too much motion

I saw in a photo magazine that you can blur a background and have a moving object by focusing on the object and moving the camera along with the moving object, keeping the object in focus, and allowing the background to blend together. This was an attempt at doing this using the continuous photo option which takes pictures continuously every second or so until you wish to stop.

Instead of my subject, Torrie, being in focus, both she AND the background are blurred...I'll have to work on this some more.

Portrait-time...need some help here

I halted a few willing participants to pose for portraits so that I could attempt to get some experience with portrait-mode.

First was Erin, who stopped by to tell me how much work she was to do...I needed her to recreate the face that was so pricelessly representative of how she was feeling.

The tip here was to fill the frame. Looking back at these, perhaps I didn't do such a good job with that, causing me to have other problems.

Erin in portrait mode 1:

Erin in portrait mode 2:

I wasn't liking the shadow being cast behind her and decided to try night mode so that I still had light on Erin, but could also try to backlight her a bit and avoid that shadow

Erin night mode:

The colors turned out a bit different (as if the room lighting was allowed in more), and the shadow is still there, though not nearly as apparent. Still not quite what I wanted.

Next, I stopped Obi, whose photos came out with similar results: the shadow, and then the loss of correct colors to compensate for diminishing the shadow...

Obi portrait mode

Obi night mode

Obi no flash mode

The colors get increasingly worse as the shadow from the flash lessens...help?

Camera settings...pre-enlightenment

Ok...so I've been taking photographs hardcore since I moved from Rochester to Buffalo in 2000. I started mostly because I realized once I was in Buffalo, that I had hardly any pictures of my best friends, who I've known since moving to the area when I was 4. It started with the kodak disposables, moved on to real film cameras, and then on to "point and click" digital. This class will mostly be based around SLR cameras, so I borrowed Mom's Canon EOS Rebel for the class.

I admittedly know nothing about cameras, much less how to create settings to achieve an objective aesthetic...so my first attempt at getting to know this camera is the following series of pictures inside of the dorm. I simply turned on the camera, and scrolled through the different modes (from creative, where you change settings a lot, to basic, where the settings are pretty standardized).

Here are the results.


A-DEP mode

M mode

AV mode

TV mode

P mode

Auto mode

Portrait mode

Landscape mode

Detail mode

Sports mode

Night mode

and...no flash.

I was amazed at how different each photo was simply due to some setting changes. After completing this little experiment, I began where I probably should more than I actually do...with the instruction manual.

But before I continue...the two things that make a photo possible are aperture (amount of light allowed) and shutter speed (how much time).

Emitting the studio vibe

Because of our studio project, it is likely that I will be taking a lot of my photos in or around the architecture building for the next few days...In order to capture some understanding of the studio atmospher and spaces, I took this photo of the main hallway off of which bustling studios, a computer lab, and print lab can be found. The termination point offers multi-level access to the auditorium, the largest gathering space in the architecture building. The dimly-lit models that hang along the corridor are a more traditional view of the architects work, while the skylight highlights the more current technological projects. The overall darkness of the photo, while not the original intent, makes this photo stand out to me. I think it is how the photo separates itself into separate sections by the lighting and perspective lines.

Melty morning

It may not look like much, but it's the little things that I think are really worth photographing sometimes. Like the way that ice grips onto a window.

I heard from a great photographer in Barcelona, Pere, that the best lighting is usually at dawn and dusk because it isn't overpowering and it has a glow and surreal quality to it. So after brushing off my car from ice that the snow turned into last night, and heading to the architecture building at 7:30 am, I thought that instead of sunrise pictures (which would have happened way earlier anyhow), I would take pictures of the pryz and Crough center with the fresh light of the morning.

This is my favorite shot of the three of the buildings this morning. Matt said a good photo is generally one that looks good even without the color...this might not be one of those photos haha! Perhaps we will see.

This one turned out weird to me...maybe its the weird perspective, or that it's angled? Not sure. I wanted to capture what is behind me (the trees) shading the building, so I guess that's where I was going with this--trying to give an overall understanding of the surroundings without actually photographing the trees, themselves.

I just liked this shot because I noticed after the first few pictures, there is a bike sitting under the snowy staircase...only in a few places can you expect to ride your bike the morning after a snow/icestorm!

Snow in DC

So...what I've noticed is that people, or at least I, find most intriguing the pictures of things that are rare to me. Snow, for example, is hard to come by now that I'm in DC, so when it snows, I take every opportunity to enjoy it before it melts away (which generally gives me about 12 hours). I miss Buffalo and Rochester, but these shots remind me of home.

I want to be able to capture the moments that I see, like light behind snow-covered trees, or a gorgeous moon without glare or complete darkness...this is quite probably my best result ever.

WELCOME!

Welcome to Intro to Digital Photography Spring '08.

This Tuesday night class promises to teach us a ton about cameras, our subjects, and the science/art of photography in the next few months. I, loving to take photos and knowing zip about the camera, manual settings, or anything technical, will surely be more aware than ever before, and I can't wait!

Feel free to check in here, along with the rest of my class and our professor, Matt Barrick, to make comments and just see what we're up to. I'll try to include some info so that you can learn right along with me!

Until photo-blog #1, cheers!