SHAYLA PEREZ: December 2014

Semester Final Exam

Here is your final exam. I expect you to write quite a bit here, 1 or 2 sentence answers will NOT earn full credit. I have already given all of you a 100 and hope they can stay that way. I think an acceptable amount is at least 1 paragraph and really 2 paragraphs or more would be better.

Please answer the following questions on your blog:

1. Reflecting upon this first semester, what do you think is the most important thing you have learned? Please use details and please tell me WHY you think this.

i think that there are many important things that i have learned. for me, the most important thing Ive learned is what RAW is and how to shoot in it. before the only thing i shot in was JPEG. if you think about it there is a color wheel of a bunch of colors. JPEG uses only certain colors specified by that color for example you take a picture of the sunset. you see a red-orange, baby blue sky. the camera in JPEG only sees blue or red. with RAW the camera uses every color it actually see. the only disadvantage with RAW is it takes up more space on your memory card.

2. What is one thing that you wish we had spent more time on? Again please use details and tell me WHY.

one thing i wish we would have spent more time was on architecture. i had so much fun doing this shoot and i got a really good grade on it. i think its one of my best shoots this semester. i want to spend more time on it because i want to be able to experiment with different things like i shot in day time. i really want to try shooting in nighttime and also experiment with different angles or lenses.

3. Lightroom is a pretty powerful tool and I know we have only touched parts of it, what are two things you would like to either spend more time on, or what function do need more training on? If you need to open Lightroom you should do so, please try to get the correct name for the controls you are talking about.
one thing id actually like to work on more is split-toning. i don't think we did much of that. but i really wanna explore on the effects part of light-room. usually when i edit my photos i start with the white-balance and the other basics. i usually don't have tat much time to try to mess around with the effects but id really like to see what i can really do with my photos my changing my effects.

4. This semester I pushed really hard to finish as much of the required curriculum that I wanted to cover that models the ACC assignments. We are four assignments short of finishing but 2 of them will be done in class, so we did well to get as much done as we did. With that being said, do you feel the work load is acceptable for this class? Please tell me WHY?

4A. If you have struggled to keep up with the assignments (and I know who you are, so please be honest), please tell me what caused you to fall behind? Please be specific and also please be realistic with your answers. If you didn't struggle, you do not need to answer this question, move on to #5.
i think i struggled a little in the beginning with trying to do my work for this class with an insane amount of practice for band practice, but i do think that it got better after band cam was over. sur e i had winter guard but i found a way to fit photography in my schedule.

5. So far, what was your favorite assignment/photo shoot that we did? Please include details of why this was your favorite and what parts of the task that made it your favorite.

my absolute favorite shoot so far would have to be the landscape one. i think if i remember this was we kind of just introduced to light-room so i was so sos so excited to get my hands on a good lenses and shoot some landscape. i was so excited because before we didi a blog on how light-room could make your picture better ad gave them more of a pop. so i remember taking a bunch of landscape pictures and then edition them and making them pop!

6. Which assignment was the most difficult for you to understand/complete? Again, please be specific and include details of why it was that way for you.
i honestly didn't have a specific shoot that i didn't understand but now that im thinking i remember one that i had alot of questions on it was the depth of filed one. i don't remember why i had so many questions on it i remember i did it wrong the first time and the had to go back able to re-do it.
Below is a list of the content/assignments we will be doing next semester. Please look over the list and answer the questions proceeding:

Commercial Photography 2^nd semester topics:

Steel wool shoot - 4th

Tilt-shift lens - 4th

HDR images – 4^th

Macro photography – when we get back

Using a Flash – early in the semester

News/Photojournalism formal – early 4th

5 stations (includes colored water droplets, spinning lights, black acrylic, bubbles, and focus stacking) – early in the semester

Studio – with formal shoot MU/Model/Clothing – late 4^th, and 5^th 6 weeks

Silhouette free shoot - 4th

Time-lapse video – 5th

Hyper-lapse video – 5th

Captions – 6^th

Print show – 6th

Film – maybe 6th

Guest speakers – 2-3 people – Mark Heaps - all-around photographer (includes studio tour at his new location), Jeff Campbell - wedding photographer, Jay Janner - Austin American Statesman lead photographer, Steve DeMent - Portrait photographer, Imiko Miller - Portrait photographer, Ariana Price - former student Columbia College Chicago Film School, Jennifer Ramos - specializes in Roller Derby and other event photography.

Field trips – wildflower center, downtown – March for Wildflower, April Downtown, May Enchanted Rock/Fredericksburg flowers - Mark Heaps studio location.

Meet-ups – steel wool, any field trips we can't make during school time

7. Which topic listed above are you the most excited about? Be sure to explain why.
The most exiting topic i think i am most excited about it the silhouette free shoot. i remember first looking at photography this one major thing that made me want to get into it. i saw all the beautiful picture people could create using this idea. i think its really neat and can make great pictures if shown how to do it correctly. super excited for this specifically!

8. Are there any photography related topics that you want to know more about, but you don't see covered above and that we haven't touched on this semester?
nope no that i can really think of if anything it would be of food like taking picture of food or something because i know that is a profession some people do in real life.

9. What are you photographic goals for the future? Do you see yourself going to college specifically for photography? Do you want to learn more about your collegiate options specifically for photography?

to be honest for awhile i didn't know what i wanted to do when i go to college. but i don't really know if i would do photography for a profession. i do know that i would do it like a hobby because i do really enjoy it alot. its just im not sure if that's all i would do in my life as a job but Ive never really thought about it like that.

10. One thing I haven't spent much time on, and that isn't in my plans is about equipment, do you think that we need to spend a little time talking about photography equipment? If you answer yes to this question? Is there anything in specific you want to know? What types of things should I prepare to share with you in regards to equipment.

no i do not think we need to spend any time on equipment.

11. Post your best/favorite photo that you took of the semester.

12. Finally, since this is the first semester of teaching this class here at Bowie, what suggestions do you have for me about how this semester has gone, what I could be doing better. What suggestions do you have to improve any part of this class? For example, you could tell me about student/teacher relations, student/student relations, the content we are covering, the lesson plans themselves, the structure of the formal assignments, the directions for event and free shoots, etc. I am open to anything. Part of my job is to make this a positive experience, yet it is also an educational opportunity for all of you and the other part of my job is to teach you new skills.

hm mm.. i honestly thought this semester was a very great experience Ive come to really love this class and photography itself. now i really and actually know what im doing for the most part and able to put that with my photography skills . i rally liked how you not only put the instruction on paper but on the blog. one thing i can do better this coming up next semester is bring a folder for this class to keep all the formal assignments in so i can go back at them and do it again if i want to. i think you did a really good job this semester i thought this was 1000000x more fun and i learned a bunch more than photojournalism. thank you !!!

fill light - lighting used to reduce the contrast of a scene and record the same amount of detail seen by the eye in average lighting.

main light - main light that illuminates the subject

hair light - light used to light up the subject's hair; usually placed about 3 feet behind model and angled down and slightly forward to strike top of head and shoulders

background light - light source behind the subject to create a highlight that separates the subject from the background

shadowless lighting - lighting that results in almost no shadow on the subject

butterfly - lighting that casts a butterfly-shaped shadow below the subject's nose; produced by placing the light source about 25-70 degrees above the face in line with the direction the face is pointing.

loop - lighting that casts a loop-shaped shadow below the nose; produced by placing the light source 25-60 degrees above the face and 20-50 to the left or right of the direction of the face.

split - lighting where half the face is lit, and the other half is in shadow; produced by placing a light source 90-120 degrees to the right or left of the direction in which the subject is facing, with the lighting unit at or slightly above face level.

rembrandt - similar to loop lighting but with the light source moved higher and further left or right of the face; creates a strong pattern of a small triangle of light that appears under the eye on the shadow side of the face and a nose shadow that almost extends to the corner of the mouth.

gray card - flat object of a neutral gray color typically used with reflective light as a way to produce a consistent image exposure and/or color.

hard light vs soft light - soft light is diffused, meaning that shadows are absent or indistinct whereas hard light is more contrasting where shadows have harder edges and greater distinction.

strength (shutter speed and apertures appropriate to portraits) - it's best to set a wide aperture around f/2.8-f/5.6 to capture a shallow depth of field; as a general rule, make sure your shutter speed is higher than your effective focal length (ex: at 200mm use 1/250 sec or faster)

3:1 lighting ratio - occurs when the light discrepancy between two light sources is one and a half f-stops.

inverse square law of light - an object is twice the distance from a point source of light will receive a quarter of the illumination (ex: if you move your subject from 3 meters away to 6 meters away, you will need 4x the amount of light for the same exposure)

Suggestions/Tips on formal portrait posing

experiment with different angles of a head tilt to see what suits them best sometimes other things will look better on other people depending on there bodies.
tell them to avoid hunched up shoulders because we all know that looks ugly!
avoid centering the subject; frame them slightly off to the side CHANGE IS GOOD!
have them stand at a slight angle; place all the weight on the leg furthest from the camera and the other leg bent or extended for a good shoot take multiple shots.
tell them to straighten up, slouching isn't attractive nor is hunchback of notredome

examples: