeless people. Based on the clothing and weather, maybe this is something nice that the students are doing on Thanksgiving. The picture is also dynamic because it uses repetition, making it more appealing to look at.

Post Shoot Reflection

1.  While taking the photos to address the prompts "square," "happy," "metal," and "bowie," I had some trouble being creative enough to take dynamic photos that also addressed each prompt.
2. Technical difficulties that I had to overcome were focusing the camera on what I wanted the subject to be. Particularly in my metal themed photo, the camera would focus on something new each time, but not the flower.
3. Before I did the assignment, I already knew the basics of photography. However, my photos would have been much better if I had access to a better subject or location than the school.
4. Although I was very limited to potential photos at the school, I like how I still maintained a decent amount of creativity in my photos.
5. (edit my blog posts to show rules of photography within my photos.)
6. I would like to do these same prompts again without being limited to the school.
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http://briannasphotojournalismblog.blogspot.com/
These pictures are good because of the interesting subjects and potentially existential ideas that they could represent. However, I have a particular complaint about the photo she chose for her "square" prompt. Since the prompt was the square, the picture should have been more focused and excluded the clock with Abe Lincoln on it.

Merges:

Although this photo has a very intriguing subject, there are many things that the photographer could have done to create a more dynamic picture. The focus is somewhat unclear. The red awning over the restaurant distracts from the explosion and the people's reaction to it, which is what I believe the focus of the picture should have been. Perhaps the photographer could have changed his position to be more directly in front of the fleeing people and made the angle feature the people from a lower angle, causing the explosion to appear above them in the background. This would also take away all the distractions in the photo.

Framing:

The streetlight and building on the right side of the photo make this picture more dynamic by framing the explosion. These aspects bring more attention to the destruction.

Balance:

This picture features balance. The two people are almost equally spread across the page. The way that they are turned to each other also creates the idea that they are reflecting each other, forming an even more balanced dynamic.

Lines:

This picture showcases lines in two ways.  Firstly, the building that the firefighters are climbing has windows that feature lines. Secondly, the smoke creates lines in a horizontal direction as well.

Rule of Thirds:

An example of rule of thirds is in this photo because of the man's position on the right bottom side of the page. The picture is more dynamic because of this.

Simplicity:

This photo is a good example of simplicity because of how the man clearly stands out from the background. The background is very faded which helps determine the focus.

Prompt Shoot #1

  bowie and square


happy

metal

The Camera

1. Inside a completely dark room, a tiny hole is created in one wall. Through the hole light is focused, and the outside scene is projected (upside down) on the opposite wall. This is the "camera obscura" effect. The hole acts like a lens, focusing and projecting light onto the wall of the dark chamber. This was the first camera. 
2. Optics and lenses were invented in the 17th century, bringing man kind closer to making the first modern camera. 
3. The parts of the first modern camera invented by Niepce were a glass lens, a dark box, and film. 
4. Modern digital cameras still work the same way as Niepce's camera did. Light passes through the lens, into the camera, exposes the film and the end result is still a photograph.
5. However, nowadays, we don't use film. We use an electronic sensor called a CCD. 
6. Auto: the camera will completely control flash and exposure. On most cameras this is labelled "auto", on others simply "A". 
    Program: automatic-assist, just point and shoot. Unlike full auto mode, you can usually control flash and a few other camera settings.
7.Portrait: to attempt to blur out the background, camera will try to use the fastest available lens setting (aperture).
8.Sports: to freeze motion, camera will use the highest shutter speed possible.
9.  A half press is useful when you want faster camera response time, more control over focus, or better composition. 
10. This image means disabled flash. No flash. There are many cases where you may not want flash at all. The mood of the photograph can sometimes be more dramatic when the natural light is used.
11. This setting means Auto-Flash. In most camera modes, Auto-flash is enabled by default and will automatically fire if the camera thinks it needs more light.
12. If your picture has too much light, then it will be washed out.
13. If your picture doesn't have enough light then the picture will be too dark.
14. A "stop" is a term used in every aspect of photography to represent a relative change in the brightness of light.
15. The new planet will be 1 stop more than earth. 
16. This other planet will be 2 stops more than earth. 
17. Longer shutter speeds = more light
18. Shorter shutter speed= less light
19.  Aperture controls how much light enters the camera. 
20.You can increase the amount of light using the aperture by setting the "Aperture Opening", also known as an F-Stop.