final project :)

These pictures I took with my point and shoot camera over spring break at our ranch. 

On this picture I just played with the saturation and contrast. I wish I could fix the letters so that they would be facing the right way, but I don't know how to do that.  The color of the sky is so pretty in this picture and that is why i chose it, plus it reminds me of home.

This is a picture of our sign for our ranch. I cropped it and straightened it a little and also played with the shading a bit to make the whites stand out a bit more. 

In this picture I edited the white balance to warm it up a bit, because it was kind of blue.  I also too out some water spots that were in the clouds.  

These pictures were taken on Dave's Canon EOS 20D

I took this photo at the SAS awards ceremony.  I cropped this picture in to get rid of distractions in the background.  I turned it black and white to get rid of the distracting colors, because I really wanted the focus to be on their facial expressions.

In this photo I decided to put a sepia vignette over it and to put a blur and black vignette on the corners to draw the focus to her face.  I also cropped in to get rid of a distracting couch.  I tried to make her the main focus of the photo.

In this photo i also cropped in to avoid distractions, like a tree in the background, and I added a sepia vignette to it to tone down the colors so they weren't a distraction to the facial expressions.  

Once again I cropped in to avoid distractions, and I turned it black and white to keep the focus on the people and to avoid the distracting colors.  I also boosted the brightness to make them stand out more and boosted the sharpness to put more definition to their faces. 

All the photos from the SAS awards banquet were shot with the same settings.  Shutter: 1/200, Aperture:f/4 and ISO: 1600.  I realize now that these might not have been the right settings, but I still got good pictures.  I used the flash on the camera, and Dave's big lens.

The following pictures were also shot with Dave's Canon EOS 20D. All them had a flash that Dave was holding to produce light.

Shutter: 1/1000, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 200

The editing that I did was to crop it in, and then add an antique tint to it, I also blurred the edges to make her stand out more, I brightened it a little also.

Shutter: 1/1000, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 1600

In editing this photo I brightened it up and cropped it it.  I didn't really have to do a whole lot of editing to it.

Shutter:  1/400, aperture: f/4, ISO: 200

This one I cropped from the bottom to get rid of a thing on the wall.  I also faded the color a bet to tone down the brightness of her shirt.  I then painted in the wings, they aren't the best things ever, but believe it or not this took me for forever.

Shutter: 1/1250, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 200

In editing this picture I cropped it in to avoid a distracting background, I also lightened up under her eyes and toned down the color a little bit.

Shutter: 1/500, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 200

I also cropped this photo in and brightened it up.  I didn't have to do much to this photo.

Shutter: 1/160, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 400

We shot this as a fill light, where the model stood in front of the light, then we had strong flashes on her that made the background even more white.  I had to clone out a few spots in the white background and i also put a black a vignette on the corners.

Shutter: 1/500, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 200

I showed this picture in class, but I didn't know if I could show it again.  I added more of a vignette to it, and then turned it black and white to avoid distracting colors.  I also sharpened it and did some editing to her hair.

Shutter: 1/400, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 200

In editing this I cropped it in on all sides.  I also boosted the contrast and saturation to make her stand out more.  I played with the tint to make the grass more green and her eyes pop more.

Shutter: 1/640, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 200

This picture is different, but I like the perspective the bars give.  I cropped this pic in and made it sharper so that there was more detail on her.  I also played with the tint to make the bars more white than they were and I painted in some of the bar where the paint had chipped.

Shutter: 1/50, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 400

In this photo I straightened it to crop out a distracting board in the background, i also lightened it up a bit, and played with the shading to make the face on the nose stand out more.

Shutter: 1/50, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 400

I also cropped this photo to avoid a sign in the background. I lightened it up to make the faces stand out more, and i had to clone out a sign in the background. 

Shutter: 1/500, Aperture:  f/5.6, ISO: 400

I took this up on the rims.  I played with the shading to make it look more like a silhouette and then cropped it in to make it less distracting, i also cloned out some cars and tail lights.

Shutter: 1/50, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 400

In editing this I also played with the shading to make it look like a silhouette, I cropped in and played with the tint to make it a bit warmer than it was.

Shutter: 1/15, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 400

With this picture I played with the tint to make the tree more green. As well as adding a white vignette on the corners to get rid of distracting foreground and to draw more of a focus to the tree.

Canon rebel XSI Shutter:  1/250, Aperture: f/4.5, ISO:1600

I cropped this photo in to get rid of excess people.  I also turned it black and white and brightened it.

The next 4 photos were shot with Dave's, Canon EOS 5D.

Shutter: 1/4. Aperture: f/4, ISO: 6400 

There was a lot of light from the cars, flashes, and reflectors on me. I didn't take this picture, but was the model, and i edited it.  I made it sepia, because i liked the way the lights stood out in the background, and the way the city reflected off of my glasses.  I also cropped it in and did a little cloning on my sunglasses.

Shutter: 1/6, Aperture: f/4.9, ISO: 6400

I edited this picture by making it black and white, I also cropped it up to get rid of distracting foreground, as well as in on the sides to get rid of some grass.  I also lightened it up a bit and played with the sharpness to make me stand out more.  There was car lights, flashes, and a reflector used for light.

Shutter: 30/1, Aperture:  f/4.9, ISO: 100

In this photo I had a flashlight and we were painting with light.  In editing it i cloned out some of the people in the background and that is about it.

Shutter: 30/1, Aperture: f/4.9, ISO: 100

I didn't edit this at all, I liked it the way that it was.  :)

The following 3 photos were shot with a canon EOS 40D, and the same settings. Shutter: 1/60, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 400.

I cropped this one in and down.  I also made it black and white to make it less distracting.  I polished up his face, and brightened him up a bit.

With this one i also cropped it in and made it black and white.  I fixed the blemishes on his face, and made the photo brighter.

I showed this on in class, but I fixed it by cropping it in on the one side where there was a door, and cloning out  distracting stuff by his feet. I also fixed up some  of the cloning from before int the top corners.  I made it black and white because the door was orange and it was distracting.

my 30th picture will not load, but once i re-save it it will be up!

Server rejected

4/21

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=pictures+of+star+trails&cp=20&qe=cGljdHVyZXMgb2Ygc3RhciB0cmE&qesig=8mQYhirSRdAEJck-MJwvTQ&pkc=AFgZ2tljF4_ToJOQIm3Hn5q32bLljYxTlCRD1vbt5dspzpUaYJ83KpHI_fGlBb5yGA27Gpz9BJ_FgMgNhsvPBMhTYIz5ISGNfg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=593
This is just a google image site for star trails.  After my crazy dreams I decided to look up more about star trails. They fascinate me and although they don't happen the way they did in my dream, the process that takes place in order to make a star trail photos.  They are becoming one of my favorite kinds of photos and i hope that i can take some star trail photos one day.

4/19

4/14

For this weeks blog I chose to write about sports photography, so I figured that I would look at the place that takes some of the best sports photos ever.  Sports Illustrated is one of the best magazines to draw ideas from in terms of sports photography.  Below are photos taken by sports photographers that work for Sports Illustrated.  They are taken from the NCAA national championship game where the Butler Bulldogs took on the UCONN Huskies.
/Users/odessaconley/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Modified/2011/Apr 13, 2011/_MG_8806.jpg
The angle that this photo was taken really contributes to the amount of vertical it appears that he has. I also like that background of the fans and how the warm tones contrast the black and white colors of the jerseys. Altogether its just a very clear and focussed picture.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1104/ncaa.championship.game/content.8.html
This photo is just awesome! end of story.

Portrait Photography

4/7

http://www.noupe.com/photography/50-beautiful-examples-of-flower-photography.html
After tuesdays class  and talking about flowers I decided it would be cool to look up pictures of flowers.

This is just one of the pictures from the website that I liked because of the colors and the silhouette look some of the flowers have.  I love the lighting that the sun is creating also.

This is another picture that I really enjoy, just to contrast of the yellow and the blue.  Also the really good detail of both the butterfly and the flower. also how much the background is blurred.

With this picture I really enjoy the blurred white flowers in the background, and the contrast of the white and purple flowers and the way that they mix in with the green grass.

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/41-delicious-flower-photographs

Some of these pictures are the same as the previous link, but still marveled over the ones that were different.  I think I found my new passion for flower photography :) I hope that i can take pictures like this for my final project if the weather is good.

3/31

This link is just something that I think that Dave should consider getting. jk.
http://blog.photoshelter.com/2008/06/its-all-the-rage-camera-tattoos.html

http://www.jturnerphotography.com/panorama/index.htm
I was looking at landscape photographers when I stumbled upon Jeremy Turner.  When looking at all of his galleries one that really stood out to me was his panorama gallery.  I really like the idea of being able to get more of the landscape in your photo without having to zoom out.  I just think the whole idea that you can actually do that is amazing. My favorite gallery within the panorama gallery is gallery number 4.  I really enjoy the warm tones that are in his pictures, caused by the sun rise and set.  The black and white gallery is also one that I found caught my attention, mostely just because I really like black and white photos. Although thoses were my favorites, I still really liked all the rest of his photos, espcially his panorama ones. 
Landscape photography is something that I really enjoy, because no matter what you are taking a picture of there is always some way that you can make it inreresting, wether it be angles, lighting, zoom, color, or focus you can take great pictures if you choose the right elements to focuss on.  In reading his biography, Jeremey found his love for landscape photography when his passion for cycling turned his attention to the beautiful outdoors, and then the rest is history. Overall I think that his work is amazing and it makes me jealous that he gets to go to such cool places.

3/28

In learning about the importance of color, i learned that color can really change the way a picture is portrayed.  I found it interesting that in the first article it talks about the many different color wheels, and how we perceive these colors to help make a picture stand out.  The color tree really caught my attention and i thought it was cool how all those colors could come together to make a tree.  Also the points of trajectory of light is interesting to understand that these points make that much different in color.
In the second article I learned a lot about how to edit the color and adjust the settings to make the pictures color more vibrant or dull.  By adjusting the hue, saturation and lightness you can really alter the pictures color and change its overall outcome.  I tend to always play around with these settings with my pictures to get the color i want for them.  It was also interesting how he lumped two colors together and said that they basically need each other.
In the third article I really enjoyed looking at the different pictures and recognizing the differences between the ways the colors were use.  It was interesting that by selecting different colors to stand out how it really alters the outcome of the photo.  I like how you can choose a certain color from the photo and it makes all of that same color stand out, this makes for really vibrant and beautiful colors.  All the tools that photographers use for landscape photography are really interesting to me, and i think its cool that they have all these aids to get the best photo as possible.
In article four I really enjoyed the picture of the rocks, those colors were amazing.  I just think its interesting that there is so much that goes into getting the best color out of pictures.  Like memorizing colors and just certain things you learn over time.  Over all I just think all the skills needed to take good pictures are amazing and important.

3/24

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/silhouette-photography/
This article talks about what how to take silhouettes, and what kind lighting should be used to create the best type of pictures.  It suggests taking pictures when the sun is near the horizon, and in some cases including the sun in the photo, but not pointing your camera directly at the sun.  I also like how he talks about how to do it with a point and shoot camera.
http://www.digitalpicturezone.com/digital-pictures/30-striking-examples-of-silhouette-photography/
Is another website that has a lot of awesome silhouette photos.
http://www.erinkayephotography.com/
This is a photographer who used to be my basketball coach. She based her studio out of Belgrade.  I really like her wedding photos and baby photos.  I think that she has really good ideas and that they are really well executed.

3/17

In the articles that I read I found all the information to be very helpful in learning new things about photography.  In the article about lighting I found it very interesting that bad weather can create the best pictures. Like the canyon photo that had the harsh clouds that caused the photo to look 3D, because of the illuminated lighting. When he shows the cave photo, I really enjoyed the lighting and how it reflected off the ground to cause both the shadows and the glow on the rocks.  I also like that  he plans his shoots before he goes, so that he doesn't have to wait forever at the shoot for the right lighting.  Over all the lighting advice was helpful and i will definitely take the weather and the lighting into consideration when it comes time to shoot.  In the second article about light I found it interesting that many photographers look at the almanac like farmers, gardeners, hunters, etc.  Along with using a farmers almanac to look at the weather and sun rise and set, you can also use a gps to determine such things, it can also keep you from getting lost in the wilderness. If you don't have a gps you can always use a compass to locate the sun using the azimuth.  Also the tools that he uses to create artificial light using reflecting shields to relocate lighting to another object. In article 3 I found the different times of the day that the photos were taken to be interesting in the way that they made the pictures stand out. I found the air lighting to be very interesting and enjoyed the white sands picture very much.  I also really enjoyed the  4 pictures on the different times of the day that the lighting.  It's interesting to see how the different angels the sun has on the object and illuminating different parts of the photo. In article 4 I really liked the idea of using silhouette photography.  I enjoy the idea of contrasting dark foregrounds with light backgrounds. I also enjoyed the rainbow examples and hope to capture something like that one day, and i wonder if with the panoramic option if you could take a picture of the whole rainbow?  The picture of the cave with the light penetrating through the whole was also awesome.  I enjoyed all these links and think they will become very helpful when shooting landscape photography.

Lifestyle photos

Minus the editing I did to the background in the second picture, these were two pictures that I used in my lifestyle photography.  One I modeled in, and one I took.  They were advertising for ray ban and under armor.

3/10/11

 http://www.johnfedele.com/#/athletes/athletes/

In looking at photographers work, I came across one named John Fedele, who I really liked.  His work with sports photography really stood out to me, probably because I'm really into sports.  His pictures have a  lot of editing done to them, but the effects he adds are really cool.  I feel that some of them have the potential to fit into the action category, and I used them to get ideas for our next action shoot.  It gave me an idea for things to do with the background, by using dark and cloudy skies to put more of a spotlight on the model.  Also the glow he uses to illuminate the model to also make them stand out.  Over all i just really liked his photos and though that the could be somewhat helpful for our next assignment.

2/24/11:)

http://www.scottbreum.com/

This website is for Scot Breum, a photographer out of missoula.   He focusses mainly on portrait photography.  He is also the one who did my senior pictures, and I partially worked for him.  I really enjoyed my work there.  I got to organized the photos and in most cases go through the photos that were taken and choose the best 12 frames.  I really enjoyed getting photographed by him, he has a great personality.  In looking at his photos I discovered that I not only like his senior pictures, but his wedding photos also. I have been asked to take engagement photos so i was looking at his for some ideas.  I am really interested in portrait photography and since it is one of our topics I figured it would be appropriate to do a blog post on it.

by Jeanne Pumphrey

I found this photo on the KATU news website.  The photographer Jeanne Pumphrey was the person who submitted the photo, and labeled it as a " sunset rainbow".  I understand the label that she put on it, because you can see the rainbow in the frame.  The photo was taken in Port Angeles, Washington. ( fun fact...twilight filmed a scene there)  I really love this photo because to the blending of colors.  The way that the pink and the blue counteract each other really makes the picture.  I also like how the trees are in the foreground but very dark.  The rainbow makes the picture seem very mystical and beautiful.  I could stare at this picture for days and not get bored.

I googled cool lightning pictures and found this one.  I enjoy looking at lightning pictures, because they are so rare.  I also really like the orange and red colors that the sunset is producing.  I also like the dark foreground and how it contrasts the colors in the background. This picture just takes my breath away.

2/9 lifestyle

http://blog.photoshelter.com/image/en_cowboys.jpg

I chose this picture to represent my lifestyle photo, because I really enjoy the little boys in their cowboy hats.  It reminds me of something that I used to encounter in babysitting little boys.  They are always playing and it is really funny when they come in to get  a snack or drink and they just have the biggest grins on their faces from having so much fun! I also really like the look on the little boys face to the right, he looks as if he has to do things just like the bigger boys so he is trying to see what they are doing rather than paying attention to the camera.  Overall this picture just makes me smile, and I feel like it fits into the category of lifestyle, because it is something that is potentially happening in homes across the nation.

My sports photos

These are the photos that I took for my sports shoot.  I had some problems getting the hang of taking photos, but once I did I really enjoyed it.  It was a learning experience, but I hope to get better at it and to continue to get better.  Editing was something that i also had fun with.  It was fun to play with all the different aspects of the photo and to make it the best version that it could be.

2/3

   

http://thebestten.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/jordan-87-dunk.jpg

I chose this photo, because it fits well with what we are focussing on in class, which is sports photography.  The photo has good definition and is a great action shot.  I like how it is focussed in on Michael, and all the people in the background are blurred, it makes him stand out more.  The lighting is also something that i believe helps the photo, it really highlights his face and muscle tone.  The picture had a good amount of noise i think.  Overall, in my opinion, this photo is an amazing sports photo.

National Geographic videos

In watching the videos on the National Geographic website I learned a lot about shooting photos.  While watching the video about movement I liked how he showed ways to take pictures moving with the object and also taking pictures while letting the object move into the frame.  I personally liked it better when he let the object move into the frame, but both ways can be very helpful.  

Also the clip on lighting I found to be very helpful.  It was interesting to me that it might be helpful to shoot later in the day rather than earlier. It would make sense though, because it would reduce the amount of glare you would have on your photos.  I will take this advice into consideration when i shoot landscape photography.

I also watched the one on composition and I really enjoyed how he took the photos of the water with the building in the background.  When you take a closer look at things it can make your picture so much better, and more unique.  It can give more definition to a big or busy setting.  It is a good idea on how to get a wider range of shots and to give more detail to the surroundings.

The tip about action shooting will be very helpful for our next assignment.  Giving time for your shutter can help you capture the exact moment you want to.  It is helpful to know this so that you dont take a picture to late.  

All these videos were very helpful for photography and i hope they are as easy to learn as they look.

blog # 3: RMC videos

For this weeks blog I looked at all of the pictures on the websites.  On Dave Shumway's website
www.DaveShumway.com, I found a lot of pictures that I thought were breath taking.  the one that really stuck out to me though was the one of the  yellow flower with purple flowers in the background.  Something about the colors and the detail really draws me to it. I liked the intimate portfolio a lot, but i enjoyed the others as well.                

This picture is from the historic 1940's album on the www.Photos.Rocky.edu website.  I like this photo because it just stands out in my mind.  The contrast of the bus agains the white snow really makes it pop.  I also liked a lot of the sports photos, but this one just left a good first impression on me.  I also really like the 1940's era and the style of things back then and this bus just seemed to fit this era perfectly.  

I found this image on the www.Rocky.edu website under the faculty and staff tab.  It immediately caught my eye because i love pictures of lightning storms.  The mixtures of the colors really sparks my interest too. I also like the shading color the trees give.  It creates a sense of mystery that really draws my attention.  The photos on the Rocky website were very interesting but I chose one without any people in it because I was drawn to this one.

All the websites had amazing pictures  and i enjoyed looking at all of them!

Alain Briot- photography info.

Here are the links for the articles:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles1110/ab1110-1.html

http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles1210/ab1210-1.html

http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0910/ab0910-1.html

http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles1010/ab1010-1.html

These articles were written by Alain Briot, he is a famous photographer and his articles gave me a good insight on how to take good photos.  In these four articles he talks about composition and what a snap shot really is.  Three of the articles were on composition, which there are a few different types of.  The photographs that were used as examples were very helpful, and made it easy to understand what all the different types of composition he was talking about looked like and how to do them properly.

The traditional rules of composition were split up into two different articles.  The first half of the article dealt with the position of objects in the photograph.  It gave rules for certain ways of setting up your picture.  Some examples of these are the S-curve, framing, and the rule of thirds.  I find it interesting that there are that many different types of placement composition.  The second part of the article had to do with light, color, and repetition.  It talked about how your light source can put an emphasis on certain things and really make the picture pop.  The colors in your picture can really enhance the image, but in some cases composing with black and white can make the picture memorable too.  The article also talked about repetition and how that can be used as an interesting composition rule.  This information really helped me to understand how to achieve different types of composition, as well as show me beautiful examples.  I liked how he said you have to fully understand the rules before you can break them.

The article labeled "fine art composition: top 15", had a lot of helpful tips as well as.  For starters the picture on the page is absolutely AMAZING, and all the tips were interesting.  I liked when he said that it is not about redoing  what someone else has already done.  It made me think about how many different things you can capture on camera and that you don't need to take a picture someone else has already taken when you can use your imagination and take a different one.  His other tips were helpful also, that is just the one that sticks out in my mind the most.

The last article i read about "what is a snapshot?" made it more clear as to what it is.  I like how it talks about all the things that make it a snapshot.  Like printing and the meaning and who your audience is.  I liked how he compared the snapshot to a machine and talked about how the machines job is not to work properly, but to recored and event or moment.  His picture of the may snowstorm is pretty cool, i like the work with the foreground and the background. 

Overall these articles really helped me to understand what makes a good photo, and how there are really no limits on what you can do with a camera.

blog #1: Marilyn Monroe

I have always been fascinated with Marilyn Monroe.  She is someone i find to be one of the most influential people. My fascination with her started by when i saw photos of her and thought to myself, she doesn't even look like she has to try to be pretty or appealing.  This photo i think shows that.  She may not look like the Marilyn that we are used to, with the blonde hair and red lips, but in my opinion she is still drop dead gorgeous.  The photo was taken by Andre de Dienes in 1945, when Marilyn was only 19 years old.  Soon after these photos her career took off.  I found this picture on Marilyn's official website.  I am drawn toward this picture for the reason that it's so simple, yet so intriguing to me at the same time.  This is just one of the photos that i found of Marilyn that caught my attention, and the kind of photography that interests me.