Reading notes 1: Quality of Light

Today we focused on light and using it to create different feelings within our photographs. We talked about back-lighting, front-lighting, and side lighting. Back lighting is when the light source is behind the subject, when the sun is behind the person your shooting, for example. Front lighting is when the light is shining on the front of your subject.  In this picture of my awesome roomie Levi, I choose to use side lighting from a lamp in our room. Side lighting is a great choice for portraiture because it adds great shadows and leaves a level of mystique in the photograph along with them. It also adds a 3D aspect to the photograph using the shadows and highlights. Even though back-lighting is my favorite, side lighting is a fun challenge because getting the exposure correct adds a level of drama not achievable with other types of lighting. 

Greek Mythology and Quality of Light Major Assignment #3

Colleen was portraying Athena today in our third major assignment. I chose to use the Athena and the Flute Myth for a theme for this photo shoot. In this Myth, Athena crafts a flute because she is the Goddess of Craftsmanship. She is so proud of her work and wants to show it off to her friends. She plays the flute and gets mocked by Hera and Aphrodite, and doesn't know why. Athena plays in the mirror and sees why they were laughing, her cheeks get puffy when she plays. Athena is so embarrassed she tosses the flute away and curses it. The flute now brings misfortune to anyone who is in its possession. 

Lighting Types

F32
1/40
Iso-100

f5.6
1/50
Iso-800

f5.6
1/5
iso-800

f5.6
1/3200
iso-100 

f25
1/4000
iso-400

Dog Walking

F25
1/50
Iso-400

F25
1/100
Iso-400

F25
1/100
Iso-400

F25
1/160
Iso-400

F5.6
1/320
Iso-100

Mandi's Modeling Sesh

1/500
5.6
Iso-400

1/500
5.6
Iso-400

1/640
5.6
Iso-400

1/800
5.6
Iso-400

1/800
5.6
Iso-400

We were given 2 hours to do this portraiture shoot today with randomly assigned partners. Boy did I get lucky! Mandi is super photogenic and taking lovely pics of her was easy. This assignment was really fun, and quite hilarious, but also challenging with the amount of time given and the time of day to shoot. Mandi did an awesome job staring into the sun for me without squinting and she was really fun to work with. Maybe well have to take some more!

Major Assignment 2:The Decisive Moment

Preparation

Reflection

Recess Bro-time

A Guiding Hand

What Boys Want

Tunnel Music

A Shady Conversation

You're Holding Me Back

This week our assignment was to take photos of the decisive moment, but what is the decisive moment? Everything has a Decisive moment but not all are as meaningful. The decisive moment is when a story within a photograph is captured in an instant and won't be there the next second. It is the moment within a situation that makes the situation interesting and capturing these moments is much harder than it seems. You, the photographer, must decide if you captured what was happening before you, and if you didn't then you missed a golden opportunity to tell a story. For instance, in my photo Tunnel Music, I waited and waited for the two gentlemen playing guitar to show me something that I felt captured the feeling of what they were doing in the tunnel. If I would've taken the photo earlier, it wouldn't have been as meaningful. The same can be said if I would've taken it later. The moment when the two musicians were lined up across from each other, almost dancing to their music, was the decisive moment for me. I spent almost an hour chatting with and listening to these guys and I got to know their personality and musical vibe. This helped me understand how I wanted to capture their music playing and tell their story through their own unique Decisive Moment.

Reading Option 1

Shutter:1/3
Iso-800
Aperture:F5

For this days assignment we were supposed to pick a magazine and relate our pictures to the demographic of the readers. Along with this, we needed to utilize shutter speed in order to obtain a correct exposure for our pictures. I chose the Conde Nast Traveler as my magazine and decided to do a restaurant analysis of Kamari Beach. The demographic of Conde Nast Traveler is as follows: age of reader-43, Household Income- ~$90,000, College educated readers: 46%. I had to take this into great consideration when choosing restaurants around Kamari Beach to photograph. I couldn't cater to people like myself when shooting, I had to think more like my parents. I chose a variety of restaurants with varying atmospheres such as, high quality food, family friendly, romantic, and late night snack food. The reason shutter speed is important for these shots is the lighting. Most of the restaurants I shot, such as the one above, don't look all that interesting until the nighttime crowd comes in. This creates a large problem for getting good focus within your exposure. Using a low shutter speed of 1/3, I was able to capture the low light of the pool bar but I had to be incredibly still to prevent blur. A tripod is very helpful for low lighting and long shutter speed shots, but a steady hand or table will do the job too. 

Portraiture Assignment

1/160
5.6
Iso-400

1/160
5.6
Iso-400 

1/200
5
Iso-400

1/250
Iso-100
F5.6 

1/200
5
Iso-400

Panning With Implied Motion and Intro to the Decisive Moment

1/50
Iso-100
F20

1/60
F22
Iso-100

1/1000
F5.6
Iso-100

1/25
4.5
Iso-400

1/30
Iso-1600
5.6

Santorini Sweet Spots: Kamari Beach's Best Dining Experiences

Shutter:1/15
Iso-400
F5.6

Nikoteri's is the place in Kamari for high quality food. Located right along the beach, Nikoteri's produces some of the finest cuisine on the Kamari Beach Boardwalk.  I savored every bite of the  Lamb Shoulder Risotto  in the comfort of the warm tungsten lighting of Nikoteri's indoor seating.

Shutter:1/4
Iso-1600
F5.6

This romantic setting for two is located on the north strip of Kamari Beach. With a great view of the neighboring Island to Santorini, this location is prime for a dessert date or an early morning cup coffee. 

Shutter1/8
Iso-1600
F:5.6

Cafe Dulce is a burger bar with a warm tropical feel and an ultra friendly staff. After about 8:00 PM, it starts to fill up with people coming to chat with the employees and grab a beer. Ice cream dessert with sparkler decoration will also add some excitement to your night.

Shutter:1/3
Iso-800
Aperture:F5

This pool bar/restaurant is the perfect place to end your night or spend the sweltering afternoons. The calm atmosphere during the night is a great place to relax and have a drink by the pool. The blue light of the water gives off a cool aura that complements the wonderful weather on Kamari Beach during the evening. 

Shutter:1/8
Iso-200
F22

The smile on the chair is exactly what you get when you go to Momma Mia's cafe located a block west of Kamari Beach. The vibrant colors reflect the personalities of the employees at Momma Mia's. They warmly greet you with a smile and the waiter Cristos always finds a way to make you laugh. Mamma Mia's is a great place for a cheap, simple breakfast or a Greek Salad that stands out from the rest. 

Reading Option 3

Shutter:1/4000
F:4.5
Iso-400

Today I focused on specular highlights and macro photography. A specular highlight is an out of focus source of light, almost circular or hexagonal in shape. I used an aperture of 4.5, as low as I could go for the lens, to get the balls of light in the black of the rock and a quick shutter speed to catch the ant crisply and clearly in the vibrant orange. I love the orange and black because that shade of orange is rare where I come from(MN) for a lichen color and it really pops out in contrast to the black. *Orange and black were my high school colors too, I'm a little bias* I've found that I really enjoy macro photography and the amazing patterns you can get in the background of a macro image. When shooting up close, there are many options for a background. Any slight turn of the camera can get a completely different color or texture behind what your shooting and it makes shooting macro a challenging and rewarding experience. 

Major Assignment 1: Point of View, Perspective and The Frame

Shutter speed:1/3200
Aperture:F5.6
Iso-400

Shutter speed:1/2000
Aperture:F5.6
Iso-400

Shutter speed:1/1600
Aperture:F5.6
Iso-400

Shutter speed:1/1600
Aperture:F5.6
Iso-400

Shutter speed:1/1000
Aperture:F5.6
Iso-400

Shutter speed:1/1000
Aperture:F5.6
Iso-400

 

Shutter speed:1/1000
Aperture:F5.6
Iso-400

Shutter speed:1/2000
Aperture:F5.6
Iso-400

I feel like the last photo is my best one. I saw this perspective of the three beetles and I felt some nostalgia; it reminded me of a few favorite childhood movies: A Bug's Life and Antz. The three beetles in the above photo look like they're setting off on an adventure. It is obvious who is the leader of the group and he's daring enough to creep that close to the edge of a certain fall to the death but he doesn't care. The three amigos are off to find a new source of life, a greener, more vivid one.