Project #5 Action

Title: Football
Date taken: 09/08/2012
Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810
Shutter speed: 1/400 second
F-stop: f/5.4
ISO: 80
Focal length: 33.7 mm
Tripod: no

 Title: Soccer
Date taken: 11/17/2012
Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810
Shutter speed: 1/200 second
F-stop: f/5.7
ISO: 80
Focal length: 46.0 mm
Tripod: no

Title: Soccer
Date taken: 11/17/2012
Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810
Shutter speed: 1/400 second
F-stop: f/5.5
ISO: 200
Focal length: 38.6 mm
Tripod: no

Project #7 Social Commentary

For this picture I chose to use a picture I had taken from the Rims of one of the factories and superimpose a picture of smoke over it. I wanted to show that although these factories are great for local and statewide infrastructure, without proper precautions they can cause devastating effects on our area. With all the wonderful surroundings we have here including the Beartooths and Yellowstone, I would hate to see these areas destroyed simply because of the factories that populate the area.

            This project was really hard for me. I was under the impression that we had to do something that had an effect in our area. I tried many different topics; all leaving me feeling like the assignment was unsatisfied. I had looked on some of the links that were on Moodle and thought that I would never be able to take a picture like that, because I am in Billings, Montana. There are no wars, famine, or other devastating political or social conflicts. I figured that with all the factories in the area, pollution would be a topic that definitely could hit home.

            This project was also hard for me because I am a business major and I believe that society needs infrastructure to survive and that the factories in the area provide so many jobs and put so much revenue into our local economy. I do believe that corporations should have environmental regulations because, let’s face it, without the environment or the earth, infrastructure wouldn’t exist, let alone us.

Project #6: Portrait

            I chose to do a portrait of my younger sister. I took this picture in mid-October while I was home for Mid-Term break. My mom sister and I were going to a Bull Riding event and my sister wanted me to help her get ready. My sister is a tom-boy; she doesn’t like having her hair done (she claims it makes her look too fancy) or dressed up in any sense, let alone have her picture taken. While we were sitting in my kitchen waiting to leave she was standing in front of my mom and I while we were sitting at the kitchen table and I took this picture when she didn’t realize it. I then showed my mom the picture and we both agreed that this was one of the best pictures anyone had ever taken of her.

            The picture quality is not as good as I would have liked but was still pretty decent for being taken with my iPhone. The only editing I did to it was cropping and then darkening the background and slightly blurring it and then brightening and sharpening her. When I had sharpened her there was a weird line around where the selection was so I used the blur tool to soften it.

            I had never intended to use this picture for anything; it was just a cute picture I had taken of my sister. I had tried to take a few pictures of her while I was home again at Thanksgiving, but none of them compared to the candidness of this one. I wish I had my camera with me and had thought to take a better quality picture at the time but I am happy that I got the picture at all. Once I had shown this picture to my sister she absolutely loved it. It made me happy that I had taken a picture of her that she liked so much knowing how picky she is with pictures of her.

Project #9 Mysterical

For this photo I chose to do the alternate assignment. I chose to use the butterflies, the hand, and the dark background. I wanted the butterflies to be bright colors to signify the brightness of people’s personalities which would contrast with the darkness of the background. The hand represents when people are “released” into society, such as graduating high school or college and going off into the “real world”. I wanted some of the butterflies that are farther away from the hand to be darker to show how some people fade into the “darkness” of life while others remain bright.

In Photoshop I used layers, move tool, hue/saturation and brightness and contrast. I began with a few other pictures and a completely different idea for the picture, yet the more I played around with it I began creating ideas for myself and slowly bringing things in and taking them out. I wanted to only use a few pictures because when I looked at some of the examples on the website, I felt that they were just too busy with so many pictures involved. They seemed confusing and unorganized, which can be a good thing, but didn’t work for me. I wanted to keep it simple. I wanted the butterflies to be very vibrant colors to really emphasize the difference between the butterflies and the background.

I’m not sure if others will take the same idea from my picture as I did. I think that it is a rather universal feeling of being “released” into the world and really having to fend for yourself and you either end up fading into the darkness of life, or you remain vibrant.

Project 8: Night

Title:  Cloudy Moon

Date taken: 11/24/2012
Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810
Shutter speed: 1.0 second
F-stop: f/3.1
ISO: 1600
Focal length:4.0 mm
Tripod: yes
Other comments: extremely saturated and brightness and sharpness adjusted slightly.  Taken in my driveway in Bigfork, MT

Title: Bright Lights, Small City
Date taken: 11/20/2012
Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Shutter speed: 1.0 second

F-stop: f/4.1

ISO: 800

Focal length: 11.5 mm

Tripod: yes

Other comments: Slightly saturated, adjusted brightness and sharpness. Taken around 6 PM at Swords Park up on the rims. 

For my first night picture I took a picture at my house in Bigfork, Montana over Thanksgiving break. I walked out on my deck and the moon was perfectly visible through the clouds and the trees. I took quite a few pictures trying different color variations with my camera and different ISOs and different white balances. I had around ten pictures to choose from and this one I felt showed the moon the best and framed it best in the trees and clouds. When editing, I cropped it and saturated it.

For my second picture, first I went to the pullout by the airport hoping to catch some planes coming in. My roommate Kelsey and I waited for around 5-10 minutes before getting bored of waiting (big shocker haha) so we drove down to Swords park where I set up my tripod and started snapping pictures. I took pictures of the factory, 27th street and random buildings I could see from my vantage point. While standing there a plane flew right over my head and being the amazing photographer that I am, I stood there looking up watching it fly by without even thinking about bringing my camera up to take a picture and then realizing once it was much to late what a great picture that would have been. We were up there for around an hour and I came home with around 40-50 pictures. When editing, I didn't do a lot with this picture. I cropped it slightly and enhanced the brightness and contrast but that was about it.

Project 4: Yellowstone

Title:Abstract

Date taken: 10/27/2012

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Lens: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/250 second

F-stop: f/5.4

ISO: 250

Focal length: 33.7 mm

Tripod: no

Other comments: Saturation and Levels adjustments

Title: Atmospherics 

Date taken: 10/27/2012

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Lens: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/640 second

F-stop: f/3.1

ISO: 80

Focal length: 4.0 mm

Tripod: yes

Title: Landscape

Date taken: 10/27/2012

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Lens: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/1000 second

F-stop: f/4.3

ISO: 80

Focal length: 13.9mm

Tripod: yes

Title: My Choice

Date taken: 10/27/21012

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Lens: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/500 second

F-stop: f/4.0

ISO: 80

Focal length: 10.5 mm

Tripod: No (leaning on a railing)  

Title: Macro Shot

Date taken: 10/06/2012

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Lens: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/60 second

F-stop: f/5.4

ISO: 80

Focal length: 33.7 mm

Tripod: no

Title: Rocky Interaction

Date taken: 10/27/2012

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Lens: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/1250 second

F-stop: f/3.1

ISO: 80

Focal length: 4.0 mm

Tripod: yes

Title: Wildlife

Date taken: 10/27/2012

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Lens: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/125 second

F-stop: f/5.4

ISO: 800

Focal length: 33.7 mm

Tripod:no

Pictures #4 and #5: Architecture and Night Life

Title: First Interstate Bank Building

Date taken:10/24/12

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L810

Lens (if applicable: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/500 second

F-stop: f/4.0

ISO: 80

Focal length: 10.5 mm

Tripod: no

Title: Rainy Rush Hour

Date taken: 10/22/12

Camera: iPhone 4

Lens: N/A

Shutter speed: 1/40 sec

F-stop: f/2.8

ISO: 80

Focal length: 3.9mm

Tripod: no

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