Self Portrait.

What is more important in self-portraiture – envisioning who you are (i.e. your “true self”) or envisioning who you wish to be (i.e. your “best self”)? Why?

In self portraiture, its more important to envision yourself as who you are(hence the name "self portrait.") When one looks at a self portrait, they see who they really are and others can get so much from a photo just by looking at it. One would be able to see the persons emotions, structure, and everything in the background. In a self portrait, a viewer will notice everything about the picture that makes a person who they really are.

smile and say no photoshop article post

The main points of the article Smile and Say “No Photoshop” are that women and even men are
being in magazines and other pictured books and do not look the way they normally do. People
do not usually ask to be photo shopped, but people who write the magazines assume that there is
nothing wrong with fixing the way a person looks to their critique, when in all actuality there is a
problem. One cannot just change the way a person looks, whether it’s making them looker
thicker or thinner because it creates a so called “perfect” view of people and how they should
look and many disagree with that.

I agree with the general ideas of this article because I think that everyone should just be
themselves and not care what others think about them. All that really matters is if the person is
happy with themselves in life. If one is happy with the way they look, then why should they
change the way they are for anyone else’s behalf? Many always try and say “be yourself and no
one else,” but if they wanted someone to be themselves, then why would that person try and say
“oh, I wish I was skinny like her and had perfect wavy hair?” It’s because they are contradicting
themselves. I know that if I was in a magazine, I would not want to look any different then what
I look like right this moment. I believe photo shop should only be used to cover up something like a pimple of bring out the color in the picture. I do not think photo shop should be used to change the size of a persons body, the color of their eyes or hair, their shape, etc. Those types of things are something that someone is born with and should be kept the way they are because that is the beauty of being a unique and different individual. No human being should look exactly the same as another one.

Reflection on POV, Macro/Minutiae, and motion

1) The purpose of the POV assignment was to understand that you can take different snap shots of the same item and make it look so amazing because its at completely different angles and point of views in each shot. The macro purpose was to take pictures in macro mode and not so far away to get a good glimpse of what your theme was. For example, someone could have all the same color and different objects or the same theme, like take pictures of everything you would find in winter. The purpose of the motion pictures was for me to learn how to capture objects in motion and still be able to focus on that object and are able to see it clearly.

2) What I got from the POV project is that I can take a bunch of pictures and even with the same object, my pictures will still be interesting because each snapshot is unique and at a different point of view then the one before. The most important thing I learned from the macro minutiae is that pictures look so much prettier and interesting when they are placed in a grid. For the motion project, I learned how to capture people and moving objects in motion and different ways of capturing the movement.

3)I believe these assignments were assigned in this particular order because one needs to know how to take pictures in point of view photography before you can take a picture close up in macro or in motion.

4) On the point of view project I feel like I did decent. Now that I know more about point of view as we progress, I wish I could have done better on taking pictures at different angles. I thought my macro minutiae pictures were the best pictures that I have taken so far just because they were put in a grid and it makes the pictures look more organized by the spring and nature them that I chose to do. Motion was a bit difficult for me because I did not really understand how to get my object that is actually in motion to blur, so i had a rough time trying to get a picture to fit my expertise.

5) For all three of these projects I wish I could have spent more time taking pictures and put more of an effort into them. I feel like if I would have had more time to take pictures and on better objects with different back grounds and angles, maybe they would have looked more interesting.

6)My favorite of the three projects was the macro minutiae grid because it was not that hard to figure out how to take my pictures and which topic I was going to choose. I also had fun taking the pictures and learning how to place them in the grid. Every ones grid looked so good when they were finished.

7) All of these topics have had an impact on my photography because now when I take any picture I know more about my camera, how to use which function to make my picture look more professional and how to get close up and still make the pictures interesting.

bloggy

What is your interpretation of the quote "God is in the details?"

I think that if someone looks hard and close enough to different things and to the smallest details, then they will find all that God has given us. He gave us everything, the nature, a home, and etc. Just looking out at a river or a creek surrounded by trees, I see the every little bit of details God gave us.

How can we see God in the details everyday?

We can see God everyday just by looking at all organic items. I personally see the details of God just by looking in nature. We can just see all the beauty surrounding us. It is so peaceful and filled with so much green that it is easy to breath. That is when you can think, God gave this and made this for us.

How might we use our cameras in order to discover and preserve these details?

We can use our cameras to do this just by taking pictures at different angles and taking pictures naturally. Don't ever change the picture, leave it as it should be. Take bueatiful pictures of everything that God gave us and put it together maybe in an album.

Blog post 4-Gary Winogrands quote

"Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts." -- Gary Winogrand.

I think this quote means that photography is not just the picture itself, there is more. It is what you make of the picture. Even just a simple thing as putting framing the object you want to focus on can help the person looking at the photo draw his or her attention to the main focal point that the photographer was trying to show. Simply by framing the photo can help you with the context and and essentially maybe tell a story about the image. All frames come in different ways; shapes and sizes. One can see the frame in his or her picture just by looking at it. For example if I were to take a picture of a door or a window. The frame does not have to go around ones images, but it can be simply in them.

blog post #3

I wish I could have done better at figuring out what kind of lighting I used. The lighting i used in my shell picture was more direct than silhouette and looking back i wish i would have realized that earlier before we did the critiques. Otherwise i think i did farely well. The texture on my picture was my favorite part because when you look at it, it is as almost if you can reach your hand in the photograph and just grab the shell. You can see the design on the shell pretty clearly; the smooth rigid lines. The feedgback that i got back i thought was really good because it helped me to understand what i could have done better and to change the lighting to silhouette and how to do that. I did have some positive feedback on the shells texture, but some was also negative. I think the negative feedback was deserved and in the end just makes me a better photographer hearing what critiques the other photographers in class have to say. Even though this was not one of my best photos, i look at it in a way where i say that "next time will be better than the last and I will have more knowledge knowing what I should fix and do to my photo to make it a better and stronger looking portrait." I am grateful for the feedback i recieved because I like to hear other classmates points of view and their way of doing things. Hearing these ideas and critiques gives me ideas of what I can do in our next project and how to make it look spectacular!I wish Iculd have been given more positive feedback, but then again if Idid not get negative feedback then I am quite sure I would not know what would be a better photograph in the next project. Like I have said before i wish i would have done better with naming my photo. I think if i named it direct lighting instead of silhouette lighting, maybe i would have been given more positive feedback then what i got from others. Honestly speaking overall I am very pleased and grateful that I was given the feedback that it going to definetly help me in the long run be a better photographer.

judgement of a photo being "great."

When i describe a photo being 'great','beautiful, or etc, it is usually because i have a connection to that photo. sometimes when i look at a photo and think its great is becaus ei can relate to what is showing in the picture and the story behind it. Sometimes if the potrait is really unique i can almost feel like inm there because there is so much dteail going on. So really i more often would describe a picture as 'great' not because of the tachnical details, but because i can actually feel like I am there, it realates to me, and i can understand the deeper meanings and reasons behind a 'great' portrait.