Fourth Assignment: Studio Lighting

Reflection

Describe - What do you see?:

I see a young woman looking down at her hands.  Her hands are touching and her fingers are spread apart.  She has long dark colored hair and a lightly colored shirt on.  Her hands are closer compared to the rest of her body.  The left half of her body and the bottom of her right hand is in shadow.  The background is mostly black.  This photograph is figurative because it is obvious that there is a young woman looking at her hands in the picture.

Analyze - How is the work organized?
There are several clear and distinct shapes in this photograph such as the subject's hands, right arm, and head.  The subject is in focus which was done intentionally because this was a figurative portrait.  There are few tones in this photograph.  There is black and grey but very little white.  There is a disticnt contrast between the background and the subject's face and right arm.  However, the left half of her body blends in with the background and her hands somewhat contrast and blend with the background.  This was all done intentionally because I wanted half of the subject to have one tone and the other half of the subject to have a polar opposite tone.

Interpret - What is the artist trying to communicate?
This photograph was taken indoors with studio lighting.  I believe the photograph has a nice balance between being dark and light.  While photographing the subject, I wanted the image to look one way on one half and a different way on the othe half.  I believe this was successful because the light hits the subject on the right side which leaves the left side engulfed in shadow.  This photograph represents the two sides to everyone's conscience.  The lighter half of this photograph represents the innocent side of the subject's conscience, and the darker half of this photograph represents the mischievious side of the subject's conscience.  The young woman is looking down at her hands with an expression of contemplation on her face.  Since hands have always symbolized action and power to me, this photograph represents a young woman at a loss of what now to do, torn between her innocence and her daredevilry.

Judge - What do you think of the work?
I believe this photograph was successful.  Not only did I use studio lighting correctly in order to have one half of the subject's body lit and the other half in shadow, I represented what I wanted to communicate with the lighting and the subject's body language and facial expression.  I ended up cropping a portion of the bottom of the original photograph because I felt it didn't add anything to what I wanted to represent through the photograph.  I believe this was a good decision that benefitted the final production.  I really enjoyed studio lighting and I would love to use it again so I could produce more raw portraits of people's faces, rather than having their body in the photograph.

Sixth Assignment: Photoshop

Reflection

I have mixed feelings about this assignment.  I liked the idea of combining two different photographs in order to create one.  I had to get the creative flow going in order to decide which images I wanted to combine and why.
As I was browsing through the photograph options, I settled on the picture of the castle as soon as I saw it.  I am fascinated with architecture and photographs of castles always grab me.  I wanted to find a landscape photograph that I could blend the castle with easily.
I am not an expert at using Photoshop or even moderately knowledgeable with the program, so I found certain tools were difficult to use and trying to undo something proved to be an epic challenge.  Despite these bumps in the road while working on this assignment, I look forward to editing images and getting to know the program more.

Third Assingment: Stop Action

Reflection

Describe - What do you see?:

I see a young woman lying on the ground.  Her eyes are closed and her hands are up in the air.  There are leaves falling.  The model's right hand and the leaves are very close.  Her body and ground are somewhat far away.  This photograph is figurative because it is apparent that the young woman is lying down and either throwing or catching leaves.

Analyze - How is the work organized? 

There are clear shapes like the model's hand and fingers as well as the leaf that is most in focus.  The majority of the photograph is not in focus.  This was done intentionally.  I specifically focused on the motion of the leaves and hands because I wanted to show stop action.  There are many different tones of black and white in this photograph.

Interpret - What is the artist trying to communicate?

This photograph was taken outdoors in order to communicate the playfulness of the outside.  Yet the image is more dark than it is light.  This tone represents the joy in solidarity.  The model is throwing leaves in the air and has a smile on her face.  She is happy to be playing outdoors.

Judge - What do you think of the work?

This photograph was successful in what I was trying to communicate to the audience because of the expression on the model's face and what she is doing.  I am still torn about whether or not I like this photograph.  It is a little odd, yet intriguing.  I really like the focus of her right hand and the leaves but I'm unsure about how much I like the rest of the photograph.  It gives off a mysterious vibe which I kind of like but also am unsure about.

Second Assignment: Depth of Field

Reflection
Describe - What do you see?:
I see a young woman standing in front of a cluster of treetops.  She is gazing up towards the sky and has a subtle smile on her face.  The background is filled with various treetops.  The trees appear very far off into the distance and the young woman appears taller.  The work is abstract because the young woman is elongated and the background is nothing but a collage of leaves.


Analyze - How is the work organized?

This photograph consists of various tones of black and gray.  The background is intentionally not in focus in order to show depth of field.  However, the model is unintentionally slightly out of focus.

Interpret - What is the artist trying to communicate?
I believe the model is not light enough.  Her face somewhat blends in with the background because of how dark she and the background appear.  This photograph was taken outdoors during the day.  I was trying to capture the spirit of the model herself.  I want the audience to look at this photograph and see how the outdoors brings the young woman a sense of contentment and security.

Judge - What do you think of the work?
I believe that the message communicated was successful because the model is looking at the nature surrounding her and has a subtle smile on her face.  However, I do not like this photograph.  The tone of the photograph was too gray for my liking.  I wanted the model to have more light on her face and I wanted the background to have a higher contrast between blacks and whites.