welgee-blog

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Emma Welge 

11/28/18

Assignment #7

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Emma Welge

Assignment #5

11/5/18

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Assignment 4 Written

Emma Welge

10/17/18

Assignment #4 Written

In Chapter 5, “Subject Lighting” of Horenstein’s Digital Photography A Basic Manual, he discusses the characteristics of light and how to utilize light in various ways to impact a photograph. For example a bright day versus a cloudy day changes the mood of a photo from happy and hopeful to mysterious and sad. Hard light travels uninterrupted to the subject leading to deep shadows and bright highlights whereas soft light produces less contrast. While light is one source of contrast, the color of a subject also impacts the contrast in a photograph. Horenstein discusses the direction of light and how most of the time you want it to strike your subject from the front, but you can use backlighting for a more obscured subject. Color and light also work together in producing how an image looks. Different lighting conditions, times of day, and the angle of lighting impact how a color appears.

Horenstein also discusses the use of flash in photography. There are multiple different types of flash that can be used for various reasons such as built-in, portable, and studio. Built-in flashes are automatic, portable flashes attach the body of the camera and are a little stronger and studio strobes are the most powerful which are used by professionals. Flash is used to add light in low-light situations or to freeze the motion of a moving subject and brightening the dark areas. All flashes must synchronize with the camera’s shutter so with a portable flash, a hot shoe bracket above the camera lens connects the flash to the shutter. Using flash can cause various issues such as red-eye, overexposure and underexposure as well as harsh lighting. For this reason, off camera flash is a good tool to use. This means using your flash off your camera and aiming it at your subject at an angle instead of straight on so that the lighting isn’t as harsh. You can also bounce and diffuse flash to broaden and soften the flash. For example, you could point the flash at the ceiling or a white wall so that it reflects onto the subject instead of hitting the subject straight on.

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Emma Welge

Assigment #4

10/17/18

Harmonic color, contrast, monochrome, dominant color, subdued color, isolated color

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Assignment #2

Emma Welge 

9/24/2018

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Emma Welge 

Assignment #2

9/24/2018

I chose this photograph because I really enjoy the vibrant colors and the symmetry displayed in the reflection on the water. The trees looked like they are perfectly flipped onto the reflection in the water. The small leaf in the front of the photograph floating on the water makes me feel a sense of peace and tranquility. There is a good use of whites and blacks in the image as well.I noticed that like Shore’s text mentioned, color has the biggest impact on how I view this image.  The subject of the image is also very strong since it portrays the wide range of vibrant colors in the trees as well as the blue sky. 

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Emma Welge

9/18/18

Assignment #2

Chance Photos

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Emma Welge

9/18/18

Assignment #2

Intent Photos

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Emma Welge

9/9/18

Assignment #1 

1. In Chapter 1 of “The Nature of Photographs” Shore talks about the characteristics of a photo and how we don’t know when we a see a photo how much of the image is a result of editing and camera functions and if the physical picture you are looking at is how it looked in reality. He calls images “an illusion of a window to the world” for this reason. This is also because images are flat and confined by its edges to only a small area of a bigger picture, just like a window is a bound in view of a larger area. He also describes how pictures “signal to our minds perceptual apparatus,” meaning that along with the physical appearance of an image, the picture also resonates with people differently. It adds a second level of meaning based on people’s own thoughts and experiences and what the image means to them. The photographs I took are different from their subjects in that the viewer doesn’t know the context of my pictures. The sunsets were so much more vibrant in person and the pictures were only a glimpse of the actual thing. The photo of my friend with a dog has the special significance of a fun afternoon laughing and hanging out with my roommates. They don’t know that we were at a pet store and that the dog wasn’t ours. While photos can show a glimpse of reality there is much that is open to interpretation. 

2. After reading “Redefining Smartphone Photography,” I realized how smartphones and social media such as Instagram has really impacted my use of photography. Since getting a smartphone, I am able to document all the unexpected special moments in my life that I wouldn’t always have a digital camera with me. This has allowed me to capture so many more memories that I can look back on later. For this project, having a camera with me at all times helped me to see the beauty in my day-to-day life and how you can take photos anywhere. 

“Serious Play” discusses how popular photographers like Shore who have been using professional cameras and taking pictures that get published have Instagram accounts with everyday pictures that were taken on a smartphone. This made me realize that while professional cameras do help the quality of a photo, you can take quality pictures on anything. It also made me realize that knowledge about photography, lighting conditions and other matters make a huge difference when taking photos. Knowing this, I tried to have intent when taking my pictures. While some of them were chance, I thought about the lighting conditions and also knew that I should go out and take photos when it was overcast. This text inspired me to take pictures of everyday objects like flowers and buildings. While they weren’t anything out of the ordinary they turned out to be quality photographs. I like how they refer to some of Shore’s Instagram photos as “provocatively unexciting.” This made me realize that the are opportunities for photographs all around me and that the pictures I take really are a window into the reality of the subject of the photograph, such as the pictures I took in downtown Dayton.  I didn’t let the thought of using my smartphone make me feel held back from taking quality pictures. Instead, I was motivated to always be looking for pictures in my life because of this assignment and the accessibility of having a camera with me at all times. 

[welgee-blog]

Emma Welge

9/9/18

Assignment #1 

1. In Chapter 1 of “The Nature of Photographs” Shore talks about the characteristics of a photo and how we don’t know when we a see a photo how much of the image is a result of editing and camera functions and if the physical picture you are looking at is how it looked in reality. He calls images “an illusion of a window to the world” for this reason. This is also because images are flat and confined by its edges to only a small area of a bigger picture, just like a window is a bound in view of a larger area. He also describes how pictures “signal to our minds perceptual apparatus,” meaning that along with the physical appearance of an image, the picture also resonates with people differently. It adds a second level of meaning based on people’s own thoughts and experiences and what the image means to them. The photographs I took are different from their subjects in that the viewer doesn’t know the context of my pictures. The sunsets were so much more vibrant in person and the pictures were only a glimpse of the actual thing. The photo of my friend with a dog has the special significance of a fun afternoon laughing and hanging out with my roommates. They don’t know that we were at a pet store and that the dog wasn’t ours. While photos can show a glimpse of reality there is much that is open to interpretation. 

2. After reading “Redefining Smartphone Photography,” I realized how smartphones and social media such as Instagram has really impacted my use of photography. Since getting a smartphone, I am able to document all the unexpected special moments in my life that I wouldn’t always have a digital camera with me. This has allowed me to capture so many more memories that I can look back on later. For this project, having a camera with me at all times helped me to see the beauty in my day-to-day life and how you can take photos anywhere. 

“Serious Play” discusses how popular photographers like Shore who have been using professional cameras and taking pictures that get published have Instagram accounts with everyday pictures that were taken on a smartphone. This made me realize that while professional cameras do help the quality of a photo, you can take quality pictures on anything. It also made me realize that knowledge about photography, lighting conditions and other matters make a huge difference when taking photos. Knowing this, I tried to have intent when taking my pictures. While some of them were chance, I thought about the lighting conditions and also knew that I should go out and take photos when it was overcast. This text inspired me to take pictures of everyday objects like flowers and buildings. While they weren’t anything out of the ordinary they turned out to be quality photographs. I like how they refer to some of Shore’s Instagram photos as “provocatively unexciting.” This made me realize that the are opportunities for photographs all around me and that the pictures I take really are a window into the reality of the subject of the photograph, such as the pictures I took in downtown Dayton.  I didn’t let the thought of using my smartphone make me feel held back from taking quality pictures. Instead, I was motivated to always be looking for pictures in my life because of this assignment and the accessibility of having a camera with me at all times. 

[welgee-blog]

Emma Welge 

Assignment 1

[welgee-blog]

Emma Welge 

Assignment 1