Playing with color gels

We recently took photos using color gels, they work kind of like color filters or tints.

At first I was confused as to why we need them, I mean, why would we change an objects’ color, I did’nt see the point, but when we started going on the subject, and started using studio light along with flash, it became very interesting.

Overall, the experience was fun, along with my classmates, here is the photo I took using color gels:

Bokeh

I have a very interesting effect in photography class, it's called "Bokeh", it's very cool and useful, it's sometimes used to emphasize your subject or when your background is dull then you can use this technique.

These are examples of bokeh:




You can even change its shapes using paper with a shape cut out, like this:



The results are awesome:






Here some that I took at class:

Panorama shot

               We learned to take panoramic shots, here is my panorama shot, taken in a bridge  near the SCTEX Expressway, in order to take this shot, me and my brother had to wake up early and walk to the location, it was a fun experience. I find taking panorama images very awesome, you can capture up to 360 angles and that makes at very interesting.

Product photography

We practiced on taking photos of products and i have learned that there is more to it than taking a shot of it. You have to consider your background, the lighting, you have to make sure you capture all the relevant details of the product and the shot should be tack sharp. here are some that I took, there not really sharp but, here it is:

Summing it all up, it was an awesome experience, we can definitely use and hone that skill for future use.

Food Photography

Today, we practiced taking pictures of food. We focused on making the subject delicious, meaning we have to fix the lighting, we have to place the food so it will look good. 

Here are some photos of mine, there are not actually perfect, but, here it is:

ISO= 400

Aperture= f/6.3

Shutter Speed= 1/50sec.

ISO= 400

Aperture= f/6.3

Shutter Speed= 1/60sec.

ISO= 400

Aperture= f/6.3

Shutter Speed= 1/80sec.

ISO= 800

Aperture= f/8

Shutter Speed= 1/20sec.

ISO= 400

Aperture= f/10

Shutter Speed= 1/20sec.

The lighting in these picture are placed on different angles, we experimented to achieve that delicious look and our professor even taught us a technique, by taking a piece of glass and lighting a dark area, it will create a detailed effect caused by the light reflected on glass.

Preparing the food was alot of fun, we decided on separating each kind of snack and we just randomly place them where it looks fine.

The experience was very fun and I could tell that my classmates also did have a good time.

Portrait Lighting

There are different types of Portrait lighting:

1. Split- face is vertically split by light and shadow.
2. Butterfly- shadows are under cheeks.
3. Loop- shadow is under nose and side of shadowed area is shadowed???..
4. Rembrandt- shadowed half of face has a signature triangle on the cheeks.

Styles:

Short- light is not strong enough to form a strong shadow.

Broad- light is strong enough to make a strong shadow.

Three Pillars of Photography

Photography is defined as "Drawing with Light"

The basics of Photography is:

Shutter Speed
Aperture
ISO

We first discussed Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed

           -it controls the the ambient light
           - it controls light in time
           -(from Wikipedia) In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time a camera's shutter is open when taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure time.

Techniques and Tips:
            -the right Shutter Speed is 1/focal point (the focal point of the camera can be found in the lens of a camera)
            -Short exposure times are sometimes called "fast", and long exposure times "slow".
            -The most popular rule of thumb in calculating your minimum shutter speed is 1/your maximum focal length for a full-frame (35mm) camera.

Summary

So to recap briefly here:

The shutter can not only control how much light hits your sensor, but it can cast wonderful effects on moving subjects in your image. Whether you want to freeze action or slow it down, your shutter can create scenes not visible to the naked eye.

Your shutter can also cause you some unwanted complications if you don’t know how to compensate for them. Camera shake can blur your images when you don’t have enough of light to handhold your camera, so a tripod is often needed to take sharp images. For landscape photographers, we generally use a small aperture and often shoot in low light conditions (the twilight and golden hours), so a tripod is definitely necessary.

You can also make changes to your manual settings – like adjust your aperture – in order to achieve the shutter speed you want if the available light (either too much or too little) is causing problems for you.

Aperture

-another word for hole
-controls the light by the size of its hole(f/2 =largest and f/16 or up smaller)

Techniques)
-aperture can be used to balance the sharpness
-to control the light, depending on how big is the hole

ISO
-controls the light

SO is the level of sensitivity of your camera to available light. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive it is to the light, while a higher ISO number increases the sensitivity of your camera. 

Techniques:
-when using ISO on darker places and you have few available light, it becomes more grainy and vise versa...