Classmate Portrait

For the classmate portrait I was partnered with Wonsuk Choi. He was a very fun partner to work with and also helped me a lot with working in the studio. We were able to figure out a lot together when it came to experimenting with light sources.

Below is the photo that has a single light source, and it is my favorite photo that I shot for this assignment.

Wonsuk Choi poses to take a photo in the photojournalism studio in Lee Hills Hall on September 28, 2009.  Wonsuk is from South Korea and his passion for photojournalism has brought him to the University of Missouri to gain more experience.

This photo was taken with an ISO of 200, shutter speed at 1/125 and aperture at f/6.7 on the daylight setting. I used one light source on the left of Wonsuk as well as a reflector on the right side of him to reflect some of the light onto the other side of his body so that it would be more visible. The hard light and the shadows add more of a dramatic effect to the photo. I really like this photo because I feel like it captures Wonsuk's personality pretty well. He is a very determined person, especially when it comes to photojournalism. If I could change one thing about this photo to make it better, I would try to add more light on the camera so that it is easier to see the details on the camera. All in all I am pretty proud of this photo and think that it captures Wonsuk pretty well.

Below is the photo that I used two light sources on.

Wonsuk Choi poses in the photojournalism studio in Lee Hills Hall on September 24, 2009. 

 I took this photo with an ISO of 200 at a shutter speed of 1/180 and aperture at f/19 on the daylight setting. For this photo I used a backlight with a blue gel as well as a light source on the left of Wonsuk. I like the pose that Wonsuk is doing in the photo because it describes his positive attitude and friendly personality. He gave me many different and fun poses, which made it really easy to shoot. There was never a dull moment! I wish that I had taken more close up shots with this light setup, however I still like the shots that I got while using two light sources. This was also the first day that we shot, and the more time we spent on shooting, the more comfortable I felt and I tried to improve my photos as I went.

The next photo below was taken with two light sources. Wonsuk had remotes that attached to his camera as well as his flash, so we thought it would be cool to play around with it and see what we came up with.

Wonsuk Choi poses with his flash in the photojournalism studio in Lee Hills Hall on September 24, 2009. 

I shot this photo with an ISO of 200, a shutter speed of 1/125 at an aperture of f/16 on the daylight setting. I used a softbox on the left side of Wonsuk to make the flash that he was holding in his hand visible. It took us a couple of tries to get the hang of working with this flash, but it ended up creating a really neat effect. I really like this photo because it says a lot about him since he knows a lot about cameras and is passionate about photography. The lighting also falls on his face extremely well and I like how it seems to look like it is the only light source in a dark room. I still have a lot of trouble figuring out how to use the hand held flash, but Wonsuk helped me out a lot and I was able to see how it worked a little better.

All in all, I really liked this assignment and feel like I learned quite a bit from it. Wonsuk had a good feel of what to do in the studio, which really helped me figure things out since I am new to most of this. He was a great help and took the time to help me with any questions I had. I had a really good time being his partner and appreciate all of his hard work!

Portrait of "blue girl" taken by Dano Pendygrasse

I came across this photo and thought that it was a really good representation of how the subject is feeling.

This photo was taken by Dano Pendygrasse. 

http://www.danopendygrasse.com/Details/details/blog_files/tag-portraits.php

I feel that the bluish light captures her emotion of being sad or depressed. There are some shadows and it looks like there is a light above her coming from the left and there could also be another light source to light up the other side of her face. The shadows create a dramatic feel of her sadness. This portrait is well done in my opinion because it does a good job at communicating the subject's emotion.

Copy Test, Meter Calibration, and Light Exercise

I have already learned so much from these three assignments.



First, there was the Copy Test, where I photographed a photo that I felt had emotional lighting in it and the other photo I photographed was a "Stump the Chump" photo because I couldn't exactly tell how what types of light were in the photo.



Here is what I selected for the "mood lighting" photo.

This photo was taken by Pascal Maitre from National Geographic.

  I shot this photo with a 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/22 on the tungsten setting. The hard light in the photo focuses on the subject's face as well as casts dark shadows behind him. This gives off a feeling of discomfort and fear. This frame of the photo is actually one stop higher than what the meter on my camera told me to shoot at. By just going up one stop higher I was able to get greater contrast in the photo. By shooting one stop higher and lower from the meter I was able to see a great difference in how the photo turned out. From this experience I learned that I won't be able to always trust the meter since it always sees 18% gray!

This is the photo I selected for my "Stump the Chump" photo.

 

This photo was taken by Stefano Unterthiner from National Geographic.

  I shot this photo with my 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/16 on the tungsten setting. I thought this photo seemed confusing because although the sun is visible and the use of natural light is obvious, I was confused at why the penguins aren't silhouetted since the sun seems to be behind them. I didn't know if there was some artificial light used or how the photographer went about making this photo.

All in all, I really enjoyed the Copy Test because I figured a lot out by just using the studio for the first time and working with my camera. Being able to do this activity allowed me to experiment with the meter on my camera and gave me more confidence with how to work around what the meter says to capture a better photo.

I also did a Meter Calibration test. In this test we had to make six exposures of the same white textured object. Here are my six frames below.

I shot this first frame with my 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/16 and shutter speed of 1/10 on the daylight setting.

I shot this second frame with everything the same, however I changed my aperture to f/8.

I shot the third with everything the same except my aperture is not at f/6.7.

The fourth was taken with an aperture at f/5.6

The fifth frame was taken with an aperture of f/4.8.

The sixth frame was taken with an aperture of f/4.

As the aperture changes, the photos get lighter. It is helpful to see what differences are in each photo with just the aperture changing because it shows how big of a difference one stop can make in the photo. It has really made me realize how important it is to get the most accurate frame, which may even be a stop higher or lower than what the meter says. 

After completing the Copy Test and Meter Calibration, I completed an excercise where I took photos of different lighting conditions. I took half of the frames on the tungsten setting and half on the daylight setting.

Here is my favorite photo with the tungsten setting dealing with artificial light.

Lucy, member of the Hendry family, stands in their kitchen on Sunday Sept. 6, 2009. She was adopted from Columbia's Central Missouri Humane Society in 2008 at seven months old and now lives happily with her family in St. Louis, MO.

I took this photo with my 18 to 55mm lens with an ISO of 5000 and an aperture of f/3.5 and shutter speed of 1/45. I liked this photo because the hard light in the photo silhouettes the object and casts shadows, which makes it more mysterious and intense. Although the object is silhouetted it is still in the shape of a dog, which makes it a little easier to figure out what is going on in the photo. With this class I hope to gain a lot more experience with using flash so that in the future if I had a situation like this where I didn't want the silhouette I could figure out how to acheive that by using artificial light.

Here is my favorite photo using the daylight setting and using natural light.

A black praying mantis rests under the sun on a bush in Kirkwood, MO on Monday Sept. 7, 2009.

I took this photo with my 18 to 55mm lens with an ISO of 500 with an aperture of f/5.6 and shutter speed at 1/750. This photo was taken in the afternoon around 3pm. The light from the sun is hitting the leaves and also shows the object clearly. This is a softer light and there aren't as many shadows visible. There is a lot of information shown in the photo, which creates a more relaxed and pleasant mood. While I am happy with the way the photo turned out I hope that in the future I can learn how to get the best frame possible with the natural light that is provided. 

I had some trouble with this exercise because right now I'm one of those people who likes to take a lot of photos. It is really hard for me to have a limit on how many photos I take. I am also feeling the pressure when it comes to making the frame perfect on the first try. I also like to check what I am shooting and go from there, which I know I shouldn't do as much. I know that these two things are my biggest weaknesses right now, and I'm determined to move away from that as soon as I can. Although I know it will be a struggle at first I am really happy that this class is going to push me to step out of my comfort zone and make the best photos that I can on the first try. I am looking forward to this semester because I know that I have a lot to work on and am willing to try as hard as I can to get rid of my weaknesses and grow as a photographer.

Rush it, Love it

It is hard to believe that three years ago I was on the other side of recruitment at Mizzou. I was the little freshman who was about to make one of the most important decisions that would affect me for the next four years of my life. The first morning of recruitment I stood next to other potential new members. Each of us waited in anticipation for the horn to go off. We had been told what would happen, but I don't think there would have been any amount of explaining anyone could have done to prepare us for what really happened the second the horn blew. I have never felt so overwhelmed when the first chapter busted out of their windows and doors, chanting a song that echoed the love of their sorority throughout greektown. Throughout the week I ended up talking about anything and everything I could think of, and as it is supposed to happen, the houses on my list narrowed down each morning. It came down to three. I headed to my last chapter of the day, already feeling a sense of panic when I realized the next day was the end of recruitment. After I entered the last house, I knew where I belonged. I left with a rush of happiness and genuine love for those women who I didn't even know. But soon enough, the next day in fact, I was a part of that genuine love and sisterhood.
Alpha Phi has been my foundation at Mizzou, and although it is hard to explain it (and also hard for people outside to understand it), that will always be how I feel. Growing up is scary, and knowing the women who are older than me are about to graduate is hard. They were the ones who stood in that room on the last day of recruitment and reached out to me. I can never thank them enough for my experiences at Mizzou.

Alpha Phi Seniors infront of the Chapter House on "Mock Recruitment Day."

Women in Alpha Phi walkout during "Mock Recruitment."

Best friends in Alpha Phi share a moment during "Mock Recruitment."

 

Alpha Phi waits with other Panhellenic sororities as they wait to meet their new members.

Alpha Phi "Pi Chis" proudly unveil what chapter they belong to after a week of being disaffiliated from Alpha Phi in order to be counselors for potential new members.

Seniors have fun while waiting to meet their new members at Jesse Hall.

Two new members run to the Alpha Phi after receiving their invitation to be an Alpha Phi.

Alpha Phis celebrate receiving their new members.

Alpha Phis meet with their new members, happy to see that many are women they met throughout the week of recruitment.

A new member stares up at the sorority house as the new members approach Alpha Phi.

Older Alpha Phis wait at the house to welcome the new members.

Members celebrate and welcome the new members at Alpha Phi.