Unusual and Interesting photos (all parts)

Part 1

I personally love Christian Rhum's work. It is so unique

and it makes you look at normal buildings in a whole new way.

I think he made this with a mix of multiple exposures and photoshop. I love 

this shot because it looks as though a portal is opening in the city, but it is

really just a bridge. I think a good building to take this kind of photograph 

of is the frost bank. It is relatively close, not all the way across town or anything.

Buildings in that area are pretty easy access for me, though I would have to

drive there.

Part 2

Photojournalist of the Year

I picked this photograph because it shows real-life distress and tragedy.

This photo was in the "photojournalist of the year" category

This photograph won 2nd place in the competition 

I really love how the photographer captured the silhouette of the girl in front of the huge fire.

I think that you see the subject of this photo almost instantly when you look at this photo, so I am guessing that  it weighed in the judges' minds very much. The girl makes the photo. Without her, there would be no story.

I think the photographer had to move around a lot and be patient to catch this shot. He couldn't just ask the woman to put her arms up like that because this is a photo of real life. It cannot be staged or posed.

Local Portrait and Personality

I picked this photo because it shows the woman's personality well.

This photo was in the category of Local Portrait and Personality and it came in 3rd place.

The photographer made sure to get the candles in the photo, and since they are the brightest things in the photo my eyes were drawn to them.

Since this photo was entered for Local Portrait and Personality, the subject of the photo had to have weighed on the judges' minds a lot. What is a portrait without a subject? 

I think that one unique thing this photographer had to do to capture this image was wait. Maybe the subject was posed, but her body looks very relaxed. I imagine that the photographer hovered around with her while she went about her day in order to capture her personality naturally.

Sports Action

                                                   I picked this photo because it is very dramatic.

I found this photo in the Sports Action category.

This photograph won place AE3 in it's section. (I don't know what that is)

The photographer drew my eye by zooming in on the subject, capturing the moment as though i was right next to the girl when it happened.

I believe that the subjects in this photo weighed on the judges' minds very much when they were judging becasue they are what tell the whole story. There would be only mud if the lamb (or goat) and child were gone.

Something unique that I believe this photographer did is use a special long-distance lens to get a close-up photo.

Part 3

"We should take photos of things that have meaning to us."

"Photographers should be aware that different light in the same photo can not only come from inside to outside but also be from places like under trees to out in the open."

"The decisive moment is not only a human happening. Photographers also have to look for it in nature."

The Kiss By Klimt

"Klimt is very famous for his stylized paintings but in this one there is still that

 moment of connection between his subjects."

This photograph followed the suggestions from Klimt's painting very well, I believe.

When you look at the photo you can feel the connection between the two of them.

Klimt is one of my favorite artists of all time, but I do not know what the name of his painting style is,

I feel that it is too personalized to put a definite label on. His work influences me a lot.

Favorite Photograph (Jostens)

The photo I liked the best out of the Jostens academic/community service section is a photograph titled 'Political Secrets". It shows a political-looking woman whispering into an old man's ear. Blurred behind them is an american flag. I liked this photo because the change between the man and the woman looks sneaky, as if she is telling him what his next move should be. The flag in the background adds to the political feel of the picture. Another reason I chose this photo is because it goes by the rule of thirds really well. 

I think I could take photos like this one inside of the school, not in natural light. To capture an image that has a cold feeling to it, it is easiest to use artificial light. I would like to is it Mr. Logan's art room to take photos, but I won't be aiming for a photograph like the one I described, I will be taking a variety of types. All of the photos I looked at today were great, and I will be moving around and experimenting with my camera when we take photos in order to get a good shot like them.

Filling the Frame

Out of all of the photos in the academic/community
service section of Jostens, I found this photograph by far
the most interesting one. It fills the frame with things that
are cool to look at, like the glittery smoke at the bottom
and the reflections of it on the students' safety masks.
There is some dark space, but it adds to the outer-spaceish
vibe I pick up off of this photograph.

Action and Emotion

I didn't pick this photo for the action but for the emotion.
The look on her face tells you that she is paying attention
to what she is doing, and she is doing it for a reason. I guess
this photo could count for action also since she is holding
a plant an then reaching for the ground. But yeah, this photo
definitely shows a lot of emotion.

The Story

I chose this photo as the one that tells the best story
because I honestly think it does. The look of wonder and
excitement on the girls' faces tells it all. There is some kind
of foam (?) bursting into the air during a science experiment,
and they seem like they are having a great time. When you look
at this photo, you can pretty much tell what is going on.

Photo Manipulation and Ethics

When taking photographs for a journal or newspaper, people want to see photos that show real life. The photographers named in the article failed to give those. They took photos that they considered imperfect, so they edited them in photoshop to make them look different. This is unethical for a photographer and I believe that they should have left the photos untouched, for life itself is imperfect and viewers deserve to see that in photography. You should not take a picture of something and then go back and alter it, and the author of that article believed so too.

Original, 1970

 Altered, 1995
I believe that this photo is the least unethical out of all of the
altered pictures in the article because all they did was lighten
it up a bit. In the original picture it is very dark and blotchy,
but if I were the photo editor I still wouldn't have altered it.
I only chose this phot because it was barely altered, unlike
some of the more severe ones where heads and faces of

                   people were placed into photos.

Un-altered image 1

Un-altered image 2

Altered image
I think that this is the most unethical photo of the bunch.
Why edit a photo of real-life terror and pain as if there wasn't
enough of it in the two original photos? The people in these
pictures are real and this was their life. I guess that wasn't
enough for the person who photoshopped these two photos
together, and I think that isn't right.

Post Shoot Reflection

1. During our first prompt shoot, I had a difficult time taking pictures of things people hadn't already. I took a photo of a fire hydrant, but then I noticed that practically everyone else had at least one photo of the same hydrant. It took some major brainpower, but eventually I took some creative shots.

2. In this shoot I found myself turning the camera and moving around a lot. When I was taking my photo for "metal", I squatted down and basically just scooted about until I got the right shot. Another example is when I decided to turn the camera upside down to get the shot I was going for. I also focused the camera a lot, but I always do that.

3. If I had the chance to take the photos again, I would definitely try and use the rule of thirds in a few of my shots. I have a habit of taking pictures with the focus in the middle.

4. 


Reagan's Photoj Blog
I really liked Reagan's first prompt shoot photos. I especially like the one with the vines. I love the way they curve and twist, and Reagan captured that well. I also like her close-up of the yellow flowers, very nice! Even though her photos were great, she could have been used the rule of thirds a little more.

The First 6 Rules of Composition

Border Merger
I chose this photo for border merger because 
There are a lot of people who have cut off arms 
and legs, and that doesn't always make a good 
photo. Even though this photo is an example of
border merger it is still a wonderful photograph.

Balance
I think this photo has a good sense of 
balace. At the bottom there is a triangle,
and if you split it down the middle there 
are two buildings going up from each side,
with one small one going up where your line
would be drawn.

Lines
This photograph is a good example of lines 
because, well… there are lines in it. There 
is also a man falling from above and he is 
parallel to the lines. This was taken at just 
the right second. The lines help draw 
attention to the focus point, which I would
say is the falling man.

The Rule of Thirds
This photograph uses the rule of thirds pretty well.
the focus of the photo, which I would say is the fire-
fighters, is in the bottom right corner. If it were in the 
middle, bottom-middle or top-middle it wouldn't 
be a good example of the rule of thirds.

Framing
This picture is a good example of framing in my opinion
because the buildings kind of draw your attention to the 
plane. The building in the bottom left looks like an arrow
pointing at it, and one of the twin towers is blocking off
anything that may distract your eyes from the plane.
The two building together frame the plane.       

Simplicity
I love this photo. It may seem that there is a lot 
going on at first, but the things that would normally
draw your attention don't because there is so much
of it. There is rubble on the ground, but the amount of 
rubble doesn't seem the change. The sides both show 
buildings, and in the middle, walking down the road, 
there is a single man. He is the focus point.

Top 40 Photos

Jack Bradley  

I find this photograph of a boy hearing for the first time absolutely beautiful.
 The little boy's face shows so much raw emotion. I can only imagine what was
going on inside his head at that moment. His open mouth and wide eyes are what
really makes this photo a work of art. I think that this was chosen to be in the list of
top 40 photos because it isn't just me who sees that. 

Photographer Unknown

When I look at this photo, my eyes are immediately drawn to the man on the right. He is defiantly
 confronting a man named Heinrich Himmler who is inspecting the camp he and his fellow prisoners of war are being confined. My eyes are immediately drawn to the man's ribs and cheekbones and how they protrude. I feel that this photo captures just how unequal these people
 are being treated. The photographer made sure to draw the viewer's eyes to the barbed
 fence in-between the prisoners and the inspectors, and from there, the young man. He did
this by positioning the finder so that the fence is almost down the middle of the photo.
 I believe that this photo was put in the top 40 because of the statement it makes.

Helmuth Pirath

I chose this photo for the same reason I chose the two above; the emotion.This photo shows a little girl seeing her father, a German World War II prisoner,
for the first time since she was 1. He had just been released by the soviet union .
I think the photographer meant to draw your eyes to the young girl's face because that is exactly
where mine goes. Her face is one of the lightest parts in this black and white photo, standing out
from the black coats and shadows. Beautiful things like this really do happen in real life, and I think that's why this photo made the cut to be in the top 40.

1st Prompt Shoot

Happy

Square

Bowie

Metal

Warm Up

When I first looked at these photos, I felt that they looked familiar but I couldn't figure out what they were for a few seconds. I thought that this was a very good idea. The photos make you think and laugh about how silly but beautiful these people look. I'd love to do something like this sometime.

http://petapixel.com/2014/09/14/flipping-photographs-upside-turns-ordinary-portraits-strange-alien-faces/

The Camera

The Camera

1. The camera obscura effect is an optical effect discovered by Greek and Chinese philosophers, and it is achieved by creating a very small hole in the wall of a very dark room and shining a small light through it. when you  do this, the outside scene is projected upside down on the wall inside the dark room.
2. When Isaac Newton and Christian Huygens began to understand optics and how to create high-quality lenses in the 17th century, we came one step closer to modern cameras.

3. The first modern camera, created by Niepce, had these parts: a glass lens, a dark box, and film.

4. Modern cameras are similar to Niepce's "modern" camera. They both have light that passes through the lens, into the camera, and exposes the film.

5. Digital cameras use an electronic sensor called CDD to capture images.

6. Auto mode controls flash and exposure, while Program lets you do that yourself. Program is basically just point and shoot but it lets you control more than on Auto mode.
7. Portrait mode is best to use if you want to take a photo of something and blur out the background, and the camera will try to use the fastest lens setting available. You use portrait mode simply by pressing on the button that has a face on it.
8. Sports mode is used when you want to freeze motion. The camera will use the highest lens speed possible.

9. You should half-press the trigger button because when you do that, the camera focuses by itself.

10. That symbol means that you are disabling flash. You would use this when you do not want/need flash.
11. That symbol is auto-flash. This is usually set by default on most camera modes. Your camera will use this when it thinks your photo needs more light.

12. If there is too much light in your photo it will become washed out.
13. If there is not enough light in your photo then it will be too dark.

14. A stop is a relative change in the brightness of light.
15.1 suns brighter
16. 3 suns brighter

17. A longer shutter speed lets more light in.
18. A shorter shutter speed means less light.
19. Aperture controls how much light is being let into the camera.
20. When adjusting the aperture, you can let more light in by making the f-stop number smaller.

Great Black and White Photographers (part 2 and 3)

      Great Black and White Photographers (part 2)

Harry Callahan

Harry Morey Callahan was born on October 22, 1912 in Detroit, Michigan. As a kid he lived in a neighborhood called Royal Oaks, and he attended the local public schools up until college. After working at Chrysler as a young man, he attended Michigan State College and studied engineering, but dropped out after 3 semesters in 1933. He then went back to Chrysler and joined the camera club. That same year (1933), he met his future wife Eleanor Knapp on a blind date. They married 3 years later. It was 1944 when he really decided to take photography seriously. A talk given by Ansel Adams inspired him to do so. Harry loved to take pictures of streets, buildings, and his lovely wife Eleanor. She was his favorite subject. In 1950, their daughter Barbara was born. Throughout the years, he continued to take wonderful photos. In 1996, he was awarded the national medal of arts. He later died at age 85 at his home in Atlanta.

  

1

2

3

    Great Black and White Photographers (part 3)

While looking at Harry Callahan's photography, I was touched by his photos.

I loved that his wife Eleanor was his muse. When I saw them for the first time

I was attracted to the beautiful simplicity of them. Some of them I can't believe

weren't highly edited they are so unique. If you want to see a bit of what I am

talking about, three of Callahan's photographs are above. They are a few of

my favorite pieces by him.

Photograph 1, photographer's point of view- 

I see my wife's beautiful face.
I smell her sweet perfume, a gentle scent.
I hear the birds chirping outside of our window.
I taste the coffee I drank before we started the shoot.
I feel the camera up against my face.

Photograph 2, photographers point of view-

I see Eleanor's pale features.
I smell the seawater below the bridge we stand on.
I hear the crash of waves against the shore.
I taste salt in my mouth.
I feel cold as an ocean breeze brushes past our bodies.

Photograph 3, photographers point of view-

I see the skeletons of trees that long to blossom

I smell a burning fire in the distance.
I hear the crinkling of dead leaves beneath my feet.
I taste hot cocoa.
I feel a shiver rush down my spine as I try to capture the perfect winter scene.

I would absolutely love making a book and putting Callahan's photographs in it

along with my favorite poems. In my opinion, poems are created to be paired 

other kinds of art. Doing this, I believe people will see the photos, read the poems,

and gain an overall deeper understanding of the photographer's work.

                                         

Great Black and White Photographers

H. Callahan
Eleanor
1949

 E.J. Bellocq
untitled

William Eggleston 
Halloween, 1971

First Photos- Best and Worst

This photo is my favorite out of all of mine because I feel I captured Hailey's
happiness at the moment very well. I especially love the way the sun glares
over her head. When I asked her to laugh, it looked very natural and I think
that looks very good on-camera. I also like the way the sunlight catches on
her fly-aways and makes them very light-colored.
Thanks Hailey! 

This is my least favorite photo. When I look at it, I feel like there just isn't a lot
to look at. In my mind, it is nothing but a girl posing on a bench at school. I"m
pretty sure thats exactly what it looks like to anyone else who looks at the photo
 too. Maybe if I had told her to look a bit more natural it would have looked better.
Thanks Faith!

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