Slo-Mo 1

This week we worked on our Slo-Mo Projects, photos taken with the shutter open for a longer period of time than a standard photograph. For this project, I experimented with multiple techniques for shutter speed changes, including light painting, where you change the position of a light in the photo with the shutter open, blurred motion, where you catch the motion of an object or person during a photo, and panning, where you move the camera horizontally or vertically during the photo like you would in a panoramic shot. For my photos on light painting, I would focus on a light in the display on the camera and move the camera around during the photo in such a way that it would create the shape I wanted. I found that editing these photos especially, with increased saturation and decreased shadows, made them pop out well. For panning, I would find some background or object I found interesting, and would shift my camera in different directions to see how it would appear in the actual photograph. For blurred motion, I would find people or objects that were moving and attempt to isolate that motion from the rest of the frame. However, keeping the camera still completely still during the full time the shutter was open proved very difficult, ultimately making the entire photo look blurry. For the next week, I would like to work on this type of slo-mo photograph and work on creating good, crisp photos in this category.

DBL Exposure

This week in photography, we worked on our DBL Exposure projects. For my project, I overlapped two different photos together and faded them such that both images could be seen in the same photograph. My goal was to create a dreamlike feeling in each of my photos, similar to the reflections from last week. To do this I would choose two photos that didn't necessarily work well together and then synthesize them through editing, either by changing the exposure, making the combined photo black and white, or adding borders.

Windows Reflection

This week we worked on our Window Reflection photos. For my photos I focused on using and creating reflections that appeared estranged from reality, like a different world. To do this I took multiple photos from different angles of a reflective surface or set up the reflections beforehand to get the photos that I wanted. Once I did that I edited the photos to enhance their otherworldliness. Some photos have been reflected multiple times and some are already taken within the reflection.

Multi-frame Storytelling

For this final week of photography, we worked on Multi-frame Storytelling, where multiple photos change each of their meanings when they are together. I specifically focused on changing the vibe and feel of portraits by contrasting the portraits with an abstract photo in order to bring out different emotions or depth of emotion in the expressions. Once I found the portrait and photo I wanted to pair, I edited each of them with daguerrotypes as well as changes in shadows, brightness, highlights, contrast, saturation and temperature depending on the specific pair. Then I brought the photos together in a single collage and edited the spacing and color of the boundary between the photos to create a better sense of cohesiveness between them.

Artist Portfolio

 For my artist portfolio, I chose around a dozen photos from all my previous drafts that I thought best demonstrated spatial dissonance as well as the the best composition and overall quality of the photo itself. Since some of them were better in some categories over others, especially the quality of photos in the earlier drafts, I tried to have a balance of photos that stood out in each of the individual categories as well as those that were good in all of the categories. The first three photos I choose were primarily due to the quality of the images and how striking they were. The next five photos I choose were primarily due to the composition of the photos, the components of the image and how they fit together. And lastly, the final five photos were chosen primarily due to their demonstrations of spatial dissonance, even if the their individual components aren't as colorful or interesting as other photos in the portfolio.

Artist Draft 4

This week I made the 4th draft of my artist project. For this draft, I gathered new materials for my shots to create more interesting and more diverse compositions. Then I used the same process that I had applied to the earlier draft, taking angled photos with a macro attachment, to zoom in on smaller designs focused in a smaller area.