Night Photography

Here’s another assignment we had for DMC: Night Photography.

It’s a lot more difficult than you might think – getting all the settings just right to make that perfect exposure can be VERY tricky. I used an Olympus DSLR camera, a tripod, and very slow shutter speeds to achieve the following shots. For the ones where I had to “draw” with light, I used a flashlight app on my phone.

Below are some examples of my best attempts to get the perfect picture. Enjoy! (and don’t forget to let me know what you think!)

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Surprise! (a Hopper Painting Story)

Sorry I’ve been away for so long! The end of school is near, which means that professors are trying to keep to their schedule and fit every paper, project, and test in before summer vacation.

But I just wanted to take the time to post my finished DMC Hopper Painting Story. We had to take an Edward Hopper painting, create an original back story, and create a mini “video”  to present our story.

Here’s the finished product. Hope you enjoy!

Let me know what you think!

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View from the Sky

I was scrolling trough Twitter just a few minutes ago, and happened to find this really cool time-lapse video of an 11-hour flight from San Francisco, California to Paris, France.

The reason I liked it so much is because not only does it offer inspiration for the time lapse video project that we are hurdling toward in DMC, but it is something that I’ve always wanted to do: take pictures while flying.

I hate it when the flight attendant has to tell passengers to power off their electronic equipment because I’ve always wanted to take pictures during take-off and landing – two of the coolest parts of flying.

But what’s even cooler to me is that he was able to capture the Northern Lights on film (well, memory card really), mid-air, sooooo close to them. Now, I don’t know if you know this, happen to be a nerd and I love astronomy. It has always been one of my goals to see the Northern Lights in person! How cool would that be?!!

But, I digress.

The photos for the time lapse were snapped every 2 miles, or 2-30 seconds (for 11 hours??!), with a Cannon 5D2 and 16mm-35mm lens. The take-off and landing photos were all computer models, since “the FAA prohibits use of approved electronic devices during take-off and landing.” (how many times have I heard that one?)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

I’m not sure who the photographer is, but when I find his name, I will give credit where credit is due. Journalist’s promise.

**UPDATE** I found out who the photographer is. His name is Nate Bolt and click here to visit his website and blog where you can see more of his work.

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Portrait Photography

It’s me again!

Just wanted to upload/share with you the latest assignment we had for our Digital Media Convergence class.

It was a portrait assignment and fortunately I had great subjects: what’s better than a bunch of family in town for a wedding?

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OK, so not all of them were of family or the wedding, but anyway.

What do you think?

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Documenting Teenage Life

When I first got the assignment to go to the library and and find a photography book to blog about, I spent at least halfan hour, pouring over books trying to find the right one. Until I landed my hands on a photo book called Teenage by Joseph Szabo.

Wow.

Of course there were other books in the library that had pretty pictures, but this book really seemed to capture the essence of American youth during the 70’s and 80’s – raging hormones and all.

Szabo, who was a high school teacher in New York, captured the intimate and real emotions of his teenaged students, documenting first-hand what life was like for them in the era of cigarettes, blue jeans, and  hippies.

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While each photo is a frozen moment of action, reaction, or interaction, the thing that stood out to me the most was the clothes the teenagers wore. To me, the clothes, more than anything else, are what give the teenagers their personality – from the rebel to the hippie, to the preppy.

Overall, Szabo’s photobook Teenage left an impact on me and solidified photography’s role as a documenter of the past, present, and future.

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Stop that motion.

While doing work this past weekend and pondering what  stop motion video I would blog about, fate (and iTunes shuffle) played the amazing video for “Her Morning Elegance” by  Oren Lavie. (Which I happened to snag FREE off iTunes!)

I love this video because it narrates the girl’s life and struggles from a mattress. With clever use of sheets, pillows, socks, and other household items, the viewer gets the feeling of being in her dreams (hence the mattress).

Actress walking down the “stairs”

Actress looking longingly out her window

Actress “swimming” in the ocean

Actress “dancing” with singer Oren Lavie

Stop motion is so cool to me because you can create “imaginary” motion – like riding a bike, dancing, and walking down the stairs – simply by taking thousands of pictures and “animating” them. (If your interested in seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKptYcQuKxc)

The amount of time, dedication, and planning that it takes to create a stop motion video is astounding and really makes you smile knowing that all artists aren’t using the same formula for their videos, but really are thinking creatively. (As they should.)

Oren Lavie album cover

 

Here’s a link to an eerie yet cool stop motion video by the same co-directors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVAZh8UGbxo#t=3m

and another stop motion-time lapse mash-up by band Guster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k-VAlIPzKg

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seeing RED

For our latest project in Digital Media Convergence (DMC), we had to take pictures with a theme.

After waffling around themes from ranging from color to lines to things blowing in the wind, I finally settled on the color red (which was actually my original idea, but I thought it was no good).

So I took the pics, loaded ’em on the computer, and proceeded to Photoshop them, just to make the red pop a little more.

Now, you already know how I feel about Photoshop (if you don’t, refer to the previous post). But because I had only had to focus on bringing out the color red, and I got a lot of practice with just that one skill in class, I was pretty adept. I think I managed to do a decent job?

What do you think?

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Oh, the pains of Photoshop

Ok, so here’s the deal: I am a communications student, right? Therefore, I should be good at Photoshop, right?

WRONG!

Turns out, I have no CLUE as to how to work this program. The only thing I feel after working in Photoshop CS5 is frustration and a strong desire to hurl the computer screen across the room.

But that wouldn’t get me anywhere, now would it?

Nope. Not at all.

Anyway, our assignment for this week was to watch a few tutorials on Lynda.com (a VERY handy site for learning all kinds of computer software) and apply lessons learned to a photo that we took.

Easier said than done.

I went online to Lynda, watched 5 tutorials of one of the creators of Photoshop magically create a masterpiece out of an ordinary image, and then proceeded to attempt to duplicate the success on my own (all while The Lord of the Rings blasted annoyingly through the wall from next door, I might add). But for whatever reason, I didn’t have much luck.

I followed step-by-step the notes I had written down from the videos, but I still had no success! I guess it’s one thing to have to edit a single aspect of a photo – adding eye lights to the subject or just boosting the makeup – and another to try to do that along with adjusting the contrast, saturation, and hue of the photo (If you didn’t know, Photoshop is very picky about how your layers are organized when applying new filters and such).

After tedious editing and swearing, I managed to take this image of my friend Nicole…

Beginning Image

and turn it into this…

Final Image

It’s definitely an improvement, don’t get me wrong. You can see her more clearly because I lightened up the overall picture and added some color to her lips, but it came about more from accidental discovery than really understanding what exactly I did. My next step, if I were more proficient, would have been to lighten the eyes and take down the shadows in her face, but after trying to follow the tutorial’s directions (and failing), I decided it would be best to take a break from photo editing.

Maybe after a few more Lynda tutorials and practice, I’ll take another stab at it…hopefully without the LOTR’s epic soundtrack distracting me in the background.

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Ted.com

It’s that time again. the TED conventions are being held!

You may be asking, “What on earth is TED?” Let’s be real, few people know what it is. (Ok…Well, at least I didn’t know what it was.)

Basically, TED, which stands for Technology Entertainment and Design, is an annual global conference that gives talks centered mostly on science and culture. Every year, speakers gather in either Palm Springs or Long Beach to present their ideas in innovative and engaging ways. In order to help speakers have their “wish” for a global change come true, the TED Prize is awarded to one speaker to put toward that wish.

Johanna Blakley

There are thousands of speakers to hear from on Ted.com (check them out!), but the speaker that I would like to highlight is Johanna Blakley. This year, Blakley spoke about the way social media is changing the perception of gender.

In her speech, Blakley explains how traditional media sources of today, such as magazines and television, target advertisements to certain audiences based on demographics, mainly gender, because they often behave with some predictability. However, according to Blakley, social media is changing the game and making it increasingly difficult to target those audiences based on gender or race or creed anymore. This is because instead of being defined by physical attributes, your online person is better defined by your interests. Advertising companies do this by monitoring your clicks (I know! Creepy, but very true.) on webpages, counting the number of times you visit a cooking or workout site. By studying your Internet habits, advertisers can make educated guesses at best about your age, gender, or race.

This brings up an interesting point for me as a communications student who hopes to become a broadcast journalist.

Most of the money used to run television production studios comes from selling ads during the commercial break. If it becomes increasingly more difficult to target ads to a certain audience during regular airing hours, how will that affect those television companies that I will one day work for? Although social media is good in a sense because it breaks down those old, tired stereotypes, if it grows into the only source of information people access, ads sales can falter and jeopardize my future career! (Yeah, that might be selfish of me to say.)

I guess, then, we must rely on the advertising companies to be inventive and hope for the best.

To hear more of Johanna’s speech, listen and watch below.

Johanna Blakely

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My Top 5

As per assigned, my next post is about my top five internet hits. And it shouldn’t surprise you that Facebook is a site that I frequent the most. After all, it is the biggest social networking website out there.

1. Facebook

The reason I use Facebook so much is simply because it is the fastest way for me to keep in touch with friends, especially those from high school, because I know that most everyone I know has a Facebook and checks it frequently. I also use it as a platform to show some of my work that I’ve done. I have linked packages I’ve done and shows I’ve anchored for Phoenix 14 News (the student-run news show on my campus) from my statuses in order to share it quickly with friends and family members that want to see. (I even use it to bring people here to read this awesome blog I’m writing. I bet YOU clicked the link from FB.)

2. Twitter

I was so opposed to using twitter for the longest time. I just didn’t get the obsession with constantly updating your statuses – “tweeting” – every few minutes. However, I find that it is growing on me. My first real “fun” experience with it was during this year’s Grammy’s when I went from 12 tweets to 46 in the span of a few hours. Not to mention how entertaining it was to see other’s tweets about the eccentric show that night.

Like Facebook, I use twitter to promote projects that I have completed or to help spread the word about breaking news on campus by re-tweeting. This past week, I used it to tweet about the SGA election speech event so students could keep track of what was going on. Basically, what it boils down to is that twitter is a great way for people to “follow” an event that’s going on without actually having to be at the event. (refer to the Grammy’s example.)

3. IMDb

I like movies. Who doesn’t? When I want to know the who’s and what’s and when’s of a movie, I always consult the Internet Movie Database, also known as IMDb. I love it so much, I even downloaded the iPhone mobile act so I will never again have to wonder the name of that hot actor in the newest movie I’m watching. However, IMDb is more than just a way to stalk your new celebrity crush, it also shares information regarding the release dates of upcoming movies, inside scoops about the cast, and mini-bios of actors and actress.

4. Intellicast

Ok. So I might be a big nerd for this, but I LOVE knowing what the weather’s doing. It’s a big factor when it comes to how you will plan your wardrobe for that day. You wouldn’t wear shorts in the middle of February without consulting the weather first. Then again, it might be a stupid idea in general to wear shorts in the middle of winter. But hey, who am I to judge?

I like this weather website because you can zoom in close enough to see the weather in a specific area and out far out enough to see the weather for the whole country. Plus, on Intellicast, you can get the current, hourly, 3-day, or 10-day extended forecast tailored to where you live. Its animated radar map also came in handy when I was keeping an eye out on those January snow systems (Which all turned out to be flubs. Oh well.)

5. Stumbleupon

This is a nifty little website that I recently started using as a result of DMC, and it’s fast becoming one of my favorite websites to waste time on. I was wary about this website too because I had no desire to tell a website what my interests were so it could “know” me and what my likes and dislikes are. But I think it’s a cool way to find neat things on the internet that you would normally not think to look at. (Hence the name “Stumbleupon”) Users create a profile and check boxes next to categories that they are interested in and the site pulls back tons of other relevant sites for the user to “like” or “dislike.” My prize find on Stumble was a link that brought me to a website that is full of craft ideas. Well, that is just perfect for me since I happen to LOVE crafts. I will be making a trip back to that website, and I must thank Stumble for that.

6. WordPress

Ok. So I know I’m only supposed to outline my top 5, but I do frequent my blog a bunch. Otherwise, how am I supposed to keep my readers (all 10 of you!) coming back for more random rants? Once you get the hang of WordPress’ features, it is actually fun letting your brain juices flow out into the screen.

 

 

Social media overload? Maybe. But I love it. And maybe after reading this, you will love some of my sites, too.

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