1. This semester one of the most important things that I learned was composition. I had no idea how much it actually affects the outcome of a photo and my photos have improved drastically since August as I can now think before I shoot and determine what I want in my mind and know how to get that to show up on camera. The rule of thirds was the only thing that I'd heard of and even then I didn't know how to properly execute that kind of picture.
Now, when setting up a shot I move around and find different angles until I find what I like before actually pressing the shutter. I learned that it's important to keep in mind how little details in an image can affect the over all tone.
2. I think that we should've spent more time on architectural photography because it's difficult to understand how your picture will come out. How you see a building is often not how your camera sees it. Perception can be a little weird, so I think we should've spent more time getting used to that. As well, I liked the whole urban vs nature idea and I think that could've been cool to go into.
3. Firstly, I think we should spend more time on the Tone Curve tool. It's difficult for me to understand how the Highlights, Lights, Darks, and Shadows all interact with each other, especially the Darks vs Shadows. It's hard for me to determine which setting to change for what effect. This confusion sometimes makes my pictures come out slightly odd looking or grey, so I'd like to be able to more effectively use this tool so that I can still enhance the look of my photos.
Secondly, we should go over detail correction and how to remove noise from pictures. I have trouble knowing exactly where to place the sliders in Detail for the exact desired smoothness or coloring. It would be helpful to just brush up on how to use this tool.
4. This is tricky because a recurring demand in this class for event shoots directly opposes my individual schedule, however, for most kids, at least with a license, I think the assignments make a fair bit of sense. I think the second semester will be much easier for me to turn things in on time and actually give each project my full attention because I won't be held up until 9pm each and every day of the week. That was extremely difficult for me earlier in the semester to find the time to execute shoots let alone work up the creativity for some of the major projects, but I turned everything in.
With sometimes whole weekends in which I have to be away from my camera and entire weeks of no free time, I managed to survive okay in this class, so for any other schedule I believe the work load is possible. It's difficult with work for other classes though and that can be extremely stressful, but again, it is doable. I think part of what sets this class apart from other high school programs is that it is meant to be challenging and force us to creatively work things out on our own. It's more realistic in expectations of the real world for those of us who are going to pursue photography and for that, I think the work load is acceptable for this class despite the difficulty that it brings. I know that I personally have been forced to come up with bizarre out of the box solutions to accomplish what I needed to accomplish in this class and that's what makes all the work a necessary evil.
5. My favorite assignment was probably the most recent free shoot in which we had to work with long exposures. Instead of doing light painting I wanted to go in the opposite direction and disconnect the light in the picture. I had my model holding the light source in a completely pitch black room with no light leaking from anywhere. We focused the beam so that it would only hit her face from a specific angle so that her features would appear a certain way and I had her turn the light on for a few seconds before turning it off, moving, and turning it back on once she was in position. I really liked this shoot because I had an interesting idea and when I tried it out it worked perfectly. There were two people on the final image, my model and a near perfect carbon copy of her.
What really made this cool for me is that the image freaked people out. I wanted it to freak people out, it's the effect that I wanted the image to have, it's the tone I was going for. It was really gratifying to have gotten past the "am I doing this right?" stage and actually have something I made affect people. It might not be the best image ever, I could tell you ten things that were wrong with it, but it's still one of my favorites.
6. The most difficult one was also one of my favorites: The Pet Portraits. This one was by far one of the hardest things for me because my dog is a punk and hates cameras. He would see me holding the camera and deliberately look away, even when I called for him he'd come, but hide his face from the camera. This was infuriating and challenging as I was running out of light quickly, he's old so he can't be out for long, and the one time I took him to an empty field there were literally four other dogs around to mess with him. Even worse, he is one of the prettiest and aesthetically pleasing canines that I've seen and yet I couldn't get a flattering image of him if if were life or death. And the instructions with the cropping kind of confused me and it was difficult for me to get an image with the crops in mind when my dog is only looking at me for .00005 seconds. I suppose it's necessary though because children are the same way sometimes around cameras, so it's a challenge I'll have to just master dealing with. And, it was kind of fun figuring out new ways to grab his attention long enough for a shot. I had to think of noises he'd never heard from me before so that he'd be intrigued enough to actually look my way and it weirded out a small child. Lastly, it was really REALLY intimidating to photograph my dog because I had to take his leash off for the pictures and we were in a very fun looking field of hills that are enticing to dogs, not to mention the numerous other dogs that I was afraid he'd run off to. It's hard to take lovely images when your dog is well within his means to escape.
7. I am most excited for studio work because if I do end up pursuing photography this is the kind that I'd be most interested in. Fashion photography and studio setups are so intriguing to me and I'm interested to see all that goes into creating the perfect environment for making the images that I want. Studio is really cool because you can change every aspect of just about anything and create any image that you think up because you can control almost everything. I think that I am more affected by studio images than images done in other environments because I am really reactive to lighting changes and I like to see a story in an image. I also really like working with people and directing. I think it'd be cool to be able to direct a subject and work together to create something.
8. No, everything above about covers it.
9. I currently have zero idea what I want to do with my life. I just can't picture myself(hahahha) doing the same field for years and years. I think that I could study photography in college, but I really want a four year degree and I haven't completely researched options for degrees in photography, so I don't know of any four year options. I know that I want photography to be more than a hobby, I just haven't decided yet if it is a full-time career for me to pursue. After taking this class, I'm definitely more inclined to seriously consider it though. I guess I would say that I need more resources and information about college options for me to consider it.
10. No, I can research on my own time.
11.
12. I think personally it would be good to have fluid due dates instead of a solid schedule and by this I mean that maybe instead of having BlahBlah due on the 2nd and BlahBlahBlah due on the 11th maybe just say that one or the other should be turned in by the 2nd and the one you haven't shot should be in by the 11th because sometimes conditions aren't permitting of one shoot or project before it's due, but they might be soon after and before the next due date. You've done this a little in the 3rd 6 weeks and it was helpful.
