abstracting the human form

This was probably my favorite assignment that we had this semester :)

still life

Here are my still life images! They were quite fun to shoot!

Maximum depth of field

Minimum depth of field

Available Light

Creative

scanographs!

Here is a scanograph I found online that I really enjoy:

royal-nightmare.deviantart.com

I really love the contrast of the red cherries and the blue/green background tint of the image. The surreal quality to it makes it so interesting to look at.


These are my own scanographs. They were mostly tests to see how I could manipulate my images, and I feel an addiction to scanography coming on for this weekend...

my best friend and i

long fingers

peace and love

some more I did over the weekend:

Creative Lighting Portraits

M. Mason

For this photo, I set up the lights so that the small one was shining directly behind his head, giving the outline along his shoulders/neck and emphasizing the form of his hair. Then there is the bigger 500 watt light somewhere between split and short. Because his head is facing the bigger light source, we loose his neck to shadow, and it creates an interesting line along his jaw.

Y. Jobin

For this photo I set up one 500 watt light on the ground to create the shadow on the background, and there is also a small light on the right side of his face to eliminate shadows as much as possible.

Classic Studio Portrait

Yann, from the other first year group

Studio Lighting Portraits

Split lighting

Short, no fill

Short, reflector

Butterfly

Environmental portraits

Before you look at my pictures, I just wanted to mention that I've discovered a problem with my camera's settings. No matter what ISO I set it at, the picture is always taken at ISO 1600 when I shoot on manual. I thought in the case of my self portrait I had forgot to adjust my settings, but then it continued to happen. So sorry for the ridiculous amount of grain in my portraits, and I'm hoping I'll be able to fix this problem asap!

I took my self-portrait in my bedroom, where I spend most of my time on my laptop, or drawing/painting. I'm the most comfortable in the space that I've decorated and arranged myself. I talked to you about trying this idea of peaking from behind my laptop, and I like the way it turned out (except for the grain).

I love flowers and flower shops, so I decided to go to the one in the Alexis Neon mall and ask to photograph one of the women working there. This one woman cooperated fully, and even suggested ways she could pose. She seemed happy to let me take a picture of her, and this was refreshing after being rejected by many random working strangers I asked. I like the many colors in the picture, and the nice smile she has.

This is a totally unplanned shot I took of my best friend waking up. I thought it was quite lovely even though most people look terrible in the morning. I like the grungy lifestyle that the image portrays, because of the graffiti on the wall and the raggedy Bob Dylan portrait I made for her. She has just moved into this apartment. I included it just for fun because I think it defers from the typical looking environmental portrait.

Portrait entry

This is a portrait of very talented actress/musician Zooey Deschanel. The colour of her dress is a nice soft shade and does not distract from her face, instead it accentuates her dark hair. Her hands, which could have easily looked tense, look totally relaxed. Having her full arm in the frame leads our us up to her eyes.

Moment shots

Available light

These pictures of Graham were taken using available light in the studio in class on Tuesday.

using a tripod

handheld

JUMP!

Graham Gibb

landscape assignment

Both these images were taken on the lakeshore in Lachine, a very short bike ride from my home.


I do realize that the trees and grass and everything else on the right side are not visible, but it had become too dark out to capture. I still really like this picture because of the gorgeous purple and pink tones in the sunset. I shot this using the wrong white balance.


Again, I really like this picture because of the contrast between the two colours, blue and orange/red. By taking this picture I realized how quickly fall is approaching.

urban landscape & vantage point

(Sorry for the lateness, I thought they were due with the September 9 landscape shot)

1. Urban Landscape

I decided I would go on a journey to the Jacques Cartier bridge alone for this assignment, and see what kind of pictures I could get out of it of our skyline. My favorite was this one, because the sky has just the right amount of color that all fade nicely.


I like this image for different reasons than the first one, because there is not very much colour to be excited about. What I like about it is the lonely feeling I get, because walking around the city by yourself can make someone feel very alone and isolated. This area seemed like a place often overlooked, and I decided to take the time to look, and liked what I saw.


2. Vantage point


My idea for this image came to me when I was waiting to get on a bus (the top image), and then my idea developed even more when I looked up while on said bus (the bottom image). The two have almost identical shapes, and I thought it would make a great diptych and appropriate vantage point shots, because they were both shot straight up and down.

3 images

1. Following the rule of thirds


This image shows the rule of thirds, because of where the arm holding the umbrella is placed. It is directly in the cross point of the vertical and horizontal lines that would divide the image into three, making it a pleasant image to look at.


2. Sense of place

To me, this image shows a really good sense of place. It feels like you are standing in that crowd, enjoying whatever music you choose to pair with this image, and soaking up everything in that moment.

3. Framing

This image shows great framing because of the way the metal grids over head lead the eye down to the clock at the bottom of the image.

Landscape assignment

August 25, 2009
Westmount Park