Blur, Freeze, Pan, Experiment

Our second portfolio in digital photography class consisted of:

MOTION BLUR:

Motion blur is pretty self-explanatory. The main subject should show motion blur and the background should be in focus. Don't get blur confused with something just being out of focus. Blur is achieved with a slow shutter speed. The umbrella was shot at 0.025 sec (1/40) shutter speed. The flag was shot at 0.4 seconds.

FREEZE:

Freeze is stopping motion. Freezing the main subject while it's in motion. I must say, I'm pretty happy with that flying doll. Throwing her in the air with my left hand while snapping the picture with the other. That took a few tries. To freeze something in motion you need a faster shutter speed. The scarf was shot at 0.005 sec (1/200) and the doll was shot at 0.006 sec (1/160).

EXPERIMENTAL:

This was my favorite. Experimental is doing all kinds of funky stuff with the lens. The tree was done while turning the lens zoom in one direction and the camera body in the opposite direction while snapping the picture. All three actions in one swift movement. The night shot was just zooming the lens out while snapping the picture. I love the colors in that one.

and PANNING:

And finally there is panning. We only had to turn in one of these. I guess because it's the hardest one to accomplish. Panning is just that. Snapping a moving target while panning your body and the camera along with it in one smooth motion so the background blurs and the moving target is in focus. And I'd also consider my doll picture to be a pan, but in a downward vertical direction, since she is caught in focus and the background shows motion blur, and not just soft focus. Harder to do than panning horizontally.

We had to turn in a contact sheet with 225 photos with equal amounts of all techniques and only had to fully edit 7 photos to be critiqued.

Our next portfolio project is all about depth of field.   We'll be shooting 250 total photos for this assignment. This should be fun.

Stuff & Nonsense

Stuff I'm thinking about:

• Anyone seen the new show on Oprah's OWN network, 'In The Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman'? Dr. Berman is a sex therapist who helps couples figure out what's going wrong with their sex lives. Two things: 
• It's quite interesting to get a glimpse of what makes people tick...in the bedroom. 
• I can't help wondering how the children of these couples feel after they find out why the camera crew is there, and to know what life is like at school after the show airs and all their friends have inevitably seen it. Personally, I think I'd ask to be home-schooled after that.  
• You know how on facebook everyone updates their status with what they are doing and what's going on in their lives? I often wonder if facebook friends get mad at each other if, say, Susie and Janey meet up for lunch only to find that Janey had no idea that Susie's house was recently burglarized, and Susie had no idea that Janey's kid got braces, or that Janey went to see that big concert the other night and got totally wasted, just like the good old days, all of which was posted on facebook, for cryin' out loud!  Do you get mad if your friends don't keep up with you?* 
• I think I want to live in the country some day. I'd like to have an expansive view, not one of my neighbor's satellite dishes. 
• I'd also like to live in New York City for a spell, first. I think it would be great to be able to live without a car. (see below)
• In order to appreciate being single, you have to experience being married. I think the reverse is also true, but speaking for myself, only when it comes to home/vehicle maintenance issues. 
• Sometimes, when I am making my coffee, I hold my spoon nice and dainty and act like Lily Tomlin in the Snow White fantasy sequence from the movie '9 to 5', one of my favorite movies of all time. 
• I don't like very many people. If I do like you, consider yourself lucky...or unlucky. Whichever. 
• Hmm, maybe this is why people keep journals; once you get that thought down on paper, you no longer have it rambling around in your head taking up space.

*for those that don't have a facebook account and would never dream of getting one; don't judge. It's unbecoming on you. 

Fill The Space With Color

I took B/W film photography way back in the late 80's/early 90's and pretty much know my way around a camera, but I still have to take a digital photography class for my Computer Arts curriculum. And really, that isn't a bad thing when you love what you are doing. Plus, I've actually learned some new tricks on photo editing, which is always good.

Our first portfolio assignment is all about color. Our one basic rule was to "fill the space with color". We had to turn in a digital contact sheet with a minimum of 200 photos, but thankfully, we only had to edit 5 of those photos. And that's not saying the other 195 pictures could look like crap. You had to get rid of all the (as the prof calls them) "blinkies and blurries". I think "blurries" is self-explanatory, but I had to ask what he meant by blinkies, which are any pictures with people whose eyes are closed. Not that we would expect to have many of those in this assignment.

Here are a few of my favorites:

An awesome quilt my sister made me for Christmas

A plant in the lobby of our office building that always catches my eye when I pass it.

Let's see if anyone can guess what this is.

You can see a few more at my flickr page. I haven't loaded all 200, because, really, I can't put a picture on my flickr page that I haven't edited first. ;)

Thankful

Since today is Thanksgiving I thought my latest assignment from Video Techniques class would fit right in. We were tasked with illustrating, through video, something that was very important to us, something we could not live without. Basically, something for which we are thankful.

I have a lot to be thankful for, most importantly my family and friends.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and hopefully you find something you can be thankful for:

all photos by me, except the earth. I don't have a tripod that reaches that high. ;)

Shi's A Heartbreaker

I am now taking a video techniques class at school and below is my first assignment. We had to make a 30 or 60 second commercial. I chose my favorite perfume, Shi, by Alfred Sung.

Yes, the bottle is half empty. I said it was my favorite, didn't I? Sadly, I somehow left it at the park and when my actress and I went back the next day to get more shots, it was gone. If I smell it on anyone there in the future, I'll know at least it found a happy home. 

The song in the commercial is The Golden Age by Beck from probably one of my favorite albums of his, Sea Change.

Pictures From A Sunday Evening

 

Photos taken at Lions Bridge on the James River in Newport News, VA. 

Pretty Way To End The Day

What a nice day. This is how it began when I posted at 8 am today: 

And below is how it ended, in the same exact spot, 12 hours later at 8 pm tonight:

Of course, I used a real camera for the night shot. No way my cell phone picture would suffice. Question to anyone who is astronomically inclined. What is that bright star or planet below the moon?
UPDATE: I've heard it on good authority that the star just below the moon is Jupiter, and tonight is actually the Harvest Moon. Lucky Me! 

Pretty Way To Start The Day

Usually I don't turn around to look at the sunrise as I'm walking out to my car each morning, but today the light was kind of magical. So, I turned around to find this.  Do they sell this kind of lighting at Ikea?

Tre Moon

La Bella Luna

photo taken Saturday, August 21, 2010

Memory Lane

I've been feeling nostalgic lately, looking at old pictures and talking to old school mates on facebook. It's been fun. I thought I'd lost a lot of memories but then you talk to old pals to find that each of you has certain memories, which in turn, fills in a lot of blanks and knocks old memories loose from deep down in the caves. 

I was looking at my yearbook from junior year and just had to post this awesome note from a friend, Hung Bui. We were in government class together, if I remember correctly, and he just sums my high-school-self up perfectly: 

For those who can't see the picture, or read his writing:

"To a reject from Little House on the Praire. Keep up the good work. I hope you learn your lesson after you keep hitting me. Have a wonderful summer. Don't work too hard. Have fun dreaming about Sting. Maybe one day you might be his wife. You never know! See you in the fall. Then we will be seniors. (Boy that will be great). '88' Hung Bui"

Funny story about Hung. Well, at least I think it's funny and something worth writing down in case it ever actually does slip my memory. Hung sat in front of me in class and one time he turned around and had blue ink allll over his mouth and tongue. Seems he liked to eat pens or something. Anyway, it cracked me up so much. Thank goodness he was a good sport. He had a great sense of humor and we were always joking around and busting on each other. [wonders if that dates me to say "busting on"]. So, forever after that, Hung was affectionately known to me as "Tongue Bluey". Get it? Hung Bui (prounounced boo-ee). Of course, I'd probably get sent to the principal's office if I said that now.  I'd like to see what I wrote to him in his yearbook. I'm pretty positive that's how I referred to him in it.

Oh, and here's the reason for the "reject from Little House on the Praire" comment: 

My sister made this dress for me. It had a tiny little flower pattern. I loved it and wore it all the time. I had a few of them, too. And of course, there is the awesome trench coat to complete the ensemble. Another reason I identified with Ally Sheedy's character in "The Breakfast Club". Which reminds me, August 6th was the anniversary of the death of John Hughes, my teen savior. RIP sir.