Artist Statement

As you can see, this is my digital portfolio for my digital photography class. If you continue to look on any further, you will see all of my work that I have done over the course of this year while taking part in this class.
I feel that my portfolio perfectly describes who I am on the inside and out. With each post you can observe how my knowledge of Photoshop and the digital camera's functions has progressed. Over the course of this semester, I've learned why it's important to change the camera's ISO, shutter speed, and its F-stop range.
I think I was the most successful with my self-portraits, particularly my Rule of Thirds photo. What I find to be my biggest struggle is my personal metaphor. This is because although my concept and idea were great, my lack of resources and experience in Photoshop resulted in my final outcome not really being what I expected.
I will always say that I feel like I can improve in using Photoshop. I state this because there will always be a more advanced version of Photoshop and there will always be new things to learn in working Photoshop. My most biggest influence has been Ms. Cook. She's my number one influence because she has taught me most of what I know when it comes to photography. Ms. Cook also always has something new, exciting, and artistic to teach us about digital photography.
I would say that I have grown and improved in using Photoshop. My works from last semester are good but can barely compare to my work from this semester. I have had so much fun in participating in this class and I hope to continue in doing digital photography and in working in Photoshop.

Adjustment Layers

Self Portraits

When I first started working on this project and began constructing my photographs, I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to portray each objective. Since I wasn’t sure on how to do this, I began making my photographer take random shots of me. As it turned out, my Element, Light, and Rule of Thirds photos portray an emotion of loneliness. It wasn’t my intention to surface this emotion and coincidently in my Light photograph, the bars assisted in the mood.
The only thing I made sure to think about while I was composing these pictures was the contrast. I made sure to have white whites and black blacks and different shades of gray. In all of my pictures I tried my best to not pose for the camera. I wanted them to be “natural” and portray a less “posed” feeling, which is why I had my photographer just randomly shoot. I find my Rule of Thirds photograph to possess the strongest composition because it has a strong focal point that immediately draws your attention.
I think my Personal Prop photograph could have been better because the photo contains plenty of grays but hardly any whites and blacks. However, in the other three I find them to possess a great deal of whites, blacks, and grays. I’m not sure which pictures were to set which ISO’s but I did play around with that function a bit.
For the most part, I find the contrast in my photos to be excellent and I also think the compositions in my pictures were pretty well done. My favorite shot overall is my Rule of Thirds and this is because it just immediately draws me straight to the focal point and grasps my attention.

.:.Self Portraits.:.

Shutter Speed

We have most recently been studying the effects of our new camera such as shutter speed. The two things shutter speed effect are the amount of light captured in the photograph and movement. In our camera, shutter speed is represented in fractions of a second. The modes on the camera that can allow you to manipulate the shutter speed are the Manual (M) and Shutter Speed (S).

You would want to use the shutter speed effect when you either want to take a still picture of a moving object or if you want to "pan" meaning making your moving object the only clear object in the entire photograph. In my two photos I extended the shutter speed which allowed me to do the "panning" effect.

ISO

The picture that had the flash made everything too bright. The christmas lights aren't as clear as they could be. The flash also reflected off the wall making everything appear too bright. When I used the ISO setting and changed the ISO to 50, all you could see were the lights and no other object. So in order to fully and clearly view all objects, I changed the ISO to 5000 and that made the camera capture every element in the picture, even the christmas lights.

Light Metering

.:.Light Metering.:.

First I metered the light from the computer monitor. Therefore the camera only absorbed the objecets that contained as much light as the computer screen.

Next, I metered the light from Andrews skin and the camera did the same thing as it did when I metered the screen. However, because the light on Andrew's skin was darker than the light on the computer screen, the camera brightened everything that was dark and made everything that had already been bright (the monitor) 2x brighter.

The Aesthetic Experience

As I gazed into the glass of clear water and watched it mix with drops of red, yellow, and blue dye, I found a deeper meaning in the realization of simplicity. I realized that something as simple as this contains a much more deeper and inspiring meaning. As the water mixed with the red and yellow dye, i was reminded of a firey sunset being born. It reminded me of a firing passion burned deep with inside me. Then as a few drops of blue were mixed in, it was as if the sunset met the calmness of the ocean. It was also as if the the blue dye calmed the passion within me. I took it as meaning for whatever aspirations I have, I must not let anything overcome them and wash them away from my sight.

Hybrid Dog

In preparation for our PERSONAL METAPHOR project, we brushed up our skills combining objects together. Using layer masks and the clone stamp we blended this dog and bird together.

Movie Moments

*Our Movie*

Inspired by Cindy Sherman, a contemporary photographer who took photos of herself starring in movies that never existed.

MOVIE TITLE: The Miracle

GENRE: Against all odds, tragedy

MOVIE SUMMARY:

A young girl named Natalie is diagnosed with a brain-eating amoeba, Balamuthia mandrillaris. The doctor tells her they can get rid of her disease through a surgery. However, she has a slight chance of living afterwards. The girl cries and is distraught, but decides she has nothing to lose so ends up going through surgery. The night before the surgery she prays in hope of making it through the operation. Once surgery is completed, the doctor explains how miraculously the operation went and that she will live Balamuthia mandrillaris free.

SCENE EXPLANATION:

Chocolate Frog

For Valentines Day we turned frogs into chocolate. I thought this project was pretty fun. It was a new task and taught us many new things about what Photoshop has to offer. I learned that the smudge tool can come in handy when you need to create the effect of obejects melting.

Shadows & Reflection

In these exercises we learned how to use shadows and reflections to help us create more realistic artwork. A new tool we learned was "Layer Masks." The things we learned here can help in the future when i need to create a reflection or shadow of an object.

Program Covers

In our class we were instructed to design a cover for the 2008 graduation book and for the National Honors Society pamphlet. To the right are the covers that I have come up with and designed.

Aged Photo

In this project we used one of our frame photographs to practice using Photoshop to create specific effects.

Balancing With Frames

In this project we were given a frame. We had to use it in our composition. We also had to be in our photo, but not in the center.

It was to be in black and white, and we needed to create a sense of visual balance.

I created balance by using the shadows to my advantage making objects in the shadows their blackest black and things in the sunlight their whitest white.

Random Object

We were each assigned a random object to photograph. We could choose to have it in color or black & white. We were to focus on "The Three C's". According to my peers, I did well on the angle of the photograph which resulted in great shadows. However, they thought I should have tried using the "macro" effect on the camera. I agree that I should have used the macro effect because that would have created a more pleasant image to view.

Egg Challenge

In this project each student was given an egg to photograph. We were to take a photo in both color and black-and-white. We were supposed to exemplify one or more of the following: Creativity, Craftsmanship or Composition.I believe my black and white was most successful because I think it captures a lot of creativity and has plenty of craftsmanship.

My Favorite Project From Last Semester

This piece of art was done to be a part of our final portfolio. This was my cover page and I tweaked with it through PhotoShop using an artistic filter. I liked this the most out of everything we did last semester because not only is it a picture I was able to compose, but i got to be in it and it actually came out nice.

I think I successfully composed the colors in this picture. I think the colors of the boxes around my name and my quote coincide perfectly. The colors are bold and daring, yet fit together nicely.

Last Semester