Self Portraits

For our Self-Portrait project we were to take three self-portraits. They were all to be in black and white, and they were all to capture a mood of some sort. We were also challenged to be as artistic as possible, and stay as far away from normal, cliche portraits that we see on personal pages etc. as possible.One had to use the rule of thirds as the base for the composition; One had to incorporate leading lines, and one had to be taken from a more extreme angle.

The difficulties to these pictures would be that I couldn't get the correct pose that wouldn't make the picture feel likes a "senior portrait". Another difficulty would be the getting the background to look good with the picture. My success was getting a good extreme angle since for me that was the hardest compositional trick. The picture that I think was the most successful would be my extreme angle picture because the photographer really got a good extreme angle. The picture was taken from the top of me. I think that the picture would of looked better if my face was seen a little more. What I would of done better in my pictures would be to find a different pose that isn't so predictable. Overall I felt that my pictures were okay. I think that if i would of done a different pose the pictures would of been better.

Contact Sheet

Overall I think that my contact sheet turned out turned out better than I expected. I think It turned out real good. What i did well was setting up the picture I think that what makes it look good. I think that taking better pictures would of made the contact sheet even better. Out of all of the composition tricks my macro picture depth of feel turned out the best. I enjoyed it the most too. me and my partner really got into looking for the perfect image to capture.

Compositional Trick #5-Croppping

Cropping is a trick that photographers do all the time, even if they don't realize it. Every time a photographer chooses to cut something out of his/her frame, before they snap the photo, that is in essence cropping. We also have learned tools on Photoshop that allow us to crop an image after we have taken it. When cropping in Photoshop it is possible to improve our composition or change it completely.

I change the structure to the image by cropping out part of the rail on the left side of the picture. I think this picture turned out better after being cropped than the original picture. There is two ways of using the crop tool. the first way we used was cutting a part of the picture which changed it. Then we cropped it to get overcrop which gives you a border around your picture.

Compositional Trick #4-Extreme Anlgles

Assuming that i would of succeded in taking this picture at an extreme angle I would of needed to be lsaying on the ground. If i would of being laying on the ground when i was taking the picture of my partner i would of got a picture and not so much of a snapshot. On this picture I liked how I was able to get different shades of grays. I think what i would of done better is placing my partner's hand in a different position, and placing myself at a different angle. I think that photography is taken at extreme angles in order to give the viewer a different feeling than if the emphasis was straight in the middle waving their hand and smiling. I would choose to do extreme angles so i can give the viewer a different feeling throught my picture and allow them to see the world another way that they are not use to.

Compositional Trick #3-Macro

The macro function on your camera allows you to look at objects in a different prospective. You see the objects much smaller. When using macro depth of feel is also created which makes you look deeper into the picture. When depth of feel is created the background blurs. Macro is good for when you want to get a closer look at your image but shouldn't be used all the time. My favorite picture of the flower that shows depth of feel. Its my favorite one because if allowed me to look at the flower from a different view.

Compositional Trick #2-Leading Lines

This would be another trick that have worked on. The leading lines lead you to your picture following to your emphasis. Some leading lines lead your eyes straight to your emphasis while other just pull your eyes deep into the picture. In this picture i used the rail and its shadow to lead the viewer's eyes to my emphasis, which was my partner.

Compositional Trick #1-Rule of Thirds

The Rule of thirds is a trick that is used in photography. It looks like a tic-tack -toe board. The rule divides your picture vertically and horizontally. The vertical and horizontal lines intersect at four different points. This allows you to place your emphasis in one of those four different points. By placing your emphasis in of one of those points were the lines intersect you make the picture more interesting than if it were in the middle. In this picture i used the fire hydrant as my emphasis.