Week 10: Double Exposure

Week 10: In our Photography II Class, we are focusing on taking photographs and manipulating them using the concept of double exposure. Here are the results.

Craft: The Craft of this assignment is the following: Digital SLR Camera (Canon E05 Rebel T5i), phone camera, a computer and Adobe Photoshop. The majority of the work was done with the camera with minimal post-processing done in Adobe Photoshop to accommodate over-exposure, color correction, and cropping the image to get the best composition and image. After that, different layers and layer filters were used to create a double-exposure in which the two images overlapped one another.

Composition: During class, we were tasked with taking photographs and manipulating them to appear as a double exposure. First, I edit the images to have as best quality as I can. This includes checking for over-exposure, over or undersaturation, checking the levels and curves, and adjusting the camera raw file as a whole to get the best quality image. I then cropped the image to achieve the best composition. After that, I overlayed the second image, manipulating the levels and curves to get the proper contrast with both. Deleting the backgrounds on certain images and erasing the overlay over other parts, I was able to come up with the interesting overlays I have.

Concept: In this project, we were tasked with creating five images that revolved around the concept of double-exposure. What I took chose as an idea was the creation of new landscapes in which a secondary image, usually a scenery with a physical object of focus was overlayed as a multiply layer that symbolizes an alternative of the landscape below it. For example, the river image has a photo of a beaver dam above it, indicating a relationship between the two. The life of the beavers depends on that stream and the stream's form, in turn, relies on the beavers being or not being there. I used the general concept of double-exposure to convey a sense of duality for each piece I photographed.

Special Blog Post: Lesson Project Pitch

As we have passed our latest assignment, it is time to choose what we do for our next assignment. As a painter and illustrator, Still Life illustrations are near and dear to me. What I have yet to see as a project for our class that would be great would be pure still life photography. There is a reason still life is a mainstay of painting classes and illustration workshops. It trains our eyes to perceive the mundane in detail beyond what we are used to seeing. As such, I believe finding a way to incorporate still life imagery into photography would be a great idea for our next project. As we are starting the next half of this class, I believe getting back to basics and using the skills we have to advance a more simplistic subject matter and make them exemplary. Another way to approach this would be to abstract the Still Life to give it a needed alteration. Coming from the point-of-view of a painter and illustrator, I am interested in incorporating the lessons and principles of that media and use it into photography. Several photographers that I take as inspiration for this assignment would be Irving Penn, André Kertész, and Edward Weston. The following are images by the respective artists.

https://www.irvingpenn.org/still-life/
http://www.atgetphotography.com/The-Photographers/Andre-Kertesz.html
http://edward-weston.com/edward-weston/

Special Blog Post: Midterm Images

Special Blog Post: In our Photography II Class, we are focusing on advancing our skills in articulating our ideas and visions into compelling and aesthetically pleasing photographs. This week, we have reached our midterm and retouching our photos from last week. As such we were asked to submit our best works we have done this semester. These are my ten images.

Craft: The Craft of this assignment is the following: Digital SLR Camera (Canon E05 Rebel T5i), a computer, and Adobe Photoshop. As this a compilation of different projects, the craft demanded a variety was mainly a concept-based assignment. In some, it was required to alter the image to remember a painting. Other images required some cropping and adjustments to make the images as clear as possible.

Composition: In this class, we were tasked with arranging our best images we have taken this semester. As a result, we were not required to take any new images this week. However, to make these images our best, we had to adjust our images, crop parts out, photoshop blemishes out, and correct exposure, color, etc to achieve the most interesting and aesthetically pleasing images. The photos had to be camera raw files in order to achieve the best quality and control.

Concept: In this project, we were tasked with arranging the most successful photos we have taken this semester. As this is the concept of the project, all the photos are from a range of projects from previous weeks. As a result, the purpose or concept of the images is different. However, the general ide is to select that which highlights and is an exemplar of that week and of this semester.

Week 9: Research Expo

Week 8: In our Photography II Class, we are focusing on taking photographs of our school's research expo. We were tasked with taking the photographs and categorizing them in the following categories, still life, artist and their work, and artists in conversation. Here are the results.

Craft: The Craft of this assignment is the following: Digital SLR Camera (Canon E05 Rebel T5i), phone camera, a computer and Adobe Photoshop. As this was mainly a promotional-style assignment, the majority of the work was done with the camera with minimal post-processing done in Adobe Photoshop to accommodate over-exposure, color correction, and cropping the image to get the best composition and image.

Composition: During class, we were tasked with taking photographs in several different categories in rapid succession of one another. A reason for this was the fact that some of us had a limited time being there due to other commitments. As a result, there was a spontaneity of the photos we took. Often, we had mere minutes to take successful images in one category before moving onto the next. The three categories of three images we took were still life photos of the various interesting objects on the tables, the second one was taking photos of the artists and their work, and the third was having people in conversation genuinely speaking to one another about the exhibitions. As I was there early to help set up the show, I did not have time to get my camera, I had to improvise with my phone. Once the photos were taken, they were edited in photoshop to make them presentable.

Concept: In this project, we were tasked with taking nine images on three different categories, still life, the eye of the artist, and artists in conversation. This was during the research expo of our school, we were tasked with taking the best photos regarding research, enthusiasm, and advertisement. As we were creating photos that would possibly be used as promotional pieces or for display, making sure that they followed the standards of thirds and competent composition was important when we were considering which photos were good and which were bad from the ones we took. Finding ones that felt genuine and were attractive was a difficult one at times, especially for those of us that were unprepared and only had cell phones to take the images. But perhaps the amateurish feel of the camera photos will provide that needed genuine feel.

Week 8: Straight Photography

Week 8: In our Photography II Class, we are focusing on advancing our skills in articulating our ideas and visions into compelling and aesthetically pleasing photographs. This week, we have moved away from photos as art to move towards straight photography, the process of capturing reality as it is through the lens of a camera.The photos above are the selected pieces I have chosen to illustrate the work I have done this week for the class.

Craft: The Craft of this assignment is the following: Digital SLR Camera (Canon E05 Rebel T5i), a computer, Adobe Photoshop, and a printer. As this was mainly a concept-based assignment, the majority of the work was done with the camera with minimal post-processing done in Adobe Photoshop to accommodate over-exposure, color correction, and inverting the colors in some pieces for next week's assignment.

Composition: In this class, we were tasked with taking photographs in the manner of straight photography meaning the photo captures the subject in sharp focus and detail retaining the reality of which it was taken without alteration that would tend it towards picture-making or make it appear as if it was not a photograph such as the case with pictorialism. As such, post-processing was kept to a minimum to correct errors in the photograph such as color correction, over or under-exposure, and inverting colors of some of the photos for the assignment for next week. Following capturing the photos as RAW files, I made the corrections and saved them as jpegs, uploading them here. We were also required to print out several photos in 8x10 inch formats with a one-inch bleed or white margin.

Concept: In this project, we were tasked with creating photographs that would be as unaltered and as "straight" as possible. As the process we were tasked with learning was straight photography, this was the main concept. The few alterations we did to our photographs were to make them presentable and ready for what we'd use them for next week. As we were tasked with making an abstract photo as well, I chose to go into the woods near where I live and photograph into the sea of wintry trees to capture the texture of the forest.