Still Life Photography: Evening Shot

Still Life Photography: Evening Shot

Still Life Photography: Studio Shot

This was the first time I have used a studio to shoot photographs. I shot under a single light with a black backdrop. I enjoyed shooting under studio lighting because it is stable. Also, you can manipulate the lighting to capture or emphasize a certain aspect of your image. I photographed thrash next to a skull for this still life shot. I placed the skull in this photograph to symbolize the inevitable degradation of the environment, if Americans continue to live as they do. I placed the Starbuck's cups with the "you" pointed forward to emphasize that each individual is responsible for the waste they produce. I was also trying to emphasize that "you" can ameliorate these environmental wrongs by recycling, reusing, and not over consuming the precious resources of the earth.

Still Life Photography

The still life photography project involved capturing an image with three different lighting settings. A morning, evening, and studio shot were required so that we could experience the affect of various lighting conditions on images. For my still life photography project I decided to do something symbolic. I chose to symbolically demonstrate environmental degradation, over consumption, and the poor diet eaten by Americans. According to David Neguib Pellow, "The volume of thrash that U.S. residents generate has doubled in the past forty years. At 31.5 pounds, the weekly waste output of the average U.S. citizen is the highest in the world. Nearly 90 percent of plastic and 50 percent of the paper generated in the United States end up in landfills". I was extremely saddened to learn that Americans participate in such gross acts of environmental violence. Through my still life I intended to demonstrate that the wastefulness, carelessness, and over consumption of Americans is not sustainable. Eventually, this behavior will destroy the environment and greatly effect the health of the world. Therefore, I chose to photograph thrash in the midst of a graveyard. This symbolizes the environmental degradation occurring as a result of American wastefulness. I also intended to demonstrate that corporations such as McDonald's have began to destroy the American diet. Obsesity, diabetes, and other sicknesses are a result of Americans over indulging in foods that restaurants like McDonald's serves. Therefore, if Americans continue to center their diet around processed and fast foods, their health will be destroyed.

Triceratops and Jungle

The triceratops dinosaur photograph allowed me to learn a lot about photoshop. I learned how to utilize the magnetic lasso and the quick selection tools within photoshop. The magnetic lasso allowed me to select only the dinosaur and move it out of its original background. During this project I also learned how to download images of morguefile.com to utilize in photoshop. Lastly, I learned how to move the selected dinosaur image and place it on to a new background. Therefore, I was left with an image of the dinosaur in a jungle scene instead of the museum background. Using the curves tool within photoshop also allowed me to caste sun light on the dinosaur. This made the dinosaur appear more natural and that it belonged in the jungle background. Overall, I was pleased with the way that this diorama shot turned out.

Diorama Project: Triceratops in Jungle

Diorama Project

For our fourth project for Introduction to Photography we visited the Witte art museum. A dinosaur exhibit was being presented at the art museum during our visit. Our goal with this project was to photograph the dioramas presented at the dinosaur exhibit.

Unfortunately, the photographs that I took of the dioramas did not turn out as I was expecting them to. Our goal was to angle our cameras about 45 degrees to the glass of the dioramas to avoid glare and to capture good light. Also, we aimed to use others and ourselves to block the unnatural light sources and capture good images of the dioramas.

After examining my photographs from the Witte museum, I realized that I did not capture the light properly. I learned that I need to be more sensitive and aware to the angles at which I photograph and the light I am capturing in my image. Many of my pictures for the diorama project turned out with a slight blur, and showed the unnatural lighting of the exhibit.

Throughout this project I realized that I get claustrophobic when taking photos around that many people. Therefore, in the future I will try to take photos when there are not a lot of people around. I think that I will get better quality photographs by doing that.