Photography Collage Project

Andy Warhol Presentation

Pinhole Camera/ Coffee Camera

To me, the strongest aspect of the work is the strong display of black, gray, and white. I believe that there is a balanced amount of the three, and create an interesting image. The only thing I would like to improve on are the faded edges. There is a little too much white, and i wish there could have been equal amounts on each side.

There wasn't much that was easy about this project. It was an annoying challenge that we somehow were able to finish. The last day Christina and i did this, it somehow all came together. The most challenging thing was trying to use the coffee camera. Not knowing whether a camera was completely sealed from the light was the most annoying part of the process. It was the cause of a lot of stress and lost time.

I believe i displayed the objective of displaying how light effects the photo paper by exposing the paper to the light for 30 second, and creating an actual negative image. I exposed the paper to light by  lifting the tape on the coffee camera, and exposing the hole. This let the light into the camera, and created an image. I don't know what i would do differently if i did this project again. I'm very happy with how it turned out. The only thing i can think of is that i wish my final image kept the really dark quality of the practice strip. The practice strip just has this cool vibe to it.

Photo Print/ Contact Sheet

My contact sheet (upper left picture)

My value scale test strip (below my test strip)

My practice strip (bottom right corner)

My official 5"x7"  image (top right)

The strongest aspect of my work, in my opinion, is the richness of grey in my 5"x7" picture. The varying values in the picture look nice and give the picture a nice feel to it. To achieve the level of darkness, I had to have the paper exposed to light for 21 seconds, using a 3 filter, and set the aperture to f11. I think the worst aspect of my work is the border. The border on top is too wide, while the bottom doesn't even have a border. Next time I'll have to better frame it in the easel.

I didn't find much of the assignment easy, but I might be confusing difficulty with annoyance. I guess the easiest part would be taking the actual pictures. This will sound probably be my answer to all my future projects, and I'm pretty sure i've already used this as my answer before, but it's the truth. The most difficult part of the process was having to keep redoing my picture just to find out what the right settings would be. I regret not using the enlarger I used originally, because that probably added an extra day or two of work. I now know that I should use the same enlarger for now on, so I guess it was a learning experience.

I displayed the objective of this project by using negatives to create a contact sheet. Then using the contact sheet to see what picture would be best for a 5"x7" image. I then used my negatives, by placing them in the enlarger, to create my print. Its kind of hard to say I would want to do this project over again, because I like the photo and it's sentimental value. If I had to redo it though, I would choose the photo of the mildew stuff that is at the looking docks. I think its a cool picture, that has a cool subject matter. To me personally, I find it more interesting than most of the other pictures I took.

Photogram Project

Photograms:
Top Left: Symmetry
Top Right: Magazine
Bottom Left: Landscape
Bottom Right: Value Scale

The strongest aspect of my work is how I was able to create a black/white value scale in all my photograms. This is especially true for my symmetry photogram, where I feel like the use of plastic objects helped establish a nice medium grey. My magizine photogram is probably the weakest part of my project. There isn't a lot of black, and consist mostly of light greys and white.  There does't seem to to be much presence of a value scale.

There was almost nothing easy about this project. The only thing I can think of is planning out the objects for my symmetry and landscape photograms. The most challenging part about the photograms is how little control you have over your image. You may think your picture will come out nice, but it ends up coming out all black or all grey. This happened mainly during the magazine photogram. I tried out 5 different images, and made 6-7 test strips.

I demonstrated the activity by using different objects, or lack of, to portray a black to white value scale. I used solid objects in my images to have the spot be white. I used plastic and see through objects to create a grey value. My symmetry image best demonstrated my use of plastic object and tissue paper.  To create the black value I left the paper exposed. The best use of this would be in my magazine photogram, where i ripped the magazine in half. This created some negative space that cuts down the middle of the image. If I could do this art activity again, I would probably try to make another magazine photogram. I don't really like the one I am using, but it's good enough. If this was one of my first images, I would probably have tried to make a better one.

Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture

Original photo,
Image he nurses from the series Silent Hill

My polaroid Picture!

I believe the strongest aspect to my work is providing a stark contrast between the background and the image in the polaroids. The original picture is very morbid and dark, but the background is a lot brighter and has this pop to it. The cut on some of the body parts are kind of bad. Specifically the cut on the right nurse's head is not precise. The good thing is that it isn't very noticible from afar.

The easiest part of the activity was probably picking a background color. I knew I wanted something bright, and sorta feminine, so it could provide a good contrast from the original image. The most difficult part was trying to plan the rest of the background. It always felt empty, and it still does. I don't feel like there is much I could have added though.

I did a lot of stuff to demonstrate the objective of creating the illusion of scattered polaroids on a table that create one image, with several elements breaking the plain. I used the polaroids to frame the main subjects of the image, and used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the rest of the image. I broke the plain 4 separate times, which I accomplished this by using a combination of the eraser tool and the lasso tool. For the background, I used a gradient to alter the color to a hot pink. For the objects, I used the lasso tool to cut them out from their background and then used a filter to give it this green affect. I'm pretty happy with my project and wouldn't want to change much about it. I like the picture I chose and wouldn't pick another image.

Photography4- Evan Motta, Beauty Queen

Before the Makeover!

After the Makeover!

Welcome to the beauty contest, wheres there is only one contestant, EVAN MOTTA! I am very proud that I was able to transform Evan's face into a fabulous drag queen. I put a rosy pink foundation on him, then some pink blush. These additions really sell the transformation. I think my whitening process didn't go as planned. I don't see much of a difference in the eye color. How I perceive the whiteness may be because of it's contrast with Evan's new skin tone. 

The easiest part of the activity was covering up most of his freckles. It was just a calming process of having to look at Evan's face. It was a little awkward, but whatevs. The most difficult part of the project was deciding on what skin foundation to use. I wanted to go with this muddy green at first, then a light blue (which I used for the background person). 

I displayed the objective by using the healing tool to cover up Evan's freckles. I then fixed up some parts of his face, like adding some mustache shade, and fixing up his lack of eyebrow hair in certain spots. I then added in a foundation, then makeup. I then added some red to glossing up his lips. The last thing I did was color burn his hair. If I could do this project again, I would try and figure out a different way to change the eye color. I'm kind of glad I couldn't do it though, because the whitening effect makes an artificial look; which is something I would like to steer away from.