Theme 1

Timelapses

To create these timelapses of the stars, I had to set up my camera on a tripod. Using my Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye lens, I set the aperture to f/2.8 and the shutter to around 20 seconds. To keep my camera going, I used an intervalometer, that made the camera take a picture about every 5 seconds. The camera took photos constantly for about two hours before I stopped it. I took all the photos and opened them in an image sequence in Quicktime Pro, playing the frames back at 24 frames per second in 1080p. 

This being my first try making a timelapse, I am really stoked with the finished product. I think one of the main weaknesses is the strength of the stars light. I had to adjust the lighting to compensate for what was coming out of the house, which ended up making the stars darker than I would like. A full moon also contributed to the weaker light of the stars. One of the greater strengths is the framing of the big dipper in the lines that the roof creates in the first one down below. My main frustration while shooting these was my camera's battery life; it did not last as long as I would've liked it to in the cold, making the timelapses much shorter than desired.

I think that timelapses are a great way to show pulse. In the first of the two, you get to see the pulse of the sky, as well as the residents of the house, as lights turn on and off, and ideally timelapse would've ended with all the lights off. The second shows less of the pulse of the house, and more of the sky, as clouds enter the frame and disappear.

Rythym

For this rythym composite, I took each photo of my friend longboarding, and overlayed it over the first one. From there on, I used a layer mask to get rid of all the info that was in the way of the previous picture. After doing that for each layer, I collapsed all of them together into one layer so I could edit the picture as a whole. I added a high pass layer to make the details stand out more, as well as a black and white filter with some added exposure and contrast.

I really like how this turned photo turned out. I think the movement looks really cool in a sequence like this. The major weakness of the picture was the dull and boring colors that were present when I took the sequence, I think I did a good job hiding this by using the black and white and I think it adds a lot to it. If I were to redo this image, I think I would have shot at a faster shutter speed, as there are a few layers that were a little blurred by the motion.

Place: WB Assignment

Technique
I took this picture with the face in the lower left being the focus. To get that, I had to expose it in a way that washed out the sky in the picture. I used the selection tool in photoshop to select the wall that the face is on and turn that black and white while keeping the rest of the photo in color. I adjusted exposure and contrast to further wash out the sky, and turned the vibrance down so that the color didn't take away from the subject.

Reflection
I really like how this photo turned out. If I were to go back and redo anything, I think I would've liked to get more of the sign directly above the face that says "smooth" in the picture, because I think that that really fits the expression on the face. I was surprised that this became one of my favorites from this shoot, mostly because I just kind of stumbled upon it and didn't put nearly as much effort into the shot as some of my other ones.

Simplicity: ISO Assignment

Technique
I took this picture with my ISO turned up to 5000, which gave it a really grainy look. I didn't like how it looked in color, so I tried switching it to black and white. The black and white gave it an old fashioned film look that I really liked. I also boosted the exposure and contrast in an attempt to make Mac pop out ot the picture more.

Reflection
I think that the composition is very strong in this picture, I used rule of thirds and a relatively clear background along with editing to achieve this. Had I not changed the picture into a black and white, I think that the grain would really have taken away from the overall quality of the picture, but I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out so well.

Artist Statement

My Ideas
I create take photos to share how I view the world, through a camera lens. Photography for me is a fun outlet in life that lets me express myself and show what I am doing in life. I am inspired by everything around me, especially the outdoors, friends and sports. My inspirations are all that my work is. I rarely take photos of subjects that don't inspire me. I have made works almost wherever I go. On every trip I take or event I attend, I will take lots of pictures each time. I hope to increase the overall quality and viewer experience through taking Digital Photography this semester.


Artist Analysis
Ryan Kirk

Ryan Kirk is mostly an action photographer, whose works encompass mostly skiing, biking and snowboarding, but also has works in other categories. Ryan uses a Canon 5D Mark II and "luck" to take his photos along with flashes, a MacBook Pro and Adobe Photoshop CS4 are used in post production. I feel like the materials he uses are very standard in the current industry, along with the process he uses. I do think most photographers might not be so quick to admit that there is a lot of luck involved with capturing their images as Ryan is on his site. Here is an example of one of his pictures:

The rest of Ryan's photos are protected on his website, and can be found here: http://www.ryankirkphotography.com/