Lens Exploration

Focal length tells us the angle of view or how much of the scene is captured. It basically captures the scene or the subject based on how you focus it. Someone might choose to use different lenses depending on what they are capturing. For example someone can use the 18mm for landscape, 50mm for portrait, or 250mm for wildlife or sports depending on how close they are able to get close on the subject.

White Balance

White balance is balancing the light within a photo. It’s important to set the white balance in order to make the photo look as natural as possible. Your are basically trying to portrait the colors as accurately as your eyes can see them. To set a white balance, first you would take a picture of a blank white object on manual mode, manual focus, and custom white balance setting. Then, you would go to menu and under the second camera tab select custom white balance then press set twice to set. Then take a picture with the custom white balance and the colors should look as close to how you see it.

ISO

ISO

ISO is the sensitivity of the camera based on the amount of light it is receiving. In the camera pressing the ISO button (up arrow) button takes you to the setting where you select the ISO. The lower the number is the less grainy the picture will be. The more light you have the lower the ISO should be so the picture will be clear. If you have less light like from being indoors, you would use the highest ISO but it would make the picture grainy or loud. If the ISO is shifted, the exposure triangle will either shift left making it underexposed or right making it overexposed. To fix it, you would have to adjust the aperture or shutter speed until it’s balanced out.

Shutter speed

Shutter speed is the amount of time the camera's shutter is open in order to control the camera's exposure to the light. Shutter speed is used for catching something in motion. The shutter speed works by setting the time it takes to take the picture so it can be fast as possible or as long as possible depending on what type of picture is trying to be shown. If you are trying to catch something in motion and freeze it, it can be 1/100 or faster and its measured by fractions of a second. If you're trying to create an artistic blur, you would try to have the shutter 1/60 of a second or slower. Basically, the faster the shutter results in a freeze motion shot but the slower the shutter results in a motion blur. Changing the shutter speed causes the light meter to either be underexposed or overexposed therefore you'd have to change the aperture first then the ISO (if needed) to zero out the light meter.

Aperture

Aperture is a setting in the camera that controls the opening of the lens to determine how much light goes in and controls the depth of field. The bigger the number, the smaller the opening. If the f stop is low then there is more light coming in and it has a shallow depth of field making the background of the subject blurry because it has selective focus. On the other hand, if the f stop is high then there is less light coming in and it has a greater depth of field which makes the background of the subject have more detail and is more clear because it has infinite focus. If the aperture is changed, the exposure triangle shift to one side either being overexposed or underexposed thus making you have to adjust the shutter speed or ISO to zero out the light meter. If the aperture is low then it would need a faster shutter speed but if the aperture is high then the shutter speed would need to be smaller to compensate for the amount of light coming in.

Selfie vs. Portrait

Selfie vs. Portrait

I think the selfie did a better job of showcasing my personality because I was in my comfort zone and I was able to include props and show who I am based on more than just what I look like. I like the black and white shot a bit more because it focuses more on the subject while the color picture is just a bit too loud in my opinion and can distract to different things. Taking a photo of myself was a bit easier for me because I was able to manipulate how I look and the different thing around me. Having someone take a picture for me was a little bit awkward because I didn't really know my partner and I didn't know how to act or what to do. The portrait and selfie are similar in a way that they show my smile and laugh at a lot of things. They're different because the portrait was more candid while the selfie was kind of planned. The selfie also has a bit more stuff around it while the portrait is only focused on one thing and its taken by some else other than myself. The difference technical wise is the portrait is a lot more clearer and the lighting is more controlled than the selfie where pretty much everything was a bit standard. A photographer would choose a portrait over a selfie when they only want to focus on the subject and possibly show little traits subtly through the body language of the subject. Meanwhile, a photographer might choose a selfie over a portrait when it comes to wanting to show the subject's personality using props, their natural environment, and just different variables in their life.

Thematic Identity

This Is Who I Am.

The end result of the whole project looks pretty cool to me. I had no idea where we were going or what the whole point was but having the end result kind of made it worth it for me to do all the work. I love the results even though it took forever for me to piece it together and get the right placements.

Doing the themed shooting assignment was actually pretty fun in my opinion. It really made me think about who I am as a person because I had to think what would represent me in each theme. It was difficult finding some things that would represent the specific word but I think the challenge was what made it interesting. It also motivated me to take more pictures and just see a lot of picture perfect moments that I usually wouldn't see.

This picture represents love for me. This is one of my favorite pictures I took because even though it's simple, the people in the picture mean a lot to me. My family is the most important thing in my life because I wouldn't know what I would do without them. They're literally there for me no matter what I do. I may sometimes act like I don't care much but words truly can't describe how much I love them.

This photo represents compassion for me. My little brother is just full of compassion. I haven't met anyone with a heart like his. Sometimes, he's overly annoying and I push him away but he always finds ways to make my day somehow. He's the type of kid who comforts you when you cry about something dumb or about something that he wouldn't even understand. He tries his best most times to comfort you and just be there for your worst and best days.

This photo represents memories for me. I'm not saying I love going to school but I guess without it, I wouldn't really be who I am. High school has given me so many memories. This is where I met some of my closest friends and I've made some pretty good memories here. There may be some bad ones as well but overall I've created some pretty meaningful memories here and I wouldn't want to change any part of it. 

I think the project reflects my identity by showing how each picture means to me. Each picture has its meaning and it represents who I am. The people in the pictures have importance in my life and the different things show some type of beauty in my eyes. It also shows memories and places I've been to and just some things I have done. It has pieces of me put all together in one picture and It's who I am.