Tuesday, October 30, 2007


The Picture above is of a horse, dinosaur, orca whale, and another type of whale. This picture was taken on the floor of Mr. Hiller's classroom a few days ago. The horse is show clear while the others are blurry from the depth of field being set lower.

The picture above shows an orca whale, another whale, and a horse. This picture was taken on a desk in Mr. Hiller's classroom. This picture was taken with a higher depth of field, which made the orca blurry but the animals in the back clear.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

depth of field

Depth of field is the range of distance around the focal point, which is sharp. The depth of field can vary depending on 3 things, camera type, aperture and focusing distance. Depth of field is usually when the objects closer to the point of focus are sharp, and there is a gradual transition to unsharp objects toward the back or in front of that object.
The diagram above shows how much a point needs to be blurred in order to be thought of as unsharp. The image below shows how the focal point is sharp, but each point afterward gets blurry. (Shown by how gray the circle gets)
So, objects farther away from the focal point become more and more blurry and out of focus so that the viewer of the picture can focus on the main part, without the distraction of the background. The depth of field can be set by using F-stops. The higher the f-stop, the less blurry the background will be. While a higher f-stop will make the focal point stick out even more.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Homecoming pictures

The picture to the left is of Zoe Waldron and Jessica Hanstad in the Junior hall attempting to do Mrs. Thurman's famous blow fish face. It was taken on wacky day, or Tuesday, which explains their clothes.









The picture to the left is also of Zoe and Jessica. However, this time there near Mr. Tiedeman's classroom where the sign for Monday's dress up day was posted. This picture was also taken Tuesday.










The picture to the left is of the Sophomore hall ceiling decorations. This picture was taken with a high exposure time, which is shown by the brightness of the image. Along with all the others, this one was also taken on Tuesday.









The picture to the left is of Mr. Compton in the high school gym in his wacky day outfit. This picture was taken with a low shutter time, or little/no flash. This picture was taken 6th period on Tuesday.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Action

Blurred action- Blurred action is when a picture is taken with a low shutter speed and more exposure time. Which makes an object or objects seem like they're still in motion. Like in the picture to the right.
The background and objects without movement are shown as a still image. While the cars and people are blurred, showing their motion. So the picture shows not only one instant in time, but a few.




Stopped action- Stopped action is when a picture is taken with a faster shutter speed and less exposure time. This makes the object, moving or not, be still like in the picture to the left.
When the picture was taken, the model was still moving. However, with the faster shutter speed the photographer was able to capture her in one instant. Even the purple object on the wall behind her, which could have been moving at the time the picture was taken is still.





The picture to the right is a comparison of blurred action and stopped motion. The soccer player in the top picture shows blurred motion, while the bottom shows stopped motion.









Panning-Panning is the horizontal movement of a camera. When used in photography it's used to show or suggest fast motion. The background will look blurry, but the main object will appear still. Like in the picture to the left. The car looks like it's moving pretty fast, which is suggested by the background being so blurry in the opposite direction that the car would be moving in. However, the car itself doesn't show motion.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Exposure

  • Exposure is the amount of light collected by the sensor in your camera during a single picture.
  • Pictures can either be too dark or washed out if left exposed too much or too little.
  • Newer cameras determine the amount of exposure automatically.
  • Cameras use shutter speed (the amount of time the sensor is exposed to the light) and aperture (the lens opening size that lets light into the camera.
  • Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second.
  • Aperture is measured in f/stops.
  • There aren't constant shutter speed or constant aperture because they control different things also.
  • Shutter speed can also be used to freeze subjects in midair or blur water.
  • Aperture controls the depth-of-field or focus.
  • With most digital single lens reflex cameras you can change the sensitivity of the sensor when collecting light. (ISO Speed)
  • The higher an ISO speed is (100- 800 normally) the faster a camera collects light. It also adds more noise to the picture with lower speeds.

Notes from:
http://www.picturecorrect.com/photographytips/ExposureBasics.htm

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Picture



The picture to the right is of the Oregon Coast near a town called Florence. It was taken during my vacation to the Oregon Coast this summer from the last week of July to the end of the second week of August. The beach pictured is mainly used for the horse trail and dune bugging trips.




This picture demonstrates the rule of thirds. As the skyline comes at the first third and the area where the trees start is at about the second third line.









The picture to the right is of my best friend, Ashley Seat and myself on our road trip to Leavenworth last Spring to visit a few of my friends from that area. This picture was probably taken while we were in traffic in Wenatchee on our way to lunch at a place called Wok-About-Grill.

This picture represents the rule that says an object should take up most of the picture, as Ashley and I are taking up most of the picture.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Andres Hernandez

Andres Hernandez is a fashion photographer who is becoming more and more famous. He currently lives in Miami, but before that he lived in Medellin, Colombia where he grew up. Andres Always had an interest in photography and art, and graduated at the top of his class from the Art Institute of Medellin. His photos have been in exhibitions, billboards, and magazines in both United States and Latin America.
I am not able to find pictures by him that are able to be saved. However, his website is andresHernandez.net

CCD

CCD Chips are charged-coupled devices that senses light and facilitates the recording of an image in digital cameras and scanners. They also enable pictures to be taken in that the light coming into a camera hits the CCD which frees electrons and starts the information storing process. They are also sensitive to the infrared spectrum.

Monday, September 24, 2007

What I have learned

I have learned that there are a bunch of types of cameras, some of which I didn't know existed. I also know what it takes to make a camera work properly, and some of what's going on inside the camera. I also understand a little more how a shutter works and what the separate pieces are for inside the cameras.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Pinhole Camera Project

The purpose of this project is to explain how to build and use a Pinhole camera. It's also to see how much I understand how pinhole camera's are built and used.

Materials for a Pinhole
camera
  • Empty oatmeal box
  • Aluminum foil
  • Black construction paper
  • Tape (masking or electrical)
  • Straight pin
  • Ruler
  • Marker
  • Black paint
  • Photo paper
  • scissors
  • A black bag (film transfer bag of some kind)
How pinhole cameras work Pinhole cameras work by having a piece of photo paper inside a light tight space. The photo paper is exposed to light when the shutter is opened to allow it to take a slowly processing picture. In order for a picture to turn out it could take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour, and the pictures turn out backwards because of how the light rays come into the small hole used to allow light inside the camera. The picture at right shows how the camera flips around the images coming into the camera.



How to build a Pinhole camera
  1. Take the empty oatmeal box and paint the inside with the black paint throughly.The bottom side of the lid should also be painted black.
  2. Once it dries flip it over so it's upside down. You can use a ruler & marker to find the middle, or just eyeball it. Either way, where ever you decide the middle is is where you should use the straight pin to poke a small hole in the bottom of the box.
  3. Now you need to make the shutter, which is pretty easy to make. All you need to do is cut the black construction paper so that it covers the hole, and then some. Then you tape it to the box so it will cover the hole.
  4. Now you just need to cut your photo paper so it'll fit inside your camera. The paper can't be exposed to light, so using a black bag to put the paper inside the camera might be a good idea.
  5. Go take pictures!
How to use a Pinhole camera
  1. After you've placed the photo paper in the pinhole camera you need to find a picture you'd like to take.
  2. Depending on the lighting you can determine the time you should have your shutter open. Which exposes your photo paper to the light. If it's a sunny day/bright area, less time will be needed to take a picture then a dark area. You can experiment with different times to figure out what's best for your camera. My group and I did 6 minutes on a cloudy day, and 2-4 minutes on sunny days.
  3. Once you find what you want to take a picture of you should find an area where the camera can be held still for a few minutes. An example would be setting it on the ground or setting it in your lap.
  4. Now all you need to do is make sure the camera will be still and open the shutter. Having a stopwatch or phone with a timer would be nice, as you can keep track of exactly how long your photo paper has been exposed.
  5. Once your exposure time is up, close the shutter and either go into a dark room or use a bag like the one pictured above to remove your photo paper. The paper should be wrapped in foil to keep light from coming in.
  6. Now you can develop your pictures to see how you did. If the picture turns out dark you had your picture exposed for too long. This could be from either the camera itself not being dark enough on the inside, or too long of an exposure time. If it turns out white then the photo paper wasn't exposed for long enough, your camera is too dark on the inside or your not allowing enough light to get in when you expose the paper. This could be from having too small of a hole.

How the pinhole project went for my group:
My group, which was Chelsea, Alex and myself, didn't have a very hard time building the camera. The only problem we had was centering the hole in the bottom of the camera and having it small enough. At first we made a hole with a pencil, which we later decided was too big. So we had to cover that up and find another point close to the middle. We ended up using an earring to make the second, and well, third holes. The second was too off center, but the third was just right. Other than that, the picture taking was a little complicated for us. We thought we were doing okay, and that our exposure time was fine until the pictures came out. Which, none of them actually showed any form of image. On the other hand, our picture ideas were cool, well besides the first. Our second picture was of Chelsea walking, but every 2 minutes she'd take a step until our exposure time was over with. While our third one was Alex sitting on the football bench out on the field. In that picture he also moved around in the background too so we could see if it would somehow capture him walking as well as sitting on the bench.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Group project

Group:
Kait Powell
Chelsea Stoppelman
Alex Kramer

Design: The Kodak one, but with an oatmeal can.


Roles:

Kait's bringing electric tape, aluminum foil, and a number 10 sewing needle.
Chelsea's bringing fine sandpaper and paint
Alex is bringing a oatmeal can & lid


The instructions are here

Thursday, September 6, 2007

My goal

My goal for this class is to figure out how to make pictures It take look better. I also really want to find out how to edit the pictures to make them look different.