Alternative Camera Process Assignment

I messed up and didn't read the assignment closely enough. Below are images that were made by shooting through the lens of an old Chinese made Seagull camera. Unfortunately I was suppose to take a portrait of a person and not a still life. These were some cactus leaves from an old agave that had dried, shot on my back porch.

I'm going to quickly try to shoot the portrait tonight during the early part of class.

Edit: here is a modified portfolio photo from my iPhone using the Holga filter.

Architecture Project

This is not a classic architectural shot but I think it at least satisfies the requirements for this assignment. The location is underneath the Central Avenue bridge next to the library.

Arizona Advertising

This is my Arizona advertisement which is a first of a series of three ads for the Arizona Department of Tourism. I will work to finish the remainder of the ads by the end of the semester.

My First Attempt at Flash

My first attempt at Flash is posted below. This is a very very simple attempt at putting together an Adobe Flash file from scratch. You can compare the difference between this slide show and the one from the previous post below in which I used the Soundslides program.

Documentary Project

So I realized that my coffee shop documentary idea was far too ambitious and I pared it back to a simple slide show with narration of three pieces of art on the Phoenix Metro Light Rail system. The slide show is embedded below. The slide show was put together with a program called SoundSlides, which creates all the Flash components that can be hosted on your server.

Results from last Wednesday's Shoot

I had a fun time working with my classmates last week at the park documenting the performers in the re-enactment club. I got the following image of one of the fighters using the beauty dish lighting set up that we had.

I used the above photo and cropped it down to this size below.

I thought that this was a cool shot and after seeing a video tutorial on the NAPP website I turned the cropped photo into a mock up movie poster which is posted below.

 

I was able to get a few more photos including an image of my friend the elusive Mina...

  

Finally, we decided to take a photo of the entire class for posterity.

  

Short Interview with Matt

After class last Wednesday, Mina conducted a quick interview with Matt. I thought this was a really cool example of the low light video capabilities of the Canon 5D Mark II. It is my fault that we used the wrong white balance (the video is extremely warm/orange) as I should have set that for Mina before I handed her the camera. All in all, I thought it was kind of fun. Obviously, I didn't have any audio equipment with me so it is recorded using the built in mic.

Documentary Concept Statement

For my documentary assignment, I will identify a small business in the Central Phoenix area which I will work with to develop images to tell their story. The photos will include portraits of the owner and employees along with product shoots. I will also take photos of the day-to-day activity of the business to show the interaction with customers. The idea is to create a day in the life of a small business. Using lighting techniques and unique perspective I hope to create a sense of place and communicate the character of the people in that place.

Assignment #4: Greenscreen/cut-out project

Below are my photos from the green screen assignment. As you can see I didn't use a green screen but shot Lee (the model) on a white cyc, which dropped to a darker gray because I did not light it. From there I used the same process for cutting him out and compositing him into the other HDR backgrounds I had created.

So below is the final image of Lee in front of the Phoenix Central Library. It was closed on Monday so I was able to go and take shots for an HDR photo.

 

This next shot is of Lee in front of the plain backdrop which was used for the above photo.

 

 

The next shot is a composite using the HDR gymnasim photo from last week.

 

 

And the final image is the plain backdrop shot that was used in the photo above.

 

 

 

 

Assignment #3: HDR Photo

Below is the HDR photo from a gymnasiam that had some cool architecture.

In Class Assignment: Studio Portrait

Below is the studio portrait that I took of Julio this past week in class. We were testing out the Norman lighting equipment that the school provided.

Assignment #2: Composite Photos

Below are the two composites that I created for the assignment due this week.

The composites were both "fake" ads. The first is an ad for headphones.

The next was an ad for a fake beauty product.

A very poor effort tonight in a composite. I'll do a better job for the class project.

Hello Classmates

Introduction

Hello Fellow Classmates. Looking forward to hanging out this semester and learning with everyone.

Matt asked us to post five photos to give everyone an idea of what we have been working on. These shots cover some that I have taken in the last year or so, and I decided to post them to give everyone an idea of what my work looked like.

This first shot was with Kym and was taken out near the Salt River. I used one light with beauty dish. I shoot a Canon 5d Mark II. The exposure was 1/125 at f/20 using a Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens.













This next shot was of a Vancouver based musician Adam Woodall. Shot with one light and beauty dish. Canon 70-200MM f/2.8L lens. Shot in an alley in Vancouver.



















This next shot is of another model Caterina. This was shot near her apartment in North Scottsdale. I like to use wide angles with my portrait work sometimes. I tend to like to show the individual in their environment. This shot takes that method to an admitted distorted extreme but I think it works because I try to center on her face. The lens flare was a happy accident. The shot was cross light with the sun to her back and a 54" octabank lighting her face. I used a Canon 17-40MM f4.0L lens, probably at 17MM.















My friend Loren asked me to help with some shots for a calender for a fundraiser he was working on. I got to shoot several athletes of which Kevin was one. This shot was taken at the Phoenix College track near dusk. One light with a 54" octabank. Canon 24-70MM f/2.8L lens.














Finally, this is a shot of Marlie Leitner, who is an Orlando base model. We met in White Sands, NM for a shoot. She made this dress out of a table cloth - I can tell the full story if your interested - probably best over a beer. Shot with a 24-70MM f/2.8L lens. One bare strobe which is cross lighting against the sun which is at her back.



















So that is my first five photos. I have more photos you can see at my flickr account if you want to waste some more time. I have a website/blog but I'm embarrassed since I haven't updated it for a few months, one of my goals this semester is to get it refreshed.

Photographers I think are cool

Here are links to three photographers who I dig. The first guy is a 20 year old New York based photographer who amazes me just by the maturity and craftsmanship that he is showing at such a young age. Check out his Personal work particularly the Abyssinia photos.

Joey Lawrence

The second guy is a Tucson based photographer and went to the University of Arizona. I got a chance to meet him a couple of times and he is very down to earth person and willing to share his knowledge. Check out his sports stuff, very cool composite work.

Joel Grimes

The last guy just has a cool style I like, don't know much about him, other than his work is awesome.

Nick Onken

Other Resources

Below are links to other resources that I find useful. What are some that you use? Leave a link in the comments if you want.

National Association of Photoshop Professionals
Scott Kelby Blog
Strobist Blog
Joe McNally Blog
Kelby Training
Lynda.com

Well that is all for now. Looking forward to learning more about everyone else and working with you all.