Final Portfolio

An accumulation of my work in this class is shown in my final portfolio. Over this semester I feel like I became much more artistic. I really enjoyed all of the project we did, especially the project involving surrealism. After being in this class, I feel like I have the ability to create very visually interesting photos. I now know what kind of photos are interesting to a viewer, and how to maximize the artistic appeal of my photos. The skills I gained in this class will carry over to when I take photos in the future.

Lenny Loves Lucy - Stop Motion

Reader's Digest Magazine

Page 1 (Cover) - Photo by Gabby

Page 2 - Page by Gabby

Page 4 - Page by Gabby

Page 7 - Page by Gabby, Photo by Toni

Page 8 - Page by Gabby, Photo by Toni

Page 9 - Page by Gabby

Project 9 - Fine Art and Commercial Portraits

Fine Art Photos

Fine Art 1 - This is one of my fine art portraits that I took of my friend, Sydney. In this photo, I turned off all of the lights in the room, so that the firelight would radiate from the back of the image. The natural light from the windows illuminated by model, while casting an interesting blue hue over the whole image. This hue contrasted with the reds and yellows from the fire, making the image more dynamic. 

Fine Art 2 - This is an image I took of my friend, Emily. For this image, I placed my model in front of a black, velvet sheet that was pinned on the wall. I then turned off all of the lights in the room, only allowing a small amount of natural light through the window. Afterward, I placed a desk lamp behind my model's body. By placing the light behind my model, it illuminated the image from the back, creating an almost halo effect around her head. I enjoyed this photo because it brought out many of the beautiful features of my model.

Fine Art 3 - This is another photo I took of my friend, Emily. In this image, I placed her in front of a black, velvet sheet that was pinned on the wall. I turned off all of the lights in the room and only allowed a bit of natural light through the window. However in this image, instead of placing the light behind her, I placed it on one side so that only half of her face would be illuminated. This created many interesting shadows, that brought out her bone structure. To edit this photo, I then changed it to black and white and increased some of the contrast to further enhance her bone structure. 

 Commercial Portraits

Commercial Portrait Magazine Cover - This is a photo I took of my friends, Emily and Sara. The setting for this image was Sara's room, which I found to be a perfect backdrop for a Seventeen Magazine type shoot. To shoot this image, I had very bright light and used my flash to bring out the vibrant colors of the image. In Photoshop, I later enhanced the colors and made the text of the same color scheme. This gave the image a very cohesive and bubbly feel. 

Project 9 - Fine Art and Commercial Portraits - Contact Sheet

In my first fine art shoot, I photographed my friend, Sydney. For these photos, I like the darker lighting, because it brings out the natural light of the fireplace. It gives the photo a very sophisticated feel. Later on, I am hoping to edit these photos to potentially make the fire light radiate from the center of the picture. My second shoot was my commercial portrait shoot. Here, I photographed my friends, Emily and Sara. In this shoot, I was attempting to recreate a kind of Seventeen Magazine Shoot. In these photos, I liked the bright colors and the backdrop of the shoot. While shooting, I tried to keep the lighting very bright and have very clear and sharp images. For my last fine art shoot, I mostly shot my friend, Emily. In this shoot, I used a desk lamp to illuminate different parts of my model and to create shadows. The two photos I am mostly interested in editing are the two with more edits. In these photos, I like the dramatic shadows and different lighting. By changing them to black and white, they brought out the shadows more and gave the photo a more cohesive feel.

Project 9 - Commercial and Fine Art Portraits by Other Photographers

Fine Art Portraits

Fine Art Photography encompases many different aspects in the photo. In the shooting process, the photo is set up in a way with thoughtful lighting and composition. While editing, the photographer makes strategic enhancements in order to fit the mood of the photo. Overall, this type of photo has a more creative and abstract feeling.

Photo by Kyle Thompson

 I found the composition and lighting of this photo very intriguing. I thought it was very interesting how the photographer created the contrast in shapes with the circular background, and the more angular body pose. I also liked how the lighting is coming from the end of the tunnel, creating a leading lines effect, along with a shadowy foreground. I thought it was very effective how the photo follows one color scheme: a brownish-grey hue. This gives the photo a very eerie and dark feel, which is complementary to the composition of the photo.

Photo by Olivia Bolles

I enjoyed the mood and composition of this photo. I like the way that Bolles created a very aetherial feeling by combining the photo of the girl and the flowers and plants. The lighting of the photo is very bright, bringing out the pale colors in the photo. I enjoyed how she combined multiple photos, and thought that the ones she chose had a very cohesive feel. The way she edited these photos was very effective, because the subject of each photo fit very well with the next.

Commercial Portraits

Commercial Portraits focus on a more cohesive feeling. Every aspect of the photo is strategic in order to portray a particular feeling or product. In this type of photography, editing techniques are used to enhance the photo and make it more appealing to the viewer.

Cover by Andrew Eccles

 I thought the approach to this photo was very creative. I enjoy how Eccles combined the image of the skater and the mountain to make this a very surreal photo. It spoke to the setting of the olympics, as well as highlighted the beauty of the sport of figure skating. I also enjoyed the way he enhanced the colors, and made the skater appear very warm. The pose of the skater is also very effective, because she looks very happy and proud, a feeling that is associated with the Olympics.

Cover by Unknown Artist 

I found this cover to be very effective through the editing done by the photographer. I liked the way he enhanced the bright color of her eyes by using more neutral tones throughout the photo. I also think that it is very effective the way he made the writing the same color as her eyes. I also found the placement of the writing on the cover very effective. Most of the writing frames her face to be the focus of the image, but the writing does not take away from the rest of the photo.

Project 8 - Multiple Image Techniques

For Project 8 - Multiple Image Techniques, we were required to take images and use different photo editing processes in Photoshop. The first was a photo using a multiple exposure technique to create movement. For this image, we had to take images of a single subject and either move around the subject, or have the subject move with us staying still. Later, we edited these photos in Photoshop, tinkering with opacity and different screen layers. The second image we had to take was a panorama. For this, we had to shoot multiple photos moving side to side or up and down. The photos were supposed to overlap by about 40% so that we could stitch them together in Photoshop and create one, large image. These images are able to capture much more information than a typical singular picture. Finally, the third photo we had to take was and HDR photo. For this image, we had to take multiple images of the same subject. To make the image HDR, we had to take one photo at the right exposure, two that were underexposed and two that were overexposed. To mess with the exposure, I changed the shutter speed while maintaining the same aperture and ISO. After, I stitched the images together using Photoshop. This gives the image a very Sci-Fi appearance, bringing out little details in the photo.

Multiple Exposures

Panorama - Stitched together in Photoshop.

Project 7 - Alternative Processes Through Digital Means

For Project 7 - Alternative Processes Through Digital Means, we were required to create a cyanotype and daguerreotype using our own images on Photoshop. A cyanotype is an old film process used to produce bluish prints. Here, photographers would paint an emulsion of Ammonium Iron Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide onto their images to create an image that looked like a watercolor painting or blue print. A Daguerreotype is a photo taken using a Daguerreotype camera. This was one of the first photographic processes ever created. It is well known for the images appearing on grungy metal plates with interesting textures. They are iconic for their metallicity and old world look.

Cyanotype Original

Cyanotype

Daguerreotype Original

Daguerreotype

Project 6 - Surrealism and Photomontage Final Pieces

The Keys of Time

Goddess of the Gorge

Project 6 - Surrealism and Photomontage

Surrealism is a form of photography used to contradict many typical forms of imagery. Using various editing techniques, surrealist photographers have been able to create very illogical and dreamlike images. From strange creatures, to eerie images, they have done it all. The elements of surrealism involve layering many different photos along with enhancing textures and colors. The entire composition is aiming for an element of surprise and out of this worldliness. Two extremely famous surrealist artists are Dali and Magritte. Through their artwork, they have revolutionized the surrealist form and created an art technique that is not conventional, but very beautiful.

The Son of Man - Rene Magritte

The Persistence of Memory - Salvador Dali

Project 5 - Basic Photoshop Techniques

Semester 1 Final - Photo Emulation

Project 4 - Balance and Contrast

In Project 4 - Balance and Contrast, we were required to use various techniques of shooting and editing. We first learned about the different kinds of balance and contrast, such as symmetrical balance, asymmetrical balance, radial balance, contrast in scale, contrast in texture, contrast in color, and contrast in value. Afterward, we were assigned to take single photos using these techniques, edit, and post are 2-5 favorites. Later, we learned how to make kaleidoscopes using photo shop. Here, we would take a photo, crop it in an interesting manner, then edit and rotate the image to make a kaleidoscope. We would later edit and rotate the image using the different layers on photoshop. Finally, were were assigned to create two diptychs and two triptychs. Diptychs are laid out with two photos of the same or similar subjects. A triptych is the same, but with three photos. These images are my favorites from this project.

Branches Kaleidoscope

Flower Kaleidoscope

Light Bulb Kaleidoscope

Sunflower Kaleidoscope

Mural Kaleidoscope

Symmetrical Balance

Contrast in Texture

Contrast in Size

Contrast in Color

Waterfall Triptych

Sydney Triptych

Sydney Diptych

Lips Diptych