Final Documentation

The final project was a very interesting experience for me. The amount of available time I had to shoot these scenes was very small. I had a few hours after work at 530, so I had to rush before the sun went down. The idea was put together throughout the day in my head during work. After I shot, putting the clips together was no big task. In fact, the background song was much more difficult. I had to splice and fade at two parts of the song. It was very difficult to time and make it sound natural.

There were several technical issues I ran into. I did not realize that the computers I use for editing here at TCNJ have only 2GB of RAM... This is pitiful considering this was shot in high resolution full HD. The result was a lot of dropped frames and painfully long rendering times. The post production easily took 5x longer than the actual production work.

I eventually learned that I am able to reduce the file size by recompressing my videos. Although this process took over an hour, it was well worth it. The size and quality are about half of the original, but it is much better than the alternative.

I had a lot of fun doing this project and it was very informative in terms of how to shoot video, how to edit video, and how to plan around difficult situations and edit around major problems

Midterm

Le Midterm

 I will start with the projects that I completed first, and work my way chronologically forward.

First Photo

Apple?

This photo was completed as part of my first project in this class. My goal was to get close enough that the viewer would not be sure the nature of the object. I was pleased with my results as most people assumed or thought that the object was an apple. The true identity, in fact, is a guitar that my friend painted with oil paints. She then placed a flower in the input of the electric guitar. This was one of my very first photos with a DSLR camera. It was manipulated lightly in photoshop, with some minor color corrections. No cropping was done on this photo.

Second Photo

Coffee & Vignettes

 This photo was taken and used as part of the third project for this class. I hid the measurements I took for the compositional element originally intended for this photo. I did some further and very minor color corrections. The other major change that I made for this portfolio includes a vignette. Although some describe this effect is cheap and easy, I think it really brings and holds a picture together. I did this manually by using the elliptical marquee tool with a feather, then inverting the selection and filling it. I was QUITE proud of my ingenuity. The photo has greatly improved as a result of my work.

Third Photo

Sweet & Seductive

This photo was taken for my digital photography class. I spent a lot of time altering it further to become something completely different. I chose it to be in this portfolio for several reasons. I think it displays much of what I learned thus far using Photoshop this semester. As always, there were color corrections and color alterations done. There was also lots of selection work, feathering, masking, smoothing, etc. My goal was to make her look like she was popping out of the frame. To do this, I selected everything outside of her own self, and I took out most of the saturation. This was too subtle for me. I decided to texture the background with a stained glass look. This decision was after many other versions of this photo that colorized only the mirror, then back to her, then back to the mirror, and so on. I played around with other effects but landed on this one because it strengthens the image the most.

Fourth Photo

Old 'n' Busted

  This photo was taken at a dock near my home. While taking the photo, the old timer owner came around to tell me some history on the truck, to find out that he can't remember which decade he bought it in. I wish I could give more history on this truck, but the man was not of much help. In any case, I used some HDR toning on this photo. I originally wanted to do a true High Dynamic Range photo with 5 exposures. I bought a new tripod and everything. I found that I moved too much while taking the photos. I got a similar effect from Photoshops "HDR Toning" adjustment. I also added a sepia tone throughout after some desaturation. I wanted this photo to look as old as the truck and the old man who owns the truck. I was hesitant to use a vignette, but alas, it added to the old time feel of the photo. When I look at it, it looks like how I see memories in my head.

Fifth Photo

The Broken Rainbow

 This is not a photo. This is a panorama. I originally, again, took it for my photography class. I did not use it at all as I was not pleased with the results. I decided to re appropriate the photo to be used in this class. I carefully measured the photo and cut it into sections and divided those up into new layers. I then "colorized" and changed the hue of each one. After this, I gave the photo a white border to tie it up in a neat package. I envisioned this as a type of background one might use on the computer. Black contrasting background was a must for this photo. I find this work very appealing to look at. The content within the panorama seems almost secondary to the element of color that I employed here.

Sixth Photo

Geometry

 This is also not a photo. This is a huge panorama. I took many photos in my hometown with this vision in my mind. This panorama was heavily influenced by David Hilliard's work. I put my Steve Zimbaldi spin on it, however, by putting the photo in the middle. My goal was to build a type of geometric perspective by having the two angles of the fence. I deny the viewer the perspective with the middle photo. It is very interesting to look at. I am most proud of this work. There was a lot of tweaking that went into making it line up and measure up perfectly. I had to skew and distort for hours to get everything lined up but natural looking. I had to crop and resize the photos more times than I care to admit. I am pleased with the results, so much so that I got it printed on the large format printer in the IMM building.

Self Evaluation

I did a fantastic job on this portfolio presentation. Considering I had absolutely no experience with Photoshop prior to this semester, my progress should seem very apparent here. I wanted to do many different techniques and styles of photos to demonstrate my newly learned ability. I realize that I do not do many realistic photos in photoshop. Then again, if I wanted realism in a photo, I wouldn't use photoshop. So, if one is willing to suspend disbelief, one would find my photos very enjoyable. I worked extremely hard on them. Several hours were put into this portfolio and I know that it is apparent by the quality of the photos.

Midterm Proposal

Midterm Proposal

For my midterm, I propose that I put together a portfolio based on my best work from many different areas this semester. Some of it will include photography I have done for my own pleasure, some of it will focus on the work I have completed in post-prossessing via photoshop, and most of it will include work or works that I have completed or otherwise worked on for this class. In any case, there will not be any main theme or focus for the portfolio, rather just a compilation of my work thus far.

My Experience with Color Correction

  These are the first photos I color corrected. I took longer on this image than on the other sets as many steps were involved in this process. First, I played with the curves, which took quite some time to get them where I wanted them. I then adjusted the contrast to up it a little, and the brightness as well (only slightly). The last and final step was a very interesting one -- I used what is called HDR Toning. I have a basic understanding of what HDR is and how it works. I am not sure that this is true HDR, but I assume that with the raw image, it is somehow able to emulate such things. In any case, I am pleased with the way that it came out.

 

      The above photos were taken at Sandy Hook, NJ. The original is on the left, and the corrected photo on the right. I gave the photo on the right a bit more contrast and a bit more saturation. I played with some levels and moved the bars for red, blue, and green to their "correct" locations. I feel the second photo looks a little less realistic, but more appealing and attractive in terms of color.

    These two photos were taken at Shadow Lake near my house. The original photo was taken to be part of a stitched landscape photo. I felt this needed color correction so I decided to do so for this project. The left photo is pretty accurate as to what the lake actually looked like that day. Although it was sunny, it was very cold and dead outside. The color corrected photo brings out some of the green in the dirt that was otherwise invisible that day. the blue from the lake is also improved immensely. I started playing with curves at this point. I found it actually much easier to get the color I wanted, although it did take quite a while. The overall appeal of this photo has been improved now that the colors seem to stand on their own.

Compositions

After looking at the post on SOCS, I made my own compositions utilizing the "Invisible Geometry." It was a very interesting concept which actually does help your art with its balance and appeal. Here are my examples.

Composites

These photos are composites. Each of mine are two images combined in some way.

 The photo above is the first composite I have ever done on photoshop. As you can see, it is a bit rough around the edges--literally. This was our assigned abstract composite. The sign and the guitar are both part of my first photo assignment.

 This was the second composite I completed. I cut out the hydrant from a different picture and pasted it on the "NO BALL PLAYING" wall. The biggest issue I ran into here was lighting. Since both pictures had alternate light sources, it was difficult to make the hydrant look natural. In any case, I flipped the image and burned the wall to do my best to combine these images in the most natural way possible.

The above photo was my third and most convincing composite. I cropped the bricks from a different photo I had previously taken. After I pasted it, I had to scale, skew, and distort it to make it take the curve of the artillery shell naturally. I then burned around the edges to make it seem like this was a sunken part of the photo. I like this one the best of the three.

All in all, this was a very good exercise. As you can tell, my images got better as they went along. It helps when you learn the keyboard shortcuts and you become more used to the tools available.

Photos and Paintings Due 1/27/2012

These are the photos and paintings there were assigned at the first week of class. We were assigned a 15 minute painting, a 30 minute painting, and a 60 minute painting -- all done in photoshop. This experience was brand new for me, as I have not previously had any experience with this software. This is not to mention the fact that I have not painted traditionally before. Well, we all have, but I have not done it seriously in any way.

We were also told to take 3 abstract photos. I have posted four, the first two are actually of the same subject. The third is a street sign I found in the woods as a child. The last is a Pinocchio doll that my brother brought me home from Italy. These abstractions would be better if I owned a macro lens. This makes up-close photos much easier to shoot. This exercise was a lot of fun, as I enjoy taking digital and analog photos alike. I would like to work on my framing, focusing, and color in order to achieve better results moving forward in this class.

60 Minute Painting - Landscape

30 Minute Painting - Apple

 

15 Minute Painting - Self Portrait