Lighting Assignment

When I first saw this in the syllabus I was truly worried, whenever I think of shots I never truly took into account the lighting, either there was enough or there wasn't, and most of the time flash would take care of the rest. So an entire assignment based off information I was not used to looking for was quite scary. Upon finishing the lecture I went back and looked at my photos and realized without knowing I do take some of the elements into my photographing and now I have more tools. The shots of the old bank vault door were taken with no flash and I was really happy with how they turned out. Overall the assignment and lecture taught me to look outside the box when it comes to the lighting around me. With no further adieu here are my favorite 5 pictures from this assignment.

I know its a little blurry but I love the way the gold and lettering came out. This was taken on the front of an old bank vault door in the basement of my office.  The light came from the hallway.

I took this shot directly after the lighting lecture, and used only the street lights as my source, again it came out blurry but the extra shutter time made it difficult to handle the camera with no shaking, that and the cold.

This shot was taken from my office window loverlooking an accident on the street. A car ran a readlight and hit another car. This is the firecrew getting the jaws of life out and preparing to rescue the trapped vehiclist.

This is another shot of the accident, you can barely make out the motorist lying on the front seat of the car while firefighters are doing their job. The man in the white jacket is the actual marshall who was seen on the news following the accident. I like how the sunlight is just on the edge of the shot.

 This is full sized shot of the bank vault door, I could not figure out how to rotate it however. I love how the metal reflected most of the hallway light on top while keeping the bottom shadowed. The silver and bronze are deeply contrasthing one another.

Composition Assignment

When I first saw this assignment in the syllabus I figured it would be pretty simple, I would simply photograph my steps through a day, from waking up to work and through school, but in my mind and reality were two different things. I quickly ran out of pictures and decided against multiples, which in hindsight I wish I had done. I am learning to take photos from different angles and setting rather than just one shot that I am happy with. The second challange was sifting through and finding 5 photos to put on here. But I made it through both challenges and learned something along the way. With no further adieu here are my 5 favorites.

I really like this picture because of the way the lighting and the framework from the steps and windows comes through, I wish I had an option to zoom out a bit further but in order to get this shot I needed to be at the bottom step as far back as I could get. I walk up two sets of stairs just like this every day.

At first I didn't like this shot but as I took another glance at it something about it caught my eye. It is pretty much the same steps as the first image but from the other direction. I like the way the light shows up on the handles of the railing yet the steps are shadowed.

I chose this image because I am a pretty hardcore video game player and I have always like the feel and shape of the 360 controller. I took many shots of the controller but felt this one was centered the best and showed its coloring and shape. I wish I had unplugged the controller cord first but then seeing it in there made me think of it as complete.

I chose to include this image because working full time leaves me little time to do things. I learned how to photograph while driving my car safely at the same time was a very challenging thing and yet some amazing shots could be taken this way. I like how the camera actually brought out the yellow of the traffic sign.

I think of the entire series this is my favorite picture. This is what I wake up to every day before heading to work. I love the view of my front yard and the way the sun sends colors through the trees Once spring hits though, these trees are covered in leaves and growth. I was fortunate enough to take my camera out with me to start up my car and capture this image.

Overall the series catalogues a day in my life. from waking up and leaving my bedroom to the drive to work and back. Each image taken gives some insight as to how I spend my day and evenings. I wish I had put more thought into the overall project but again, I figured oh hey just take a shot every so many feet and at different places. I will not be making that mistake again and will be planning each additional assignment much better.

My first five photos

This is a picture of my niece, she did not like having her picture taken by her uncle and hit under the table. It fits within the grid by filling all but the bottom left corner and her face takes up the center intersections. I believe this photo shows true emotion. What I wish I had done differntly is perhaps not had such a close up.

This is my niece getting over her fear of the camera and wanting to try it out for herself. I love the pleading/curious look on her face. Its so hard to say no to her sometimes. I did eventually give her the camera though I held it while she pressed the buttons. This picture is pretty well centered even with her tugging on the straps as you can see. It fills the center of the grid and focuses on her face and hands. Again I wish I wasn't so zoomed in on this pic when I took it.

I took this picture in the morning on my way to the car. This view is just outside my front door and I was lucky enough to capture the sun creeping up in the horizon. I took the flash off and tried to use the natural light. Its not as balanced as I wold like but the shot was there and I took it kind of hastily.

This is a building just outside my office and I look at it every day. I was lucky enough to get this shot off from the window and I think the lighting really brings out the brick color. I wish the cars would have been parked elsewhere for it does take from the architecture shot that I was looking for. The building is pretty well centered. The bottom of the grid is filled with cars and unfortunately I got the rear end of one in the far left.

Another of the buildings outside my office space. I love taking pictures of large buildings and I spent quite while trying to find just the right angle to take this shot. I wish I was a little more focused to the left though but wanted to get two sides of the building in the shot. The main building takes up most of the grid with only the bottom center and right being empty.

Overall I loved this project and definately pushed myself to make the quota and learn more about my camera. I would always put it on auto or maybe landscape and snap away, with this project I spent more time developing my shots and making them count.