Rules of photography part 2

Scarlett Johansson

 Rule of thirds

 Viewpoint

 Cropping

 Symmetry

 Background

 Leading Lines

 Depth

 Balance

 Merger

Framing 

Self portraits part 1

1. Experiment with Subject Expressions

In some portraits it is the expression on the face of your subject that makes the image. Get your subject to experiment with different moods and emotions in your image. Play with extreme emotions

2. Play with Eye Contact

It is amazing how much the direction of your subject’s eyes can impact an image. Most portraits have the subject looking down the lens – something that can create a real sense of connection between a subject and those viewing the image.

I like this photo because it shows how this man is living in bad conditions; it's like a cry for help. 

I chose this photo because it shows how she enjoys fancy and frilly things though it is very simple.

I like this photo a lot because of her playful and silly side being exposed.

I found this photo nice because it has a certain mystery to it. Did his cat die? Did he drop is brownie? We won't know, but he's sad.

I really liked this casual portrait because this happy dude looks great. He's probably having a great time ruling the patriarchy and getting paid better than the rest of the population. You go, John Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen. You're number one. 

I chose this photo because it portrays the tough life of a female. She knows she gets paid 75% as much as John Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen and she's really sad about it. She is probably a teenager dealing with a lot of stress with homework, as well as health issues. 

For my portrait shoot, I intend on having a glamourous shoot consisting of my fabulous friends and family. I would shoot in my garage, so that we could have proper lighting and avoid mergers (also, add simplicity). I would have someone sitting in a chair, and a lamp next to them for balance.

Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO

In Aperture, our eyes are very much like the lens. The smaller the area in focus, the larger the aperture number. Aperture impacts the depth of a photo by making negative space unfocused.

 f2.8 aperture

f16 aperture

Shutter Speed

At the beginning while the sun was still up and the courtyard had reasonable good light

a.) a booth in the middle of the yard near the Tree - 1/150
b.) a food booth outside under one of the big red awnings - 1/500
c.) the Stars performance inside the gym - 1/1000
d.) students dancing near the center of the courtyard - 1/750
e.) people streaming in from the front doors - 1/300
f.) the basketball booth where students are shooting basketballs at a hoop - 1/500

Towards the end when there is no sun and has gotten dark enough that you can't see from one end of the courtyard to the other.

a.) a booth in the middle of the yard near the Tree - 1/500

b.) a food booth outside under one of the big red awnings - 1/750

c.) the Stars performance inside the gym - 1/1000

d.) students dancing near the center of the courtyard - 1/1000

e.) people streaming in from the front doors - 1/750

f.) the basketball booth where students are shooting basketballs at a hoop - 1/1000

Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority. Manual

ISO

1. High ISO is really great for capturing extremely fast shots such as at a sports game, without changing the shutter speed. 

2. Always use the smallest ISO possible.

3. You should make the ISO larger when there isn't enough light to quickly take a photo.

Simulation Camera

Aperture: 2.8 - 22

Shutter Speed: 1 Sec - 1/5000 Sec

ISO: 100 - 25600

Love and Loss

    I felt a whole swirl of emotions, once her hair become shorter I knew where it was heading.
These photos aren't just a simple descriptions of his life, they actually are his story. I definitely could shoot photos like this in this situation, I have been in it before. If I could write the photographer a letter, I would tell him that I am sorry for his loss, seen as that is probably only the best I can do without sounding like I have had fallen in love and had that person die of cancer, because that did not indeed happen to me. I would hope he is getting tons of support from others in his situation.

Abandoned Amusement Parks

        I'd really like to go to Shidaka's utopia in Japan. The house of horrors seems like an extraordinarily exciting thing to photograph, and maybe I'd have fun getting spooked out by old, rotting, horrors. The old monsters in there seem really neat and I'd love to scare a few of my friends.

Five other unusual places include:

1. Tuol Sleng prison (Cambodia)

2. Moundsville Penitentiary

3. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

4. Athens, Greece

5. Land of Oz,  NC

So far, no one has started documenting any of these sites, but the Land of Oz seems like an extremely fun place to document for me. It is placed in North Carolina, and was recently reopened after being abandoned for years. It has the eerie childish feel of what was once treasured as a family location, but is now a run down, almost horrifying sight. I would enjoy taking photos of the thousands of missing bricks from the yellow brick road, leading into a foggy morning. The setting with old scraggly trees sets the mood just right for an award winning location of creepiness. As far as equipment, I'd need a jacket and some good company...

Africa

         Nick Brandt's photography is stunning. I find it wonderful that he spends time and effort to put the soul of the animals into each photo. He doesn't use a telephoto lens, so he has to get up close himself, which is fantastic and absolutely breathtaking if you think about it. 

     

This photo is my favorite because it shows the Lion standing above the  rest of  the land, and how he is looking across it. The rule of thirds is definitely evident here because he is standing in one third of the photo, facing the other two.Brandt photographs on medium-format black and white film without telephoto or zoom lenses, because that isn't how you would capture a portrait of a human. Brandt embarked on his photographic journey to show the world the vanishing wildlife population of east-africa. He intends to conserve african wildlife with the Big Life Foundation. "I'm not interested in creating work that is simply documentary or filled with action and drama, which has been the norm in the photography of animals in the wild. What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of Being. In the state of Being before they are no longer are. Before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us. To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live, and this feeling, this belief that every animal and I are equal, affects me every time I frame an animal in my camera. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically vanishing before our eyes."

Funny Captions

Gertrude is attending the Disney princess convention. Where she hoped to find her prince...

Time to round up them cattle, Bob! Don't want that milk to turn to powder like last year!

Robert still thinks the germans are invading. He even attacked the postman last week.

Great Black and White Photographers part 3

           When I first saw Lothar Wolleh's photos, I thought that they were very subtle yet very chilling at the same time. I found them intriguing and simple and I enjoyed the quality of his composition. The first photo I chose was of Rene Magritte, a Surrealist of the time, and the photo had a sense of pride and quirkiness. The second photo seemed dark and disturbing and I just was lured t o its enchanting and grave aura.

 I see pride

I smell cleaning supplies

I hear footsteps among the hall of artwork

I taste my tongue drying of nerves with a famous artist

I feel the cold atmosphere for the condition of artwork

I see darkness 

I smell soot and dust

I hear disapproving grunts from the man before me

I taste all the dust in the air

I feel my body tense in such a grave setting

I would like to make a long series of portraits describing everyone's personalities (in the class), and maybe with the teachers too. 

Great Black and White Photographers part 2

Lothar Wolleh

   

Lothar Wolleh was born on January 20th, 1930. He grew up in Nazi Germany during World War II and studied Concrete Painting through his elementary years. Wolleh spent six year in a labor camp in Siberia, he was charged with 15 years originally for spying on the Russians. He loved to take portraits of other photographers or artists, including the surrealist Magritte. Lothar Wolleh died in 1979.

Rene Magritte

The Patriarch of Constantinople 

Photo Mural Project

1. I think creativity it a good theme that we could shoot at school.

2. I think because not everyone is privileged to have camera phones, we should use the cameras.

3.I would put the mural alongside the gigantic front pavilion as you walk in.

Academic Shoot Reflection and Critique

1. During this photo shoot, I had troubles with not knowing what was happening school wide. It was a very harsh experience because my partner and I couldn't capture very eventful things. Many classes had gone to lunch and some were testing for the end of the 6 weeks. 
2. I found focus and framing to be on my mind a majority of this photo shoot. It was difficult to find good gales in which framing was on point, and even then the photo would come out crooked. 
3. If I could do this assignment again, I would make use of the rule of thirds on almost every photo. It would really pay off to make them more interesting and less amateur. 
4. I would definitely keep my use of simplicity in the large back of the library.
5. I think the easiest rule to achieve is lines.
6. I believe the hardest rule to achieve is simplicity with such a busy school.
7. I am still not totally clear on the rule of thirds. I think if I could see a few more examples I would understand.

Critique:

http://amayasphotojournalismblog.blogspot.com

These photos are very clear and mostly are very obvious in which rule they are showing. 

I believe that they could improve their rule of thirds by coming at it from a different angle, and also their simplicity photo was too busy.

Academic Shoot

Balance
I believe that I followed this rule well. The subject of the photo is an a student on the keyboard in an animation class, and it is quite clear to others that this is a class in a computer lab. I could have probably taken a better shot to show the symmetrical balance of the student and the keyboard.

Simplicity
I believe that this rule was shown very well. This student is taking time in the school library to work on homework during an off period, which is obviously shown by the vast background and his concentration on his work. I think that I portrayed this rule well enough.

Lines
I definitely followed this rule very well. This is a student checking out books in the library surrounded by bookcases, obvious to all. I don't think I need any improvements on this rule.

Framing

Here we have the previous student filtering through professional books for a teacher, well framed by a doorway. It may not be quite that obvious to everyone what she is doing, so I think I could have rethought this shot. In all though, the framing is well done.

Rule of Thirds
I believe that I poorly followed the rule of thirds here. This is a student studying in the library, which is obvious to anyone. I do believe that I could've gotten this photo with a less active background and a less messy foreground.