the camera history

1.  Explain the "Camera Obscura" effect. How is it achieved?

          The "Camera Obscura" effect was considered the first camera. It was achieved by making a small hole on one wall in a completely dark room. Then light is focused through the small hole, projecting the outside scene on the opposite wall upside down.

     2.  What invention during the 17th century helped man get a step closer to creating the modern camera?

          The perfection of the understanding and the process of making higher quality glass lenses by Issac Newton and Christian Huygen had helped man get closer to the modern camera.

     3.  What were the first parts of the first modern camera invented by Niepce?

          In 1827, Joseph Niepce had created the first modern camera which included a glass lens, a dark box, and some film.

     4.  What do modern day cameras have in common with Niepce's camera?

          They work the same way by allowing light to pass through a lens into the camera and exposing the film to the light.

     5.  What do digital cameras use to capture an image?

          Digital cameras now use digital film. Digital film captures the image with an electronic sensor called a CCD and then stores the image on reusable computer memory devices.

     6.  What is the difference between the auto-mode and the program mode?

          In auto-mode, the camera will completely control the flash and exposure. In program mode, unlike the auto-mode, you can usually control the flash and exposure along with a few other camera settings.

     7.  What is the portrait mode used for? How does it work?

          The portrait mode is used for shooting portrait shots. The camera will try to use the fastest available lens setting to attempt to blur out the background.

     8.  What is the sports mode used for? How does it work?

          The sports mode is used for shots in high motion. The camera will use the higher shutter speed possible to freeze motion.

     9.  Why should you do the half press on the trigger button?

          You should because the half press is helpful in may ways. It includes faster camera response time, more control over focus, and encourages better composition.

    10.  What does this symbol mean? 



           
           



          When should you use this?
       
          This means the flash is disabled. It should be used whenever you don't want a flash or the mood of the photograph  can sometimes be more dramatic when the natural light is used.

    11.  What does this symbol mean? 

          
           




           
          When should you use this?

           This is the auto-flash mode. It should be used whenever you want the camera to use flash when it thinks that there is not enough light.

    12.  What happens to a photo if there is too much light?

           Too much light will make the picture looked washed out.

    13.  What happens if there is not enough light?

           When there is not enough light, then the picture will look too dark.

    14.  What is a "stop"?

           A "stop" is the aspect of photography to represent a relative change in the brightness of the light.

    15.  How many stops brighter is the new planet if there are two suns instead of one?

           It would be one stop brighter.

    16.  How many stops brighter is the new planet if there were four suns instead of two?

           It would be one stop brighter.

    17.  What effect does a longer shutter speed have?

           More light will pass through the shutter.

    18.  What effect does a shorter shutter speed have?

           Less light will pass through the shutter.

    19.  What does the aperture control?

           It controls how much light passes through the 'pupil'. You can control the aperture by setting a F-Stop.

    20.  When adjusting the aperture, how can you increase the amount of light?

           You adjust the F-Stop. With smaller F-Stop number, you get larger openings. With larger openings, you will get more light.

touching people

    1. What do you think about the project and photo essay?

        I think that this would be a great way to get some random shots of people, especially if the shoot takes place in a downtown area or a big city, but it would definitely have some kind of awkwardness to it though.

     2. What would you do if someone approached you with a camera and asked you to participate in a photo shoot and then asked you to touch a stranger?

         I would probably do it. It would definitely be kind of awkward but I think that it would probably make out some decent photos.

     3. Think of an unusual photo shoot similar to this one that you think would be fun to go and shoot.

         Go out to a downtown area and ask strangers if they could take pictures in front of some random buildings acting like the buildings.

     4. Finally, tell me what you thought about the photography, are the photos good? Do you like looking at them?

         I think that the photography was pretty good. The pictures look very natural, like the strangers in photos knew each other for a long time. I liked looking at them because it looks like there can be a some kind of history to them, but there isn't any history at all.

national geographic

photo by Lee Sie

     

     Out of all the 45 photos, this is my favorite because I really love the tilt-shift effect and how it can make things that are really large, appear really small. I like how there are hundreds of swimmers, but the photographer makes them look like ants. It would be cool to take tilt-shift photos over the skylines of large cities and areas with a large amount of people that I could then possibly try to submit to this contest, showing the masses of people and large buildings.

munipulations and ethics

With the use of photo editors, photographers can edit any image that they want and sometimes those photos are ones that are important and go up for people around the world to see. They would unethically edit some pictures to get a desired effect of hiding mistakes or anything that the photographer wouldn't want in the shots. I think that this type of editing, especially when it comes to things like the military and political people, is unethical because it can change the way other people view the things in the photo.

                   

                    



                         

     This manipulation was most unethical to me because it had edited parts from different images dealing with the British military. It was edited to try to improve the images composition. While it probably had an improved composition, its unethical because that the photographer had changed some events that had actually happened. That and the photographer didn't even do a decent job in editing it either.

     I think that the manipulation of this photo is the least unethical because the distance between the two pyramids is very great and to get both pyramids in the same shot at the right angle is very difficult. The photographer used the photo editor to edit the two pyramids closer to improve the composition.

interesting things

Part I

1. What is your reaction to his work?

    I liked the way he would take the pictures of the buildings and use three shots at different angles and put them together. I think that its cool because I've never seen any photos taken this way before and I think that they are pretty unique as well.

2. How do you think he made these photos?

    Maybe he took one shot of a building and used a photo editor to change the transparency and make three clones of the building. He positioned the copies as a specific angle to get the desired affect he wanted.

3. Think about some buildings you have seen, which ones would be good to take a photo like this? Tell me about those buildings, where are they, could you get easy access to them?

    You could probably do one on the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio, Texas. It's a 750-ft tower with a large observation area and a restaurant at the top. You can easily take photos of this tower at even a greater distance from its base on the highways.

Part II

Photo by David Guttenfelder

1. Why did you pick this photo?

    I picked this photo because the composition shows a sense of emptiness even with all the building that are in the picture. 

2. What category did you find this photo?

   This photo was in the category Enterprise Picture Story (large markets)

3. What award did it win (what place)?

    It won 2nd place.

4. What did the photographer do that attracted your eye? (I am not talking about the subject, but what the photographer did)

    What the photographer had done to attract to my eye was that he took the shot from higher up, giving a birds-eye view to get more of the area in the shot.

5. How much do you think the subject of the photo weighed in the judges minds when they picked this photo as one of the best of 2012?

    I think the weight if the subject of the picture was heavy because they wanted a photo that portrayed a single theme in one shot. 

6. What do you think the photographer had to do that was unique to getting this photo?

     What was unique was that he had to actually get into North Korea.

Photo by Tom Fox

1. Why did you pick this photo?

   I picked this picture because I like the colors and the way the air around them gives me the feeling of a cold atmosphere.

2. What category did you find this photo?

    Domestic News

3. What award did it win (what place)?

    It won HM.

4. What did the photographer do that attracted your eye? (I am not talking about the subject, but what the photographer did)

    The way he had the picture with a darker background and lighter areas on the firefighters to make it look like they are glowing with the rays from the sun.

5. How much do you think the subject of the photo weighed in the judges minds when they picked this photo as one of the best of 2012?

    They wanted something that had took place in domestic news.

6. What do you think the photographer had to do that was unique to getting this photo?

    He probably had to go to the area where the fires where and get kind of close up.

Photo by Rob Goebel

1. Why did you pick this photo?

    I liked how the room is dark and the light is provided by the kiwi that is hooked onto a power cord and plugged into the wall outlet.

2. What category did you find this photo?

    Conceptual Photographic Illustration

3. What award did it win (what place)?

    It won HM.

4. What did the photographer do that attracted your eye? (I am not talking about the subject, but what the photographer did)

    He focused the composition on the glowing kiwi and the wall outlet that it was

5. How much do you think the subject of the photo weighed in the judges minds when they picked this photo as one of the best of 2012?

    

6. What do you think the photographer had to do that was unique to getting this photo?

    

    

Part III

    It is good to be able to take pictures of scenes with more than one thing going on at a time, where many things happening at once without distraction into the other going ons. Another important suggestion, is that a photographer should be able to take shots of quiet moments as well as ones that have a lot of energy. It is also important that a photographer should be able to also get good shots of nature too.

     

     
     I think that the photographer had followed the suggestion by getting all the power of the waves into the shot, showing the power and action of some nature. The suggestion that influences me the most, would definitely be the one where the photographer should be able to get good shots of quiet, still moments.

simplicity

     In this photo, the tower with the blue sky as the background makes this shot more simplistic, with the exception of the building in the lower left.

the rule of thirds

Still from video by Evan Fairbanks, Magnum Photos

     This shot follows the rule of thirds because the position of the man is on the third that is in the lower left. It also has the tower along with the plane on the upper right third. With the man and outer building darkened, it add to the effect of it leading to the tower with the rule of thirds.

lines

Photograph by Jose Jimenez, Primera Hora/Getty Images

     In this photo, the lines in the building along with the smoking going perpendicular to the vertical windows shows lines. The diagonal smoke in this picture makes the shot more dynamic.

balance

Photo by Larry Rader

     With the soldier and truck positioned at those spots, it balances out this photo. Also, with the truck positioned to look a bit smaller, it balances its size with the size of the soldier. The trees in the background in the space not occupied by the foreground objects balance out the space with the truck and the soldier, not taking to much to make the space just right.

framing

     In this picture, the foreground composed of the trees and the smaller apartment-looking buildings frame out the towers in the background and add a feel of dimension and depth, especially with the buildings darkened out.

first shoot reflection

1. What challenges did you encounter while trying to get the photos of your first 3 prompts (Red, Metal, Happy)

    There weren't that many objects that resembled 'happy', so I had ended up getting shots of people. Also most the 'metal' objects that I wanted to get pictures of were outside and it was raining.

2. What technical aspects of photography or the assignment in general (focus, framing, holding the camera, etc.) did you find yourself thinking about the most? Provide a specific example of what you did to do this correctly.

    I think that I tried to avoid the mergers. When I was trying to get the shot of the 'metal' object, you can see the car in the parking lot that was cut off. I tried to balance the two cars in the shot, but their position made me have to just try to balance it the best I could. I really didn't want the cars in the shot, but I had to make it work.

3. If you could do the assignment again, what would you do differently now that you know some basic rules of photography?

   I would probably try to focus on getting better angles and trying to find better objects to get pictures of.

4. What things would you do the same?

    I might probably go and take pictures of people for the 'happy' category.

5. Are you interested in shooting those prompts again, why?

   I like the idea of having to shoot from only a few categories of something simple, but I wouldn't want to shoot this one specifically because there aren't as many things from the prompt around the school as I thought there would be.

great black and white photographers part 2

     Lothar Wolleh was born in Berlin, Germany on January 20, 1930. From 1946 to 1948 he studied at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in Berlin-Weissense, where he studied "concrete painting" in an elementary class. In 1950, as a young man he was arrested by the Russian occupying forces on suspicion of spying, and was condemned to 15 years forced labour and underground mining in Siberia at the Soviet camp Vorkuta. He was released after Chancellor Adenauer went to Moscow in 1956 to return the remaining German prisoners of war.

     

     After his return, he went to obtain an education from the continuation school for photography and design, Lette-Verein, in Berlin. In 1958, he journeyed to Gotland, Sweden, as part of the trip of the World Council of Churches. For Wolleh, this journey turned out to be a major turning point in his life resulting into a life-long devotion to the people and landscape of Sweden.

     In 1964, he married his wife Karin Wolleh. During the next year he made the publication of his first photo-volume, Das Konzil. After the next two years, his wife had a son and a daughter, Oliver and Anouchka Wolleh. Then in 1970, he published two new photo-volumes, UdSSR and  Uecker Monografie. 

     

     Later in 1972, he published Art Scene Dusseldorf and made a film about his friend, Gunther Uecker's 'White-Black Room'. Until his sudden death in 1979, Lothar Wolleh worked on his series of portraits of celebrated artists. It is these works that undoubtedly form the core of Wolleh's photographic and creative achievements. In all, Wolleh photographed 109 artists in this cycle. With his unique flair and highly developed sense of the artist's individuality, Wolleh produced a series of personalised portraits which reveal the inner essence of the artist and their work. The rigorously symmetrical structure places the artist at the very centre of the portrait and removes the stylised atmosphere of the studio. In this way, Wolleh offers insights into the artist's creativity without resorting to the conventional "artist-image" perspective.

the student teacher

     I think that this picture is the one that probably had the best story. I think it did because where the student is, where it looks like student is at the front of the room giving some kind of explanation. Like he is in a student mentoring program and the I think that the story might be somewhere along the lines where the student wants to end up being a teacher.

filling the frame

     The frame is being filled by the way the photographer has used the difference between light and dark. Where the action is, the lower center with the most light, attracts the most attention from the viewer, allowing the photographer to darken the outer areas and make the scene look like it fills up the frame.

academics

 The picture that was my favorite was the one that got first place in Academics and Community Service. The one with the student pouring two chemicals into a beaker. This one was my favorite because I like how where the student is pouring is right smack in the center to grab attention to the middle of the photo. I also like how the outside edges are kind of blurred off to show more of a focus towards where the action is taking place.

     This picture uses a few rules of photography. The most evident one is balance, there is almost complete symmetry of the two beakers on each side of the picture. There is also framing and avoiding mergers. The blurring of the outer edges not only separates the foreground and background, it also avoided the merging of alike colors and shapes of the objects and student.

     I could probably take photos like these maybe in a classroom or somewhere where there is an academic event is taking place. I probably wouldn't know exactly what classroom where I would want to shoot, but maybe somewhere that there is some kind of action going on.

     As a photographer that wants to be able to take amazing pictures, I would have to practice and try to get my own style that is unique and will be able to get the attention from others that will think that my work is interesting. I will definitely need to have to follow the rules of photography, but in a way that no one has followed them exactly, making my work different.