Final Gallery

Nature's Emotions

The message I am portraying is one of humanity and the earth. I think it so interesting and beautiful how our own emotions can be reflected in nature. I edited these to bring out those emotions more clearly. I want to portray and somewhat capture the magic of nature and this beautiful Earth we live on. I used depth of field, rule of thirds, color, leading lines, good lighting, good background, motion, viewpoint, and framing. The biggest challenge with these photos was the editing. It took several hours to complete all of these. Some of them I still feel like I could improve on. 

Before:

After:

1. Flowing yet Still
2. Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona.
3. Photography Concepts: viewpoint, good background, good lighting, shallow depth of field, motion, and also a bit of a leading line.
4. Editing: I increased the saturation and vibrance of the water on the rock, increased contrast slightly, brought up exposure just a tad, and added more blur to the background.
5. Connection to Message: This photo really exudes a calm and reflective feel to it. The water is still, the colors vibrant, and it is a peaceful view. It reminds me of all the times I've just sat down in nature and breathed in the air, content to just be there and ponder.

Before:

After:

1. Field of Wonder
2. Chandler, Arizona
3. Photography Concepts: framing, viewpoint, color, good background, good lighting, and deep depth of field.
4. Editing: I increased the contrast dramatically, brought up the vibrance and saturation, and then created a new layer of the feet with a more brownish tint to it because the increased contrast caused it to look really pale and blue which wasn't desired.
5. Connection to Message: This photo captures the sense of wonder and awe that we feel as we look out at nature as well as the joy caused by it. The stunning colors of the flowers contribute greatly to the feeling of joy and the addition of the feet in the photo add a grounding sense of wonder.

Before:

After:

1. Distorted by Sadness
2. Mesa, Arizona
3. Photography Concepts: asymmetry, good lighting, good background, shallow depth of field, and subdued color. (pink compliments the green behind it)
4. Editing: We used the smudge tool to distort and blur the background and parts of the leaves to make them droop more.
5. Connection to Message: This demonstrates a feeling of sadness. The leaves are still, the colors subdued, and the background blurred and distorted. I chose to blur and distort the background because I think that when we are sad the world seems blurry and distorted and we are often discouraged by that view.

*Photo taken by Duke Anderson.

Before:

After:

1. Living Texture
2. Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona
3. Photography Concepts: texture, viewpoint, color, rule of thirds, shallow depth of field, good lighting, and good background.
4. Editing:I actually took down the exposure, increased the contrast quite a bit, increased the vibrance and saturation, and added a very slight vignette.
5. Connection to Message: This photo demonstrates the sensory experience of nature. The texture of the leaves is really brought to the forefront and I feel like you can almost touch it with your fingers and that sensation is really what is captured here.

Before:

After:

1. Paticularly Pink
2. Chandler, Arizona
3. Photography Concepts: rule of thirds, color, good background, good lighting, texture, viewpoint, and shallow depth of field.
4. Editing: Even though the background was already blurred, I wanted it to be softer, so we used the smudge tool and blurred the background. We created a separate layer for the flower in focus, increased contrast and clarity, and actually brought down the exposure a little bit so you could see the texture better.
5. Connection to Message: This photo represents our own personal happiness at certain parts of nature. We all have our favorite colors and plants that just stand out to us. We examine further, and enjoy the particular details of that plant.

Before:

After:

1. Secret Garden**
2. Mesa, Arizona
3. Photography Concepts: deep depth of field, framing, texture, and loosely demonstrates rule of thirds.
4. Edits: We cropped the photo to a 21 by 9 ratio, which gives it a theatrical feel, brought up the contrast, added a slight vignette, and edited out some blown out pixels. Nothing too crazy for this one.
5. Connection to Message: This illustrates my message by invoking a sense of mystery and intrigue. There is a lot going on in the photo and the sort of chaos adds to the sense of mystery and alludes to secrets. The deep shadows and growth framing the gate invite the viewer to pull back the leaves and discover what lies beneath. Being unable to do that, it invokes a sense of mystery and an untold secret.

**Photo taken by Duke Anderson.

Before:

After:

1. Spirals of Imagination
2. Gilbert, Arizona
3. Photography Concepts: It demonstrates viewpoint, pattern, and also a medium depth of field.
4. Edits: The obvious edit is the color added to some stalks (? I don't really know what to call them :P) It took a while to do, and we also deepened the shadows slightly.
5. Connection to Message: This illustrates my message by capturing the vivid imagery of our imaginations combined with nature. This is about what you see vs. what's actually there. It reminds of childhood memories of pretended daring adventures and magical plants.

Before:

After:

1. Natures Fire
2. Chandler, Arizona.
3. Photography Concepts: color, shallow depth of field, dramatic lighting, good background, and a bit of motion.
4. Edits: I brought down the exposure a little bit, increased the contrast, added a vignetting, created a layer for each of the bits of "fire", stretched them out, and then erased some parts to allow the focus of the layer underneath to come through. Also blurred the twig in the bottom middle of the picture so it was less distracting.
5. Connection to Message: This shows the passion that we have. Just that deep and invigorating passion for something we love. The color really captures that and the "fire" shows how it burns and continues to grow.

Before:

After:

1. Thorns
2. Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona.
3. Photography Concepts: viewpoint, shallow depth of field, color, leading lines, good lighting, and good background.
4. Edits: We brought up the contrast a lot, increased saturation and vibrance, brought down the exposure, and used the blur and smudge tools to pull the background away.
5. Connection to Message: This photo embodies those parts of us that stand in painfully sharp contrast to who we want to be. Yet it also speaks to how we can change and become better.

Before:

After:

1. Native
2. Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona.
3. Photography Concepts: viewpoint, rule of thirds, shallow depth of field, good background, good lighting, and slight framing.
4. Edits: I cropped it to the 21 by 9 ratio to minimize the blurred foliage and make it look cooler, brought up saturation and vibrance, increased contrast, added in some subtle white spirals on the flower itself, and added vignetting so that the large blurred leaf wouldn't distract as much.
5. Connection to Message: This photo captures the enthrallment that we feel with the vivid views of nature. It's breathtaking and incredible all of the details that are laid before us in the world around us.

Be sure to let me know which one was your favorite :)

Photo Manipulation

Before:

After:

1. Mr. Blue Eyes
2. Queen Creek, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates realistic/stunning editing. I basically made a copy of the layer, desaturated the new layer, increased the contrast by increasing the whites and blacks, and used the erasing tool on his eyes to let the blue of the layer underneath come through. I think it turned out really nicely. :)
Before:

After:

1. Storms of Life
2. Gilbert, Arizona
3. This photo demonstrates surreal editing. It looks like a super simple editing job due to the overcast sky, but it really wasn't. The overcast made a weird line on the subject and wall. I made so many edits to this I'm just going to summarize: I took the sky from another photo I have taken and imported it and then I softened the border between the two images. Basically.

Before:

After:

1. Light of Christmas
2. Queen Creek, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates taking something from one photo and adding it to another while trying to make it as real as possible. I took the background photo, as you can see. To edit, I made the temperature more yellow to match the lighting in the Christmas ornament* and make it more real. I added in the Christmas ornament photo I found online as a layer and I erased the background and gingerly did the same with the edging right around the bulb. Then I cropped it at the end. I think it turned out really great! Funny thing is, when I took this photo a while ago, I wanted to do this exact thing but I didn't know how then. XD

*I don't know who took the photo since it came up in a google search, but it linked to a site called Factory Direct Craft where they sell Christmas ornaments.

Candigraphy

1. Pursuit
2. This photo was taken in Chandler, Arizona.
3.This photo demonstrates what I call candigraphy. (candid photography) She did not pose for the photo and it was taken in a split second. I am personally very pleased with this photo because I took this while I was running away from her. (She mildly didn't want her picture taken and was chasing me lightheartedly.) So yes, that is my arm in the bottom right. I went into photoshop and just made it darker so that it would be less distracting. It kind of helped. . .but I'm still really proud of this photo. I love the Dutch angle and the focus is impressive considering how fast both she and I were moving. And yes, it was taken during golden hour and actually while I was trying to get photos of something else.

1. A World of Pure Observation
2.This photo was taken in a church building in Mesa, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates candigraphy because it the subject did not pose for the camera and it is imperfect in composition. It was really difficult photographing this baby because he was surrounded by a bunch of little girls all vying for his attention and so he moved around a lot. This photo is in focus, has a nice shallow depth of field, and I like the moment it captured of him just seeing the world as a small child. I did slightly edit this photo but basically all I did was turn the temperature down. We were in a church building where the lighting was very yellow. So I just turned the temperature to more of a blue.

1. Second in Time
2.This photo was taken in a church building in Mesa, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates candigraphy in the very genuine expression of the child (not posed). She was doing her own thing and I was trying to get her in focus and she looked at the camera at just the right moment for me to snap this. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I love how big her curls are and the raw feel of the whole picture. The colors in it also go really well together and are pleasing to the eye. Again, the only thing I did in editing was turn down the temperature. (I would have left it as it was, but it was really yellow so you couldn't appreciate the photo as much.)

Still Life and Movement

1. Authentic Living
2. This photo was taken in Chandler, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates still life. I did this as a tribute to my grandpa. He was a forest ranger and he loved belt buckles. So I have his belt buckle on the right. I also put his boots in the shot which was a bit of a challenge because they were pretty tall, so I compromised by turning one on it's side and sticking some dandilion-like flowers in them. I also added my dad's hat to fill the frame. I think it turned out well and really captured the texture of the objects. I like it. :) Editing: All I did was bring up the clarity just a hair so the blurriness of the bottom part of the flowers was no longer distracting. I could have gone without it, but I was editing my other motion photos, so I thought: Why not?

1. Split Second
2. This photo was taken in Chandler, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates a capture of still movement. My little brother was riding the scooter but everything is still, and FINALLY in focus. . .I honestly don't know if I did this one right. I had my brother slowdown when he got to the camera, so does it still count if I told him what to do? I don't know. It took us like a million tries to get this though. I have all the photos to prove it :P

1. All A Blur
2. This photo was taken in Chandler, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates blurred movement. I had my brother jump and do a roll and then he helped me layer all of the photos together. It was SOOO difficult :P

Portraits and Landscapes

1. A Black & White Soul
2. This photo was taken in Chandler, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates portraits. I decided to edit this and make it monochrome because it just spoke louder that way. I think that it is so interesting that in a world full of color, the soul is black and white. I feel like you just focus on who he is as a person and not so much where he is or what he is doing.

1. Grounded
2. This photo was taken in a field in Chandler, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates landscape. You will probably disagree with me on this, and that's okay. With landscapes, a general rule of mine is that the eye has to have something to focus on. Whether it's a shallow depth of field or some other object to bring in the attention, it HAS to be there. Otherwise, our eyes just glide off of the photo and never rest on anything and therefore we don't really take in the photo. So I tried to have something for it to focus on. Using a deeper depth of field just made the viewer feel lost and confused. Also, I edited this by some cropping, bringing up exposure, and bringing out the blues in the sky.

1. More Than I Supposed
2. This photo was taken in a field in Chandler, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates landscape with a portrait. I love that the viewer's eye is able to focus on the subject while still taking in the beauty of the land at the same time. Something new that I did when editing this photo, was to add a bit of distortion to bring the viewer in with the subject. I actually kinda like how it turned out. Other edits include bringing up the exposure, adding a slight vignette, and bringing up the saturation a bit.

And uhh...if you ever need a model for a mini cooper you should get in contact with this guy:

This honestly was really fun. Especially because it was just some random guys car... XD

Experiments in Lighting

1. Shadowed Hope
2. This photo was taken near a field across the street in my house in Chandler, AZ.
3. This photo demonstrates bad lighting levels. The light hits her face harshly and creates shadows. It also creates a lot of highlights and shadows in her hair which is distracting.

Taken in the hour after Sunrise

Taken in the Late Afternoon.

Taken at Dusk.

1. The Relevance of Time.
2. These photos were taken in Chandler, AZ.
3. They demonstrate the different levels of lighting. I only took one in the golden hour on purpose. I really wanted to see if the golden hour made a big difference. It really does make a difference!! (I'm so sorry that they aren't all next to each other! I tried like a thousand different ways, but my blog won't cooperate.)

1. Good Morning
2. This photo was taken in Chandler, AZ.
3. This photo demonstrates good lighting levels. Her skin color is a smooth all the way across. I love the raw look of this photo. I convinced her to come outside during golden hour in the morning just minutes after she woke up. Isn't she so beautiful? (Also super kind to consent to photographs that early in the morning XD)

**Also, just a note: My blog automatically puts the white edging on all of my photos, so that wasn't me.

Midterm Project

1. Beauty of Growth
2. This photo was taken in a neighborhood in Chandler.
3. This photo demonstrates good color with the use of complimentary colors green and pink (red), good background with the shallow depth of field, it breaks balance by placing the flower bud on the left side, and also demonstrates viewpoint with the high angle of the camera on the subject. The only editing I have done was a slight vignette (really, just a tiny one so that our eyes more easily focus on the photo) and I brought up the exposure by a couple points. I think it turned out nicely. :)

1. Contemplation
2. This photo was taken in Gilbert, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates rule of thirds, viewpoint with the high angle, color through the color tones, and asymmetry with the subject positioned to the left of the shot. I also would argue that there is a bit of a leading line created by her body position. It starts with the braid in her hair, leading the eyes to the book and then the rest of her leg and her boot lead the viewer to the water of the photo. You may disagree with that though. :P As for editing, all I did was bring up the exposure a little bit.

1. Faithe to See*
2. This photo was taken in my home in Chandler, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates color by using contrast emphasized by the lack of color, framing through the subjects body position around the notebook, viewpoint through the high angle and context the framing provides, and also rule of thirds. For editing, I saturated this photo, cropped it, and added a really slight vignette.

*I titled this one "Faithe to See" because it is a photo of my sister, Faithe. She has spina bifida and hydrocephalus. She's got a surgery coming up in a couple of weeks that requires her to stay in bed for the majority of the time, so I took this photo while she was laying in her bed drawing which is a familiar sight. I really am most proud of this photo for the story it tells. I think that she really has the faith to see past her challenges and into the bright future. Nearly every photo she draws is about one of her dreams coming true. Most stunning to me are the drawings were she is walking like this photo. She's the figure standing on the right, cooking from what she told me. This photo is extremely moving to me and I hope that shows through.

1. Rooted*
2. This photo was taken in Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona.
3. This photo demonstrates framing through the wire fence, color through the warm color tones, leading lines through the bridge, and good background with the shallow depth of field. I personally think this one is the best because it not only demonstrates a lot of good photography concepts but it tells a story as well, which is what I really want to do through my photography.

*This one is not for grading, I just thought I'd show it to you because I'm pretty proud of it. I took it before this photography class even began and at the time I just thought it looked really nice but now I understand why. And I LOVE that feeling!