Self portrait!

ISO: 1600   17mm    f/5.6    1/200

17-50mm

        Welp..I tried. In my head I liked this picture A LOT more. This was supposed to signify all my insecurities being pulled down and me being finally free. I set up a flash to the left of the camera between the camera and I, and covered it with red tissue paper to get the redish color effect. However, I really wish I would have made the words a lot defined because you cannot really see them. I also don't like how the wrinkles are so noticeable in the sheet. Some people say they really like this, but I just don't. Like at all. I plan to redo my self portrait with a new idea because I don't like this picture.. not even a little but.

So Many Headshots!!!

ISO: 800    f/2.8   1/100sec

17-50 mm

ISO: 800   f/2.8   1/100sec

17-50mm

The cover of this yearbook has so many pictures of people its ridiculous! Everyday we have tons of assignments to take headshots of people who have bought yearbooks.  Today I got a list of people and these two girls were some of them. I learned that it is quite difficult to take pictures in the freshman building, especially when you are down stairs. There is hardly any light coming into the hallway. In the end the cover will look amazing and all the hard work everyone has put in will be worth it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 ISO: 800   47mm   f/5.0   1/13sec

ISO: 800   60mm   f/4.5   1/15

Well I really needed some blog pictures, so yesterday I went home and just started taking pictures trying to be all creative and stuff. A few days ago my grandma finally put up Christmas decorations which made our house look like it's supposed to around this time of year.  The first picture is of our table in our kitchen. The thing I don't really like is how I cut off the snowman's head in the back. The second picture is of the flowers on our table in the dining room. The lighting in this picture, well I don't know I feel about it. I can't decide if it looks cool or if it actually is completely wrong.

Chelsea!! ...again.

ISO: 200   f/4.0   1/320sec

17-50mm lens

       Today I had to take a headshot of Chelsea Ray for yearbook. This is the second picture of Chelsea I have taken in the last 3 weeks. It was quite windy and raining when I took this picture so it wasn't the best experience ever. When I came to process them they were a little underexposed because the sun was kind of out but not really. I had to bring up the exposure just a little bit. Anyway, I like how the rule of thirds enhances this picture. 

Set Up For My Self Portrait

ISO: 1600   f/5.6   1/200sec

Well this was my set up for my self portrait. I had a sheet taped to my wall partly covering the word "FREE" that was cut out of poster board. I had one flash to the left of the flash but it was closer to me. This  picture was taken before I got in the picture when I was just trying to get the lighting right. I didn't like how the flash was was too bright and it was just in one spot. So I decided that I should put some tissue paper around the flash to diffuse it and tone it down. The only color I could find was red, but I think it ended up working pretty well. I then brought down the flash power so it wouldn't be so bright. Even though I didn't really like the end product, I learned a lot. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, SMITH!!

Basketball!

ISO: 1250   21mm   f/4.0   1/200sec

17-50 lens

This was the varsity girls game against Marshall. Caroline and I shot together and we were kinda nervous on how this was gonna play out. I definitely almost got hit numerous times. I like this picture because you can see her number and some of her face. The lighting is pretty good, also. Getting the lighting was hard because sometimes the flash didn't go off since their were two people shooting. Overall, I think basketball went pretty good. I think I learn a lot. 

CLAIRE!!!

ISO: 100   50mm   f/9.0   1/25sec.

17-50 lens

       Today, Claire, Caroline, and I went around taking random pictures. We went to the pond and we just started messing around with different portrait ideas. While I was taking a picture of Caroline, Claire decided to pick up this random piece of grass so I took a picture of her with it. I like how it frames her eye and also how her eye is in focus. The exposure is pretty good too. In processing, I used the iris enhancer tool to make her eye a little clearer. 

Kelly's Book is Amazing!

ISO: 400   50mm   f/2.8   1/200sec

lens: 50mm

         I really needed a blog picture, so Haley Rushing and I set out on a mission. Our so called mission was to find ordinary objects and make them artistic and interesting. When we went into Potter's room I saw Kelly's Photojournalism project from freshman year. I was in her class that year and her project always made me so jealous. Anyway, this was one of my favorite pages so I decided to take some pictures of it. It was actually kind of hard focusing it because of how many little objects were placed on the page. I didn't do hardly any processing with this picture except cropping. 

Photojournalism After High School

          Today. at the beginning of class, we skyped with Morgan Walker. She is attending college at Western Kentucky where she is majoring in Photojournalism. She gave us some really good advice and told us some stories about her experiences. Although I'm not really interested in photojournalism as a major, I learned a lot from her. I will never stop taking pictures, and she even talked about freelance photography. I think that could be an option for me in the future. As far as advice for this year and next year, she told us its alright if you screw up an assignment. That's how you learn. And yes, everyone says this, but it always helps hearing it again. She said that after taking this class her perspective changed about photography. She wasn't really interested in photography as a career, she just wanted to learn how to actually take pictures instead of just pressing random buttons on a camera. That's how I was. I loved taking pictures in my free time, but I had no idea what I was doing. Also, like she said, the stuff we learn in this class sticks with you after high school. She gave us a slight background on the college she is attending and all the internships she has gone through. Her stories told us how hard you have to work in order to get maybe one picture published. Even though it is a lot of work and involves many sacrifices, it's worth it in the long run.

Arsenic and Old Lace

ISO: 1000   f/2.8   1/500sec

I really enjoy this picture, even though its underexposed. His facial expression really makes the picture. This is when the nephew finds one of the 12 men his aunts have killed. It was hard shooting because when you went to shoot in the corners of the stage the lighting changed. I checked my histogram after about every 3 pictures. It taught me to check it more regularly which is something I needed to work on. 

Six Weeks Project: Book Covers

ISO: 100   46mm f/4.0   1/125sec   17-50 lens

The hardest thing about doing these book covers was getting the lighting just right. The shadow on her check was extremely hard. When I got to processing, I had to bring up the exposure in order for the shadow to be more defined. I also had to use the iris enhancement tool on her eyes. One thing I wish would have happened was for the grass to be taller and more in front of her eyes. I did learn a little more about shooting in direct sun light. 

 

 

ISO: 800   50mm   f/8.0   1/200sec 17-50 lens

This picture was actually a little harder than I thought it would be. I wish I would have realized that the black marker was too distinct and I should have used a pink or purple marker. I used a 580 flash with a brolly box. I had never really used flash before and doing this book cover helped me learn.  I ended up placing the umbrella above her head and to the left. In processing I had to adjust the brightness and contrast a little. I now notice that my picture is a little darker on Haley than it should be. But I don't think its too terribly bad. 

Chelsea Ray

ISO: 100   35mm   f/4.5   1/500sec

17-50 lens

         I got a photo assignment to take picture of Chelsea Ray by her car. Yearbook is doing a story on how she got her license on the same day she got a job. One thing that was really difficult was the glare on her car window. I tried really hard to eliminate that as much as possible but this was about as good as it got. They didn't give me a lot to go on except that they wanted a horizontal picture of her by her car. So I just had her open her car door so it would be a little more interesting. 

Best Homework I've Ever Eaten!

ISO: 800   35mm   f/2.8   1/15sec

17-50 lens

        I had to shoot part of the food assignments for newspaper. I had to get enchiladas and queso from Zapatas. It wasn't very bright in the restaurant but it wasn't super dark either so my shutter speed only went down to 1/15 sec. In this picture I wanted to to make the enchiladas more in focus with the queso a little blurred. In processing, I cropped the the picture a little and brought up the exposure and contrast. 

Varsity Football! :)

 ISO: 1250   300mm   f/2.8   1/200sec

ISO: 1250   120mm   f/2.8   1/160sec

          That was the fastest 3rd quarter ever. But it was one of the best. I finally got to shoot varsity football!  I only ended up getting like 15 pictures and only 4 were even good, but I'm really looking forward to hopefully shooting more games next year. In the first picture, Mt. Pleasant was kicking an extra point and I just happened to get the picture when they were blocking it. Its not completely in focus but its not bad. In the second picture, I believe it was during a timeout, the coach and the players were right in front of me so I decided to take the picture. It may have just been some random picture but I actually like how it came out. 

Volleyball!!

* This is the blog for October 6

ISO: 1250   39mm   f/2.8   1/160sec

17-50 lens

       I think I'm finally getting the hang of volleyball...well sorta. I've gotten better at timing and stuff but I still have problems with focusing. I constantly take pictures that were taken at the perfect moment but the wrong thins is ALWAYS in focus. I know I will get better with time though. I like this picture because the ball is in it, you can see eyes,  the timing was pretty good, and our players were in focus. In processing, I cropped the picture and brought up the exposure a little. 

Homecoming was a fail.

ISO: 2000   17mm   f/2.8   1/4000sec

        Fifteen minutes. That was all I had to shoot. Not one good picture. By the time I finally figured out how I should shoot and all that.. the flash died. At first, on half of my pictures, the flash didn't go off. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't. Then I finally realized the flash was dying and I needed to change the batteries. By the time I changed the batteries, my shift was over. I was definitely the person who bombed this assignment. This was my best picture, and its not good at all. However, I've learned from this. 

Oh How I Love Black and White!

 ISO: 1250   29mm   f/3.2   1/10sec

One night I was just messing around with different stuff. This is a wind-chime in my backyard. When I went to process I wanted to see how it looked in black and white. After I changed it, I messed with the brightness, sharpness, and moved up the blacks. You could also see my Direct-TV satellite to the left of the birds, so I just kept messing with different settings in order to make it bled it with the tress and darkness. 

ISO: 800   41mm   f/4.0   1/13sec

To get the black background, I taped a black pillow case to the wall and had it draped across the floor. I took my tutu from 80's day and a tiara I just had laying around, and just started taking pictures from different angles. I had most of the direct light in the room turned off so not that much was getting to the stuff. I really wanted to practice using flash. In processing, I changed it to black and white and used the sharpness and brightness levels to bring out the jewels in the tiara.  

I used a 17-50 lens with a 580 flash for both pictures

Football!!

ISO: 400    91mm   f/4.0   1/4000

        First attempt at football went alright...I guess. I had maybe 15 decent pictures. I learned MANY things while shooting these games. One thing I learned is how hard it is to shoot in direct sunlight and trying to adjust between the sun, motion, and placement on the field. Football is definitely not as easy as I thought it was going to be. But I'm determined to work on being able to shoot more football games and becoming better. 

       This picture was one of my favorites. This was the Freshman B-Team who played at 4, so the shadows were very harsh. The lighting was definitely a challenge throughout the entire game. 

Volleyball!

ISO: 1600   f/3.2   1/200 sec

        As hard as volleyball is, I think this picture is pretty decent. Good things in this picture are the ball in the picture, and I also like how the other player on the right is yelling for the middle girl. I feel this shows a lot of emotion. I also enjoy the fact that the players are not blurry. I do wish the players were more in focus, however, and the background not as much in focus. 

Six Weeks Assignment

ISO: 100   50mm   f/2.8   1/200sec

                    In this picture, the background is extremely blurry while the wind chime is in focus.

ISO: 100   50mm  f/4.0   1/125sec

                    This picture I wanted to get the actual flower in focus and have everything else blurry. It works very well with this f-stop because the aperture was so wide.

ISO: 100  47mm   f/5.6   1/40

                     I particularly like how there is different levels in this picture to do with focus. The butterfly is mainly in focus, the rest of the fountain is kinda blurry but still clear, and the ground is very blurry.

ISO: 100   43mm   f/8.0   1/30sec

                    This picture is almost the same as the picture with an f-stop of 2.8. You can really tell the difference that aperture can make between these two. With this picture, the background is still blurry just not as much. 

ISO: 100   50mm   f/11   1/10sec

                   With this picture, you can see how the softball is in focus, while the background is only a little blurry. 

                   In this assignment, I learned that when you bring the aperture up, the background will not be as blurry and the focus point won't be as sharp. So when you have a smaller f-stop, which is a wide aperture, it will produce a very sharp focus point and a blurry background. However, when you bring up the aperture, you also have to change your shutter speed to account for that change so the picture is exposed correctly. For every complete stop, you have to move the shutter speed up three clicks. 

This. Was. A. Fail.

ISO: 100   Shutter Speed: 30 seconds  f/16   45 mm

       Well Haley and I spent a little over an hour preparing and trying to make this picture work. No matter what we did though, nothing worked! My goal was to have her focused and to light her face with the side of her hands that said,  "I AM A FREAK"over her face. I also wanted make the hands that say, "I DON'T BELONG HERE," to light up beside her and be a little brighter than her face but not much. Every time we tried this, something went wrong. Either she was blurry, or the lighting wasn't right; it was always something. I do want to try this again though, and see if I can get it even somewhat better. 

Blood Drive!

ISO: 800   75mm   f/5.0   1/50sec

580 flash

       Today during class the blood drive was going on. I found this a good opportunity to practice using flash, considering I haven't really used it before. I like this picture because her arm helps lead the eye up to her face, and she is smiling so it seems like she is happy that she is giving blood. One thing I wish would have turned out better was her hand/arm be a little more blurry therefore her face could be the main focus. 

Cross Bracelet!

ISO: 800   50mm   f/4.0   1/1600sec

       One day after school I was working on my six weeks assignment, but my dog would not cooperate with me! So, I got bored and started taking pictures of my bracelet. When I processed the picture I changed the picture to black and white and I also used the brush tool to make the charm a little more prominent. 

Volleyball!

ISO: 800   50mm   f/2.8   1/160sec

       Finally!!! I got to shoot a sports game! I was pretty nervous about shooting the volleyball game but I was very excited at the same time. When I came to process pictures, they were horrible! Even though they were bad, I feel that I learned A LOT! Next time I shoot, I know I can do better. I like this picture because the player was somewhat in focus and the ball was in the picture.

Ballerina!

ISO: 100   28mm   f/4.0    130.0sec

        This was my third attempt at painting with light, which I thought went a lot better than the first two. I had a picture in my mind of a ballerina doing different poses and having their silhouettes highlighted. Although the picture didn't capture the poses the way I originally wanted, it still got close. One thing I wish I could have done better was her left arm (the right side of the picture) does not show up too well. The thing I like a lot about the picture is the spill light at the top of the picture around her arms. I feel it accents really well with the rest of the picture.  

Apron Day!

ISO: 800   35mm   f/3.2   1/400sec

       My assignment was to take pictures of students wearing aprons on Wednesday. This is Haley Rushing's fabulous apron! The one thing I really like is the depth of field; only her apron is in focus. I do wish I wouldn't have gotten the hair that was hanging down. I feel it takes away from apron. 

Spiderman!!

 ISO: 100   37mm   f/8.0   1/250sec

ISO:100   28mm   f/6.3   1/250sec

17-50mm lens

       This was the spiderman assignment to practice timing and reaction. The shutter speed was fast enough that it created the illusion that they were sticking to the wall. It definitely wasn't the easiest thing to do because you had to get the timing just right. However, after a few times you finally got the hang of it. I'm glad we did this assignment early in the year so we can get a better understanding of timing and reaction before we go out to shoot different sporting events.  

Oh The Joys of Being A Freshman

ISO: 100

(I have no idea why I put this as the setting. That is why it's underexposed.)

50mm   f/4.5   1/50sec.

      I was assigned to shoot Tiger Camp. The school was filled with amazed freshman, walking the halls of Texas High for the first time. In this session, "Taste of Texas," the students were learning about all the events at Texas High. I like how your eye is taken through everyone's faces, to get to the focus point. I don't like all the lights at the top of the picture though. 

Painting With Light!!

ISO: 100   23mm   f/5.6   30.0sec

       There's a first time for everything, right? Well, this was mine. I was really excited about painting with light, so when my turn came up, I was ready. I feel this picture is alright for the first time. However, I wish I wouldn't have taken so long on the other parts because I wasn't able to get all of her arm on the right side of the picture. This has made me more excited about painting with light in the future. 

My Favorite Four-Legged Creature

ISO: 250   33mm   f/6.3   1/200 sec. 

ISO: 250   37mm   f/6.3   1/200 sec. 

       The first day I checked out a camera, I went home and immediately started practicing on my dog, MacGregor. I decided to follow my dog around the yard as he did whatever he always did. In the first picture I was sitting on the ground as my dog walked toward me. In the second picture, I was laying flat on the ground, then MacGregor mirrored what I did.  In the first picture, I should have given a little more headroom because the tip of his ear is cut off. In the second picture, I should have made it a stronger horizontal picture. During processing, on the first picture, I changed the color to "preset: B&W Creative-Low Contrast."On the second picture, I changed the color to "Preset: Color Creative- Yesteryear 1." I also cropped some of the sides on each picture. 

       

Cheerleading Practice!

ISO: 800   50 mm   f/3.2   1/80sec

       Well this was my first real assignment, and I had cheerleading practice. Going into this assignment I didn't really know what to expect, but I made the best of it. One thing I wished I would have done differently was gotten closer to the cheerleaders. I kept my distance the entire time, which I now was not the best idea. I could have captured a lot better images if I would have gotten in the middle of everything. After the assignment, when I put the photos on the computer, I realized how much I was under-exposed. I did look at my histogram, but apparently I read it wrong. However, I have learned how to correctly judge my histogram. When processing my photo, I had to crop out some of the sides and headroom, as well as adjust the exposure to +0.32.