Photography Cert. 2014 -

This week we looked at portrait retouching.  We followed a tutorial on Lynda.com. f/5.6, 1/60, ISO 100 Above is the photo which we used to retouch following the Lynda.com tutorial.  Below are the changes that were made to the photo.  Some of the tools which we used were masking.  Creating a mask ensures that the original photo does not become compromised.  Changes are made on the masks which can be reversed.  We made changes to the lighting using curves.  Another tool which i have been using a lot is the spot healing, and healing tool.  This smooths out or removes blemishes to the skin.   Retouched photo f/8, 1/200, ISO 100 This is a photo i took in week 7, in this photo you can see my subject has some blemishes on her face.  The tools i used to make changes to this photo is placing a black and white mask on to the photo as well as using the spot healing tool to remove blemishes. By converting the photo to black and white and removing the blemishes my subjects skin l

Gel Lighting Modern gels are thin sheets of polycarbonate or polyester placed in front of lighting.  Gels have limited life, especially in saturated colours.  We had three tasks to complete for Gel lighting 1) Create a studio portrait utilizing gels to change the colour of the lighting on the background.  The colour on the subject must be neutral f8, 1/200, ISO 100 We placed two lights in the background, one had a purple gel and the other had blue gel.  The front light was placed on the side of the subject.  I chose to take off the soft box so that the direct light could shine on to my subjects face.  The photographer before me had taken photos with the soft box and it seemed a bit too dark for my liking.  In photoshop the only thing i did was removed some of the blemishes on her face and neck. 2) Create a studio portrait using gels to change the colour of the lighting on your subject.  Keeping the background neurtral f5.6, 1/200, ISO 100 With this photo we moved t

This week our class worked on the different types of lighting which can be achieved in the studio.  The three we will be looking at is: Chiaroscuro Translated as Chiaro (Clear) and Oscuro (Obscured) This is a contrast between light and dark to add depth and dimensionality Example of Chiaroscuro f/8, 1/200, ISO 100 To achieve this photo, we positioned the light on the side of Dona's face, we adjusted the light position to get the light sitting on half of the face.  I used the photo from google to mimic this lighting technique.  Photoshop: To add drama i tweaked the exposure.  The original photo was darker, so i adjusted the exposure to add more light in the light area of her face.  I also removed some of the blemishes on Dona's face which the light showed. Rembrandt  Half of the face is well lit and only a small triangle of light appears on the opposite side of the face Adele - Rembrandt lighting f/8, 1/200, ISO 100 To achieve this shot ther

I've been struggling to capture a good landscape photo.  My problem is that i really don't know what to focus on.  Many landscape photos have minimal human activity while others are influenced by human existence.  As with most art forms perception is broad and may include urban settings, industrial areas and nature photography. Have a wide depth of field Golden hour is a great time of day to shoot Have the horizon on the top or bottom 1/3 Below are some examples of the landscape photos i have taken: f/13, 1/250, ISO 100 I used the tree and the grass to frame the photo, i also used a high f/stop.  This photo was taken in the middle of the afternoon, the sky was beautiful.  I adjusted the exposure and contrast to add more emphasis on the sky and produce a rich blue. f/8. 1/3200, ISO 100 This photo was a bit of a fail out of the three tips, i only executed one correctly - shooting in golden hour.  What i was trying to capture was the sunlight sitting on the

Week 8 - its hard to believe that 8 weeks have actually gone by.  It's been quite a learning experience and we have been hitting it pretty hard in terms of work load.  Being sick all of last week didn't help as it has become a race to the finish line, with blogs to be amended, files to be reordered and also the exercises and self directed photos which clearly needed to be completed or redone. For all those considering doing this course - i hope you do! its a lot of hard work but well worth the effort.  At this stage of the programme our assessment 1 is due.  This is an interpretation of what we believe will showcase our learning journey thus far.  I didn't really think that my body of work was that good, but we got to start somewhere right! "clique" but true... The piece i chose is my photo of the flame from a outdoor heater which i took one night as i was walking past restaurants toward Silo Park in town. I chose this piece because i like the fluidity of mo