Color Correcting

For this photo I decided to adjust the color brighter and crop the image a tad bit. I think this is a really cool piece of wall art but the colors looked washed out in my original photo. I decided to crop the image just a little bit to draw more attention to the actual piece of art but didn’t crop it too much because I think the brick wall gives the colors a good contrast.

In the original photo I did not like the glare of the window. I started playing around with the cropping because I liked how long the frame of the photo was but after cropping out the window I decided I liked it better. I also decided to give the photo more contrast with the shadows. Before the picture was very light but by adjusting the contrast of the photo I think it adds more depth.

For this photo I decided to lighten the background up. In the original photo I liked how the background was kinda blurred out and my friends were the main subject. While playing around with the color levels I found even if I brightened the background my friends were still the main subjects and the photo looks brighter.

For this photo I decided to adjust the contrast of the photo. This photo at first was very bright since there was a window and a glare. BY adjusting the contrast the photo has more depth and the shadows are more defined especially the blind shadow on the bed. I also decided to crop the picture closer because I had to much going on in the frame. Now I think the eye can be more easily drawn to the painting.

This photo I first decided to crop. I think this is a creative way to crop the image as you can still see the paintings in the background but the actual cropping isn’t the usual format of a picture. I also decided to play with the levels of brightness and adjust it to make the photo a little darker. By doing so I think there is more depth in the photo.

For this image I decided to do the opposite of what I did to the last image in the same location. I played around with brightening last time so this time I focused on parking the background to see the effect it would have on the photo. I think by having the darling background it sharpens my friends but also makes the whole image dark. I also cropped my friend on the right out.

For this photo I played around specially with the red levels, blue levels, and green levels. For my other photos so far I usually just adjusted the brightness and contrast of the whole RGB level. For this photo I think it was really beneficial to adjust each color individually because the picture has a lot more color to it now. Before the colors were toned down but now the colors are more defined.

For this image I decided to play around with each level separately again. By doing so I think the color darkened the background which makes my friend stand out a lot more. Also the first picture the color tones were kinda muted and now I think her facial features and hair are more defined.

For this photo I decided just to crop it. I think the image itself has really good lighting. I decided to crop out most of the room the cup was in. In narrowing down the frame of the shot I think it gives the picture a simplistic look.

For this photo I first decided to crop out most of the window. The window in the original photo was giving the picture a glare that I cropped out. I also adjusted the color levels to make the picture a little darker but by doing so I think the image is sharper.

50 pictures 30-40

50 pictures 20-30

50 pictures 10-20

50 Pictures 1-10

Best Photos

These are my top ten photos. I find through each of these photos I challenged myself trying to use diffrent light sources. Each photo really tries to focus in on my main subject/object and does a good job blurring out the background. Each photo also has a good lighting and is not over or underexposed.

50 pictures 40-50 bottom

Bottom Ten Pictures

These ten photos are my worst pictures. Each photo is either blurry, out of focus, or over exposed or under exposed. Under each photo I list how I would fix it.

This photo I tried to take a cool motion shot by changing the shutter speed to get a cool blur. In order to get a more defined blur I would either need to make the shutter speed longer or just decide to focus on her for a still shot.

For this photo I tried to play with the aperture but wound up making it too low. If I were to take it again I would increase the aperture.

This photo I tried to play with the depth of field. I wanted to make the cup and bag the focus and blur the background the focus. If I were to retake this photo I would need to just adjust the focus better

This photo was taken outside and I did not adjust the aperture therefore the photo is too over exposed, I would change the aperture if I were to retake this photo.

This photo I once again tried to work on my depth of field. I would adjust the focus if I were to retake this one.

This photo is to over exposed I would need to adjust the aperture in order to capture a better Image.

This photo is to under exposed I would need to increase the aperture.

This picture I took while trying to walk and it wound up blurry. I would need to stand further away from my subject and focus on them rather then trying to take the photo while moving.

This photo is not focused at all and I did not use the rule of thirds. If I were to retake this photo I probably would not even take it in the car because of the window lighting but if I decided to take the picture again I would adjust the focus.

This photo does not have the aspect of simplicity. I captured to much in the frame that does not contribute to the photo. If I were to do this again I should get closer to my friend and make him the focus of the frame.

Bracketing Test

Auto: ISO- 400 F-stop- 4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/50

ISO- 800 F-stop- 4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/50

ISO- 200 F-stop- 4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/50

ISO- 400 F-stop- 4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/40

Auto: ISO- 400 F-stop- 4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/60

ISO- 400 F-stop- 5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/50

ISO- 400 F-stop- 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/50

Bracketing is when you take mutiple photos of the same object but adjust a setting each time. For this assingment we were challenged to take a photo in auto settings. After writting down the ISO, F-stop, and shutter speed settings we had to adjust each setting only changing one at a time to first a higher setting then a lower setting while keeping the other two settings the same as the auto setting.

Picture Upload Test

Influential Photographs

This photo was taken by Zhipeng Ya in Japan. I found this photo interesting because it covers a world emergency, coronavirus, from an interesting perspective. The photographer seems to have used the rule of thirds here well. Although he might have wanted to take the subway post the center of the frame I think the photo composition is better having the sign shifted to the left. He also picked an interesting frame rather than having the people wearing masks as the main focus of the subject, he decided to use a smaller f-stop number to make the people blurry and the sign the main focus of the photo which gives the audience a unique way to interpret the photo. 

This photo was taken by E. Jason Wambsgans as part of his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection. 
Gun violence is a very relevant issue in the world right now and this picture really shows people behind the scenes of what it’s like to be a victim of Gun Violence. The main focus of the image is the little boy awaiting surgery. You can see the nurse and medical equipment in the background but that is not the main focus, meaning the photographer adjusted their f-stop number to a smaller size for a shallow depth of field. 

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This photo was taken by Mohammed Hassan. I liked this picture because I’m very interested in fashion and this to me is a trendy fashion image. In this photo, in particular, I think the use of light is very creative. While most of the time photographers work hard to get rid of shadows this photographer used shadow to create a creative look and give the photo more balance. The light source creates a soft line on her face but hard sharp define lines on the ground which gives the photo depth.

Pulitzer Prize Winner

In 2008 Preston Gannaway won the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography for her chronicle of a family dealing with a terminal illness. Through 20 images Gannaway is able to show a story from start to finish about pain, loss, grief, and hope. I think one of the first things I realized while looking at this collection was the creative style Gannaway chose to go with. To me, while scrolling through images it almost felt as I was looking through a scrapbook. The colors of the picture were not super saturated and had almost a vintage feel to them. Had I not known this was a Pulitzer Prize winner I could view it as a home photo album. The first two photos of the collection show Carolynee very sick first in her hospital room than in her house, in both images she is close to a window and there is light pouring through. While photographers usually focus on the perfect lighting and making sure there’s no glares or shadows, Gannaway allows for both in her photos. By doing so I think it adds to the intimacy of sharing a family story because it makes the photos feel more relatable to the audience. Each photo is also very wide in a frame. After doing some research I found Preston used a one body wide-angle zoom lens in order to make her presence less noticeable while she was inserting herself into Carolyne’s family. One of my favorite photos of the album is a picture that shows both Carolynee and her daughter Melissa. I think the way Gannaway framed this photo was essential for the storytelling aspect of this piece. The picture is taken in the hallway showing Melissa getting ready for her gymnastics practice through a mirror and in the bathroom and in another room is Carolynee in her bed on hospice care. Rather than taking these as individual photos, Gannaway chose to frame both rooms in the photo which shows Melissa just trying to be a normal teenager even though her mother is dying in the room right next to her.

Another photo I particularly liked, was taken after Carolynee died and it shows her husband bringing dinosaur chicken nuggets to their son in the bathroom. As I said with the lighting photographers usually have an eye to detail making sure everything looks perfect. In this photo, the end of the tray the dino nuggets are on is out of focus and blurry. While some could view this as a bad photo I think Gannaway purposefully made the focus not super stable. This story is about a family trying to cope with loss and at the end of the day we are all human just trying to do our best and I think this photo really represents Carolynee’s Husband Rich just trying to do his best in her absence.