For one of our first photoshop assignments we had to make frames. We took some pictures that we took earlier and started in photoshop. In total we made four different frames on eight pictures. Different selections in the pictures and different layers made the frames possible. I discovered new parts of photoshop and I start feeling better using this program. I still don't think that I could do all these things without good instructions but I understand where to go to add new layers or in general, to create things on photoshop.
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Our next assignment was called principles of design. I liked that assignment because I could be as creative as I wanted and I could take pictures of things that I wanted, they only had to have the elements of composition in them. Some pictures were hard to take like the one with the steam in the coffee mug or the one with the water drop. It took me many pictures to get the ones that are in this slideshow. Our very first assignment this last trimester was color. Color has a huge spectrum and almost everything colorful would fit in this assignment. Because there were so many possible things to do I started looking online. Very fast I found some nice ideas and tried to take similar pictures. It was hard, I have to admit, in most of the tutorials they used big SLR cameras with different lenses. I had to somehow get these pictures with my little point and shoot camera. But really I think it worked pretty well. Here my best/favorite picture in this assignment. My edits: I turned the exposure up, cropped it, turned clarity, vibrance and saturation up a little bit. I learned that even with a little bit of equipment, you can get interesting pictures. All I used for the food color pictures was a piece of paper as the background, a glass of water and of course the color. For my black "studio" I used two black shirts and my flashlight. I learned that most good pictures don't depend on the most expensive equipment but on the way you make them look good.
I know, I just posted my final reflection, but I am back. I just finished digital photography 1 last trimester and am starting digital photography 2 just now. I love taking pictures and always will. But there are still many things that I want to improve and learn. This class directly continues after the other trimester. My photography skills or expectations didn't really change over the last weekend, so there is not a lot more to explain in this blog. I love taking pictures of thing like nature, events, or things that I just randomly find somewhere in a corner or on the ground. Sometimes the little things that no one pays attention to are ending up as good pictures. In this trimester I will try to fine a wider variety of events and things to take pictures of. I will try to give the person who looks at the picture a feeling. The feeling that I felt while I took that picture. This is a really hard skill to learn but I will try to improve my pictures.
I am excited for this trimester and what to expect. Wow... Almost unbelievable, this trimester is almost over. We did so much in this class. The first day I walked in this class I was really excited. I knew that I like taking pictures and I thought that I already know some things about cameras and photography. I think I was wrong. I learned so many different things about composing images, having the right settings and editing them. At my first day in this class, I saw the pictures at the wall from the photography students last trimester. I was so surprised that after that short about of time they took so amazing pictures. I thought that must be impossible. Now, after this trimester, one of my picture also eded up on the wall. It is the picture of the bubble. One of my absolute favorites. When we first had an assignment to take pictures I was really excited. I still didn't know any settings in the camera, so I used the automatic settings. We were supposed to take composition pictures. I didn't know what to take pictures of. The school looked the same on every floor and it was winter. But after a while of walking around I found some interesting things. It was a challenge, I have to admit. But I got better and better in finding the "perfect picture" It is still hard sometimes, but it is way easier than at the beginning. The very first time I opened photoshop was overwhelming. So many tools and things to do. How will I ever understand that and work with it!? Even after our first Photoshop assignment I still had no idea how to use it. Slowly I started understanding, how the tools are being used and how to make the best out of the picture. Still, we all only learned the basics of Photoshop and there is so much more to explore, but I would say that I am not totally lost anymore. Now I will show you, how my pictures changed in this trimester. The first picture is one of my very first pictures this trimester: One of my best pictures this trimester and also my favorite one (after starting to understand the camera better) This is, how my pictures changed in the time of this trimester. I learned many different things to make my pictures better.
In our very last assignment we went outside to take pictures of motion. We had to wait so long because it has always been too cold. Luckily the weather got a little better and we went outside. I learned a lot about taking pictures today. I always thought that when something is moving you can not take a good picture of it. It might be blurry. But today I learned that when you have the right setting for your camera and you move the camera in the same speed as the object, you can get a sharp object and a blurry background. The blurry background shows the motion in the picture but the object seems so stand still because it is sharp. My edits: Black and white, exposure and contrast up. Cropping the picture and adding my name.
Our last Photoshop assignment was multiple me. I looked for a place with a lot of space. I set up a tripod and took many pictures of myself. Different positions and faces were important to make it more interesting. In photoshop we used layer masks to create this picture. The brush tool became really important. At the very end I tried to make it look more interesting with adding a mood to it. So I turned it back and white and added more contrast. I really like that assignment because you need some creativity to make it.
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