Meg20an11's blog

Self Portrait

What is more important in self-portraiture – envisioning who you are (i.e. your “true self”) or envisioning who you wish to be (i.e. your “best self”)? Why?

I think in a self potrait is is more important to envision who you are rather than who you wish to be. I think that this is most important because a picture should capture your true self so that when people look at them they know who you really are. If you took a picture of what you wanted to be it would not be true and this would create a false image to others. The definition of self portraits is a picture of yourself created by oneself, not a picture created by oneself of what he or she wishes to be. It is just more important overall to capture your real colors.

Smile and say "No Photoshop"

• What were the main points of the article?
• Do you agree with the general push or overall idea(s) of the article?
• When should Photoshop be/not be used to alter a photograph

The main points of this article was about how magazines everywhere are starting to use photoshop to a new level. They talked about magazines that made people look completely different and how obvious some of the things they did to the pictures were. After some magazines were published they could even find huge mistakes that were made when the photoshop was done to the pictures, in one it showed Jessica Simpson with just one hip. They are trying to get out the point that by using so much photoshop and making celebrities look so unreal that it is providing people all over the world with a completely false look that is almsot impossible to attain. Even though there are actors and actresses who can realize how different the pictures of themselves look they do not always come forward with the issues because a lot of their editors may have asked for certain things to be taken out of the picture in the first place. They are really trying to stress the importance of this issue and how crazy some of it is. People change pictures with photoshop and publish them throughout magazines and ads which give people a completely false image to live up to and makes many stress to be perfect when in all reality those pictures are not completely real.

I completely agree with the writer of this article. I can understand wanting to maybe edit a simple little pimple out of the picture but the extent to which some of the magazines are going in ridiculous. I do not believe that an editor should be able to cut pounds off of a celebrity or anyone just to make them seem  so perfect. I also think that the general push of this article is correct in talking about times when people did not have the ability to do all of this editing and now once they figure it out they go completely crazy with it and take things too far. I agree with how the writer or writers of this article talk about how different people can look on covers of magazines because showing those pictures to someone with a professional look on it or with no professional ability at all you can clearly see how different each picture looks from the rest.I think that this article makes great points and i not only  think everyone should agree with it, i think that the celebrities who are having this done to their pictures and letting it happen should really start to step up and say something because there is nothing good about a fake person.

I think that photoshop should be used for legitimate reasons. I think that simple editing to make the light on the face of a person better or to take out a simple pimple or even just to brighten up the mood of the picture. I also think you should use photoshop for a purpose of trying to point something out. For example in the article it said they took a gorgeous women and made her over weight, they were using the power of photoshop to make a point. I do not think photoshop should be used to try and make someone look slimmer or to drastically change the appearance of a face. I think that using photoshop to the extent where you can see a complete difference without question is too much editing and should not be able to be published like it is.

Reflect on your understanding of these three assignments:
A) POV, B) Macro/Minutiae, C) Motion

 

1. What is your interpretation of the purpose of each of these three assignments?

I think the purpose of the POV assignment was to help us learn that we can completely change the mood or meaning of a photograph simply by making one simple change. I think the purpose of the Macro/Minutiae assignment was to help us look closer at the small details because it can help make our pictures better and i think the purpose of motion assignment was to help us learn to capture things better when they are moving so that they are not always blurry. Overall i think all of these assignments helped us to use different settings of our cameras which help made us more comfortable with our cameras.

2. What do you think the most important thing was you learned from each assignment?

 I think the most important things i learned from the POV is how you can change the mood of a picture so simply by changing the littlest things. In the macro/minutiae picture i learned how to better focus my camera and when to use the macro setting of my camera to help give me a better picture. In the motion assignment the most important thing i learned was learning when to take the picture when somethings in motion so that i get it before it is passed and so that it isnt as blurry.

3. Why do you suppose these three projects were assigned in this particular order?

 I think these projects were assigned in order because each assignment had something to do in relation to the assignment before it. For example when taking the macro/minutiae pictures you could use different point of views when taking pictures of such small details.

4. How do you feel you did on each project? Be specific about areas in which you think you did well and not as well.

 I think i did well on these projects but also struggled. In the point of view i think i did well capturing the same object but made them look very different. In the macro/minutiae i thought i did well taking clear photos when being so close to the objects i was photographing and in the motion assignment i thought i did a good job of knowing when to capture the object in motion so that it was a clear picture and before it was out of sight or out of motion.

5. What was one thing you wish you would have done that you didn’t, and why didn’t it happen? (you may comment on any of the three projects or all three)

 One thing i really wanted to do for the macro/minutiae was take pictures of all different flowers or all different street signs, i did not do this because i could not find enough of an variety of flowers and when i thought of the idea of street signs i ended up not having the time to do it.

6. Which was your favorite of the three projects and why?

 My favorite project was probably the macro/minutiae because i liked that all of our photos had to be tied together in the grid some way and also because it was about the smaller details of things we may not always pay attention to.

7. Has one or more of these topics had an impact on your photography? How?

I think that all of the projects had an impact on my photography. All three projects helped me feel more comfortable with my camera and helped me to be able to take better photos then i had before.

"God is in the details."

"God is in the details."

What is your interpretation of this quote?

How can we see God in the details every day?

How might we use our cameras in order to discover and preserve these details?

I think that this quote means that no matter what we look at there will always be small details in the object or picture that are caused by God. We see these details everyday when we take the time to look at things, for example when the sunlight reflects off something and makes it look even more beautiful then we would have noticed before. Or when we see a rainbow after it rains and no matter how bad the weather is the rainbow makes everything seem more beautiful, these are all details that are caused by God. We can use our cameras to discover this by taking closer pictures that show God in the details so that we can understand the meaning better

Gary Winogrand

"Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts." -- Gary Winogrand.

What does this quote mean? Consider the quote in context of our work with framing and composition

I think this quote means that we take pictures and put them in a frame so that they can tell a story. Even if everyones story behind the photo is completely different from one another and completely different from the actual story itself that is okay because we all are going to see it from a different point of view. Once we take a photograph of something and it is framed there is no longer a set story of what is happening, its all up to the veiwers to decide. Were all supposed to look beyond the frame and find our own stories in the pictures

Critique

I think I did a pretty good job overall on my lighting assignment but I know that I would make changes to the way I took some of my pictures the next time. I received a lot of positive feedback and some negative feedback on my picture, in ways that could help me to next time to take a more successful shot and in ways that complimented my work. A lot of people said that for using a transparent object with direct lighting I captured the idea successfully. My classmates also said that my picture contained a lot of detail in the bottle which made it a nice and clear shot. I think that the critiques on my photo and on other peoples photos helped me understand the different types of lighting better and will help me from now on when I am taking my pictures in different lighting. When we were first given the assignment I thought it would not be as hard as it was because I figured taking pictures with light cannot be that hard, I was wrong, it was a challenge. I also think now that we took the time to critique everyone's pictures we got the chance to figure out easier ways to set up a scene so that we can more easily capture what we are trying to. From the project I discovered that the hardest type of lighting to take was definitely the silhouette photos and I found that majority of the class felt the same way and I though the easiest to take was probably the diffuse, especially with the winter conditions we have right now.  Although silhouette was the hardest photos to take some of my classmates were very successful in taking some silhouette photos.  Overall , after I was done and completed with the lighting project I would say that for the most part I liked it because it gave me a chance to learn a lot about taking pictures.

Technical or emotive

When you first look at a photograph and make an initial judgment of it as being 'great', is it because it is technically great or because it makes you feel something? In other words, are you reacting to its technical quality or its emotive quality? Explain in detail.

When i first look at a photograph i make my initial judgment on the photo based on if it makes me feel something. I think i decide this way because i think that is an important part of a photo, even if the photo is taken and has great technical quality if you don't feel anything by looking at it i feel like there is almost no meaning to the photo. Without meaning i don' t think i would see the photo as "great."

Mr. Goldsworthys homework

1.) What might be the appeal of working with all natural/alternative materials in your artwork? What would some advantages and disadvantages be?

I think the reason it is so appealing is because even if you take a picture of the same thing every day it will always look different depending on the weather and many other aspects. It may also be appealing because nature is natural and because we don't always stop and really look at it if we see it in pictures it gives us the chance to appreciate it. Nature is always changing which can make pictures more interesting, this can be an advantage and disadvantage. If one day it is a sunny and beautiful you might be able to get a much better and more quality picture compared to a gloomy and rainy day. One down fall of nature is that you can't predict it.

2.) What is the point of working on art that will disappear with the elements?

I think the reason for working with art that will disappear is so that you can capture it in a picture before it disappears, this way even after it washes away its not necessarily gone.

3.)What is your interpretation of Andy Goldsworthy's work- do you like it? what do you think he is  trying to say or accomplish?

I do like Mr. Goldsworthy's work because i think he is trying to show everyone that the simplest of things we see everyday can be a piece of art and that we just have to take the time to look at them and realize that. I think by taking these pictures he hopes that everyone will eventually look at things more like him and appreciate their beauty.

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