The Final: Clouds and Nature

For this assignment (Final) I chose to photograph that I love to watch ever since I was in elementary school and let my mind go free. Clouds. The thing about this assignment that people should understand is that this is the best of what I could do with what nature gave me. I wish I had the power to move clouds like in “Men who stare at goats”… but sadly I don’t. I had a difficult time focusing my project completely on cloud formations because for the last couple weeks the skies would rarely have any “life” in them to capture.I got my inspiration from Edward Weston member of  “Group f/64″.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Weston

www.edward-weston.com

Original:

After:

Focal length: 82.0 mm
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter Speed:1/3200
Iso: 100

In this photograph (I nicknamed it fluffy… weird I know o well) I tried to get the same fluffy effect that Edward Weston created in this photograph that he had taken in 1936:

Edward Weston:

However, I did not want my photograph to be a negative because I wanted to keep the deep blue gradient effect that flows through the photo.

Original:

After:

Focal Length: 18.0 mm
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/1600
ISO: 100

This is my favorite photograph of this whole project. The timing on this was perfect when I took this down town, right on the beach. I was hanging out with my friend Brenden when I looked up and BAM! the effect hit me. The first thing I thought is were is my camera. The Big guy in the sky was gracious to me that day because he helped my set this shot up with the cloud magic and all I had to do is line up the tree silhouette perfectly. The only problem was there were a few tree branches poking out into the frame. I easily fixed it with the use of the clone stamp tool.

Focal length: 55.0 mm
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/640
ISO: 100

I’m proud of this photo because I transformed it from a bland single cloud shot to a more textured and gradient photograph and I personally think draws eyes. First I fixed the levels in order to make the blues more brilliant. Then I used the magic selection brush tool/wand and clicked on the cloud until it was completely surrounded by the “marching ants”. Go to select then hit inverse. Now go to Filter, and select the Gaussian blur and move it until  I got the effect shown. I like the surreal effect this photograph shows off.  However, I do not like the slightly over exposed little fluff of a cloud but I don’t think it is ridiculously ugly.

Photo 1:

Aperture: f/22.0
Shutter Speed: 1/50

Photo 2:

Aperture: f/22
Shutter Speed: 1/50

Photo 3:

Aperture: f/22.0
Shutter Speed: 1/50

Photo 4:

Aperture: f/22.0
Shutter Speed: 1/80

After:

Heck yes I loved doing this collage. The clouds where perfect that day I couldn’t of asked for a more beautiful afternoon. I just have to thank the “Big guy in the sky” for that one. For this I decided “I’m going to mix things up”. So instead of just capturing one photo and calling it good I went all out. I would wait a few moments for the clouds to move for each shot just to make it seem surreal and more eye appealing. I chose to also make the blues inconsistent because I didn’t want a “perfect” photo I wanted to rock an effect that I had done once but not quiet as successfully in the first year photography class. I also went in with the brush tool and selected a chalky brush and clicked a couple times around the photos where it was not very interesting. All in all I think it came out great.

Original:

After:

Focal length: 60.0 mm
Aperture: f/22
Shutter Speed:1/200
ISO: 100

This cloud was huge! The reason I have this photo on the blog is just because I was able to partly revive the cloud from a dull boring, flat looking cloud to a very fluffy poof. This photo was mainly a bust but I kept it on to show that I made a lot of mistakes before getting the rest of these photographs. Mr. Twitchell, you told us that we can put up our failures as long as we explain what we did wrong well. I didn’t have the frame capture all of the cloud, Did not give any reference for how big the cloud really is. With out a person or a building there was no scale and just makes this photo an ordinary photograph.

Original:

After:

Focal length: 55.0 mm
Aperture: f/22.0
Shutter Speed: 1/13
ISO: 100

Finally, I applied this photograph with this assignment because of the effect the sky has on the complete photo. In editing this photo I simply used the levels then used the magic wand tool and selected the yellow petals and used the levels again to sharpen the brilliant yellows. Then later I went in and enhanced the greens by playing around with the curves tool or table. I like the contrast of the pale dead like effect of the sky and trees against the lively daisies. I also tried to apply symbolism to this photo where even in the darkest times there is still a small amount of hope or joy. far fetched maybe a little bit yes but the point is that I tried the best I could to apply emotion which I find to be one of the hardest concepts of photography or even art in general.

Smattering of focus 208 and working on backdrop!

This is personally one of my favorite photos of the whole photo spree. I like how the biker is just about to go into action just like smoky the bear battling a forest fires “you can prevent forest fires” -SMOKY THE BEAR-.   Anyways I wish I could fix the sky but when I only selected the sky above the trees the little holes in the tree branches would stay the original color so it looked very cheap and fake. Hey Mr.Twitch do you think you could show everyone how to change skies like the pro’s do in advertisements?

So ive figured out that acrylic paint makes the back drop into a big slab of plastic and Im afraid that the paint will eventually fall off. Im afraid it will become unbendable if we use enough paint to mix colors and make swirls of paint. SOOO! what im going to do is find some cheap clothing dye and try using it a couple of ways. I might just drown a strip, splash a strip, and use a combination of dye and acrylic paint to see what the effects with come of it. This is just a heads up what Im working hard!

smattering of stuff

Ive been playing around with the backdrop strip that ive been given and am trying to find a paint that will work for it.

Ive been doing a couple of these little quote things just to show you that Im doing something instead of looking like im doing nothing because Im truly doing something, instead of nothing that I never do.

Sincerely, Woodsy (pancake)

Fun with Texts and Thoughts

The poster (I shrunk it so I could fit it on the page) I made from the inspirational writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and James Thoreau. I like the bases and idea of transcendentalism and how it quietly screams for you to be an individual and live life in amazement of everything in your life no matter how miniscule or how grand.

“Read between the lines”! don’t coast through life without questioning! I love doing this all you have to do is read something and think about every possible theme or prospective it holds within each syllable and space. When you read think about what it implies and you can do this with anything an example is you could do it with a Dr. Seuss book, Manuscript of some humanly organ, or a zombie adventure in iceland. My point is don’t be afraid to have questions and be quizzical.

(If the picture doesn’t load click on the box to make it appear or load bigger)

“Skillz to pay the bills”

For the top two photos I just really needed a portrait shot so when in doubt I took a picture. I like the emotion on her face and the red contrasting the white and black. I feel like a broken record when I say this because I say this in pretty  much everyone of my posts but I think it makes it “pop” and have interest.

I chose this picture because of the placement of the leaves and the color of the green next to the green. I really actually like the green up against the cold grey and black colors.

Just a heads up

Im combining the last week and this week into one post and I will be turning it in by the end of the weekend. What Im doing is a series on ceilings and lights and lamps.

painting with light

This week I had fun combining the two things I like to do on my spare time: Draw and take photos. Just like the first time I did this project ,in the beginning of the year, it was hard and a pain in my rear. I guess it didn’t help that I didn’t have a working tripod and only one working flashlight in the whole freaking house.

The first photo I did when I was in the makeshift weights room in my house and thats my inspiration for that photo.

My favorite  is the the light bulb explosion because of the color that I put in it and how it looks like the light bulb is either exploding or shooting out lightning bolts. Before anyone comments again saying “Its to purple”

I WANTED IT TO BE PURPLE!

Anyways, I had fun learning more about how to properly adjust the aperture and shutter speed to further enforce my ever-growing learning experience with my camera.

“Im afraid of this darkness I surrender…” -Pineapple Express-

The photo above is probably one my favorite of the weeks batch of photography because of all the textures in the ice and how smooth it looks. I like how the photo’s focus is more in the middle then on the sides. I think it gives it a dynamic look.

This photo is actually two in one. The ice is one and the hole is a completely different picture that I took of a little stream. All I had to do is make a “rugged” circle with the selection brush, slap the stream photo in there and then blur and fix the levels. Presto!

I got annoyed with this photo or at least when I was taking it because I had to start heading back up the trail because it was getting dark and I didn’t get a chance to really change anything. So I blindly went with my “instincts”  and set it up to what I thought would be a good exposure… I was wrong. My instincts failed me =(

I like how the deep green of the trees sits next to the white of the ice. I like the contrast. I think it makes the image pop. Except it is over exposed… a little bit.

This was the trail that I was hiking with Erik. I took the photo low to the ground so that I could really get the light browns and deep dark greens next to each other.

I really like this one because of how green and fuzzy the moss is and how it goes with the cold looking rock next to it. It gives me mixed feelings of being cold and then when I look at the moss it seems to warm up the photo. Well thats what I think at least.

the Final

For the photo above I really tried to capture the eagles “swooping” attack towards a helpless fish. I didn’t want it to be so cut and dry as all the other photos of eagles that you see, I wanted to get a more abstract look by lowering the focus and just get more of the shape of the incredible bird and less detail. I also went in and made the water more blurred or soft so that it didn’t take your eye from the bird but instead have it almost leading up to it. I also changed the color of the back ground to a deep dark green so it would not draw your eye away from the focus of the image, the eagle.

I manipulated this image to be abstract yet very interesting. To add to the image I had to add the yellows and red in the lower left side of the image. I added those specific color to mix well with the natural green color of the pond. It took me forever to get that darn fish to get to the upper right side and help balance the image and give it some symmetry. I also think this photo is so interesting because it almost looks like a paining and with all those dips and swirls that the water made. Its almost something you would see in a dream. The message I was trying to get was that in the great pond of life you will get to swim through the great bright times but along with that good time you must swim through the cold, bitter, periods of life too.

(cheesy I know)

I added this image to go with what I was saying before… Life can be bright and dark but eventually we (metaphorically speaking) end up like this poor fishy… pushing up daisies.

Also for this image I had to go into each individual  color and object and brighten it slightly. I did this so that the image wasn’t completely creepy and gave a cold image. It was meant to give off the feeling that yes death is a morbid occasion but it shouldn’t  be the focus of your life, you should also pay attention to all the other colors or chances that life gives you.

(once again its cheesy but sometimes cheesy is a good thing and its just what someone needs to have a good day)

I really like this image because the bird seemed to like the camera because he didn’t fly off like every other bird when I tried to “shoot” it (haha pun) wow well anyways. I went into the image and first blurred out the background by adding the paint daubs filter on everything but the bird so it would pop out. I cropped the image so that the branches pretty much grab your eye and make it look at the bird and the first thing I notice is his eyes and how dark they are. His eyes almost give him a look that says “what the heck are you doing kid” or maybe he is pondering life. I don’t know I’m not a bird whisperer. Then after blurring I brought out the burn tool set it to mid tones and darkened the giant stone blocks around it. The message for this image is that even if life gets to blurry you should always know that you should just take a moment to reflect on your life and just breath, take a load off.

Once again I had to go into each individual object and intensify the color to make it more vivid and pop. I really wanted the color to pop around the cave/trail just to not only give it interest but also help the concept or message that I’ve been working on. Life can be cheery, or vividly amazing, but eventually you will get to a bump in your journey and travel through the tuff times with no promises of coming out.

This is my puppy Jack and he’s pretty much the most chill dog ever. I took this when he finally got tired of playing fetch and just wanted to smell the wind and look of into the distance… probably seeing a bird. I used my favorite tool in photoshop the burn tool to make the ground look wet make it easier to see the texture of all the rock without taking away from my dogs fur. It also made it much easier on the eyes because when I took this it was actually a bright day and the ground was very bright from the refraction of the light. I also touched up his fur by making it pop a tiny bit by making the whites brighter. The message was that “have fun in life don’t be afraid to get out and live life but also make sure you keep a steady eye on the future and know what you want in your life”.

I did alot to this. I added a gradient tool effect to give the color a more blended look. Went into the blue colors and intensified them (yes thats a word or at least thats what the computer says). I then took the sponge tool and sucked out the colors on the left side of the image and then use the burn tool again to make it dark and ominous. I like this photo because the bird is looking toward the light in color and thats exactly what we should all do with our lives. We shouldn’t focus on the dark side of life but instead look forward to the interesting new experiences that are coming your way.

Garage diving